Everyone knew how Sanok would perform this year. The staff, players, and fans knew they were in a battle with no chance of winning. No one could say it publicly or to each other, but they all knew.

From the first puck drop playoffs were a pipedream. Any wins would be few and far between. But maybe the season wouldn’t be all bad. In their first match-up, they led JKH GKS Jastrzębie for 44 minutes. With 16 minutes to go, Sanok would surrender two third-period goals to Latvian Daniels Berzins and lose 2-1. While it was a rough loss to start the season, it gave some hope that this team could keep pace with the middle of the table.

That first game would be the closest of their entire 2026 season. They would only suffer one additional defeat by a single goal, while the rest were by two goals or more. Fast-forward to January 23rd, and a club that was the champion of Poland just a decade ago was on a 32-game losing streak. Despite the hopelessness, just over 750 Sanok fans filed into Arena Sanok to watch their beloved club lose 7-0 to Unia Oswiecim. It was their 33rd straight loss and would become the final home game of the year.

“I have nowhere else to play, it’s here, or I stop” – Anonymous Sanok player before the season.

The standard required to compete on the ice in the Tauron Hokej Liga (THL) increased drastically after the COVID era of hockey. The talent level of the league has risen significantly thanks to an influx of imports, mainly from Finland. As a result, the financial resources required to build a competitive roster have also increased. There was an enormous gap widening between the top and bottom of the league. The best teams brought in players with experience in the NHL and the top European leagues. Meanwhile, the bottom of the league found players from low-level junior leagues. Many of whom were playing for free and even reportedly paying to play at the THL level in an effort to boost their resume.

For a couple of Poland’s clubs, there was unfortunately no way to keep up with the talent and the financial costs. Adding any talent or even playing games just added to the mounting debt of the club. Today’s teams can’t survive on government support and ticket sales alone; they need larger corporate investment. That might be just too hard to come by in a city like Sanok. Fellow historic club, Podhale Nowy Targ, faced the same situation before finally admitting defeat this offseason and dropping to the 1 Liga. 

On January 28th, 34 games into the THL season, Sanok finally admitted its defeat for 2026. Sanok is a hockey city and one of the best in Poland. This season, they averaged over 1,000 fans per game in a town of 36,703 people, despite never winning a game. Sanok will be the fifth team to drop from the THL since 2020. It will also be their second time withdrawing from the league in the past decade.

It’s a sobering reminder of how fragile Polish hockey remains and the lack of professionalism from the top league itself despite new leadership at the federation. 

Before the season began, there were serious doubts on if Sanok would be granted a license to compete. The club was still in debt to both former players and coaches. This led to desperate pleas from both the club and the league to former Sanok members to restructure, delay, or waive the payments owed to them. The license would come at almost the last possible hour. One of the parties Sanok owed refused to budge and forced the club to pay its debt. 

Then came a season that was just a waste. The Sanok club was outscored by an average of 6-1 across their 34 losses. That also came with most teams taking it easy against Sanok, letting their junior and lower line players take up most of the minutes. Three different U20 goalies posted a shutout versus Sanok this year, with five total shutouts among them.

Behind the scenes, you always hear of dysfunction and arguing in Sanok. Players drop and leave without much acknowledgment from the club, if any. For a team so irrelevant in the standings, you get so many “scoops” of people casting blame on different parties. Players wanted the coaches fired, while staff wanted the players gone. Last season alone, I received at least 5 emails a month claiming that Finnish head coach Elmo Aittola had been fired, all of which were incorrect.

Unfortunately, there was nowhere left for anyone on Sanok to go. They’ve either made Sanok their home and won’t leave or have been distanced by the rest of the Polish hockey league. Earlier in the season, on December 28th, we once again had the same event that preceded several Sanok games last season. Players refused to take the ice for almost a quarter of an hour in protest of missed payments. 

Over the coming weeks, more and more reports followed about players preparing to leave the club. The dam finally broke on January 27th when players walked over salaries being reportedly two weeks late. Though some claim they were missing payment going back further than that.

In the club’s announcement, they said discussions were ongoing about December’s payment to players, but they did not owe anything for the prior months. Sanok’s decision to forfeit the rest of the season was ultimately due to a lack of players, per the same statement.

Everyone knew the poor season was coming. Everyone probably also knew it was going to be a mess behind the scenes. You just hope it gets better for the fans one day, but by all accounts, we may be right back here next season. Sanok has already announced promotions for 2026-27 season tickets. But what did playing this season accomplish? Is preserving a spot in the top league that important if you’re not going to be anything close to competitive? The PZHL may have new leadership, but if some of the same people who have faked revenue, lied, and broken too many promises are allowed to stick around, then Polish hockey will continue to flounder.

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Thumbnail Photo via polskihokej.eu