The spooky month has come and gone! The first month of the season had plenty of surprises, but many felt it was only temporary and the standings would return to normal after October. Instead, the chaotic nature of the league has persisted with the defending champions GKS Tychy still in sixth place. Seventh place Polonia Bytom is only two points behind Tychy and nine behind first place. Has parity fully arrived in Polish hockey?

THL Standings

Rank	Team	GP	W	L	OTW	OTL	PTS
1	Zaglebie Sosnowiec	15	10	4	1	0	32
2	JKH GKS Jastrzebie	15	7	2	4	2	31
3	KH Torun	16	8	5	1	2	28
4	Unia Oswiecim	15	8	4	1	2	28
5	GKS Katowice	15	7	2	1	5	28
6	GKS Tychy	15	7	6	2	0	25
7	Polonia Bytom	15	6	6	2	1	23
8	Cracovia Krakow	15	2	11	1	1	9
9	STS Sanok	15	0	15	0	0	0

THL Power Rankings

1. Zaglebie Sosnowiec (Sep. Rank-2): Sosnowiec sits atop the standings and our rankings. The team went 7-2 in the month, with all seven wins coming by a margin of two goals or more. Aron Chmielewski has proved he is still one of the best Polish players on the planet with 24 points in 15 games.
2. JKH GKS Jastrzebie (Sep. Rank-3): Jastrzebie said before the season that their current situation may not allow them to compete for medals, but they find themselves in second place two months in. A large part of that is the performance of goalie Karolus Kaarlehto, who has an outstanding .944 SV% through 15 games.
3. GKS Katowice (Sep. Rank-4): After failing to close out games or win in regulation in September, Katowice flipped the script. They won five games in regulation to bolt up the standings, which included shutting out Sosnowiec to end the month. Offensively, the club is still struggling with the third-fewest goals for. Their usual offensive contributors have been too quiet in most games.
4. Unia Oswiecim (Sep. rank-1): Oswiecim started to show its struggles this month, going 4-4-0-1. A lot of inconsistency has plagued the team, while the poor performance of usual THL star goalie Linus Lundin has hurt as well.
5. KH Torun (Sep. Rank-6): The best offense in Poland! They have 72 goals this year, while no other team has more than 63. Unfortunately for Torun, they have also allowed the third most goals in the league. They are the ultimate wildcard team in Poland. If they can find their groove defensively, this team could be a major contender.
6. GKS Tychy (Sep. Rank-5): The alarms are starting to be raised in Tychy as the club still sits outside the top four. The team has released multi-time THL champions Joona Monto and Matias Lehtonen. The club did pick up five regulation wins in October, but also dropped another three games. Tychy lost five games in regulation all of last year. This year, they’re at six two months in.
7. Polonia Bytom (Sep. Rank-7): Polonia have been a pleasant surprise in Poland this season. Everything has been kept close as the club holds a goal differential of +9. The team has show their ability to upset top teams with wins over Katowice, Oswiecim, and Torun this month.
8. Cracovia Krakow (Sep. Rank-8): Cracovia’s offensive struggles have continued as the club still needs more out of the Poles in its lineup. With only 33 goals they are second last in the league and barely averaging more than two a game. There are only 5 import skaters on Cracovia, but they have scored about 50% of the goals.
9. STS Sanok (Sep. rank-9): Sanok is still winless and has only twice lost a game by less than two goals. Their worst loss of the year came this month with a 11-0 defeat to Sosnowiec.

THL Players of the Month

MVP – Aron Chmielewski (Zaglebie Sosnowiec). As Sosnowiec moved to the top of the standings, Chmielewski has been the driving force on offense. The 34-year-old had 14 points (9G-5A-14PTS) in 9 games. For anyone who doubted what Chmielewski brings to a team, he is showing that he is a level above most Polish players.

Forward – Fredrik Forsberg (JKH GKS Jastrzebie). Forsberg has been the offensive leader for Jastrzebie this year. He ended the month with a four game goal streak, where he picked up seven total points. This month in total he had 12 points (7G-5A-12PTS) in nine games. In Jastrzebie’s biggest games, he keeps coming up clutch.

Defenseman – Bartłomiej Pociecha (GKS Tychy). Pochiecha will be joining the Polish national team for the first time since 2018 in November. October showed what the team was missing as the two way defenseman picked up 12 points (5G-7A-12PTS) in 9 games.

Goalie – Karolus Kaarlehto (JKH GKS Jastrzebie). Kaarlehto was electric this month with four shutouts. He stopped 264 shots in 9 games across the month in route to a .956 SV%. He is the biggest reason why Jastrzebie sits second in the standings.

U23 Player – Igor Tyczyński (Unia Oswiecim). Tyczyński stepped up for Oswiecim this month and delivered huge games. The highlight of his October was either his 42 save performance against Katowice or 35 save game against Tychy. The young goalie is showing he has what it takes to be a starter in Poland.

October’s Top Stories

October 3rd. Sanok looked to acquire new players to turn their season around, but injuries hit their new signees right away. South Korea national team defenseman Hwan Hee Kang joined Sanok and was able to debut with the club on October 9th. The 23-year-old had two assists in seven games during the month. He previously played in the South Korean college league, lower levels of Slovakia, and, most recently, the Australian league. The club also added 21-year-old defenseman Alan Lizatovic. The Czech defender has yet to appear for the club, but has mostly recently played in the lower levels of the United States junior hockey system.

October 9th-10th. In a more weird story of Polish hockey, back-to-back games had to be interrupted due to false fire alarms. In the October 9th Sanok vs. Jastrzębie match, it was determined that children accidentally set off the alarm. On October 10th, in a match between Sosnowiec and Oświęcim, a shot fired by Martin Kasperlík ricocheted into the crowd, damaging a fire detector and setting off the alarm. Both games were able to resume shortly after, but had to be temporarily evacuated.

October 16th. KH Torun has made a couple of moves this month. The club terminated its deals with Danish forward Mikkel Jensen and Belarusian defenseman Alexander Shkrabov. Jensen had 4 points (1G-3A-4PTS) in 5 games. Shkrabov had an assist in 7 games and was mutually released due to family issues. Neither player has found a new club. The club did add Finnish defenseman Vili Laitinen, who had won a Liiga championship in 2021. Laitinen has primarily played in the top two levels of Finland, but also had stops in Denmark, Italy, and Sweden.

October 23rd. Former star import Brandon Magee departed GKS Katowice. The fan favorite forward moved back to the Danish league on a try-out with the Esbjerg Energy. The 31-year-old Canadian struggled this year only appearing in five THL games and recording a single assist. In his previous two seasons with Katowice, he had 76 points (28G-48A-76PTS) in 85 games. He won a THL title in Poland during the 2023 season.

If you want to keep up with all the Polish hockey action, make sure to follow us on Twitter @PolandHockey, like our Facebook page, and add us on Instagram @PolishPuck_. Also, support us on Patreon to help keep the content flowing!