It was a new year and a fresh start for all in Poland. The change in calendar brought in plenty of standings changes as the early-season parity has mostly vanished. While there are not many regular-season games left in February, one team ended its season early and withdrew from play one month into 2026.

THL Standings

Rank	Team	GP	W	L	OTW	OTL	PTS
1	GKS Tychy	37	23	9	3	2	77
2	Zaglebie Sosnowiec	37	23	9	3	2	77
3	Unia Oswiecim	36	21	8	3	4	73
4	GKS Katowice	36	19	6	5	6	73
5	JKH GKS Jastrzebie	37	16	13	5	3	61
6	KH Torun	36	17	13	1	5	58
7	Polonia Bytom	37	14	19	2	2	48
8	Cracovia Krakow	38	8	24	4	2	34
9	STS Sanok	40	0	40	0	0	0

THL Power Rankings

1. Zaglebie Sosnowiec (Dec. Rank-1): Sosnowiec’s top spot might be razor-thin after two losses to Tychy. A 4-5 month has created a situation in which the top of the league is wide open heading into the final month. But luckily for them, their three remaining games are all against the bottom half of the standings.
2. GKS Tychy (Dec. Rank-4): After the new year started with a loss to Oswiecim, Tychy picked up nine straight wins, beating 6 different teams in that stretch. They have a chance at finishing at the top of the standings despite such a poor start.
3. Unia Oswiecim (Dec. rank-3): Oswiecim goes 7-2 with some massive wins over Tychy and Katowice. A 6-1 loss to Torun was a surprising result, but Oswiecim is finally starting to show consistency as a contender.
4. GKS Katowice (Dec. Rank-2): It was a busy month as Katowice had eight THL games and then the Continental Cup in England. Katowice defeated teams at the bottom of the table but lost two games to Sosnowiec, by a combined score of 9-2, and split a series with Oswiecim.
5. JKH GKS Jastrzebie (Dec. Rank-5): Key injuries continue to plague the 2026 Polish Cup winners and have caused a rough start to January. The team showed they can still fight with a win over Sosnowiec and winning four of their last five.
6. KH Torun (Dec. Rank-6): The once most-feared offense in the THL was quieter and only scored more than two goals twice during January. Still, three wins and a shootout loss against Katowice were enough to secure their spot in sixth.
7. Polonia Bytom (Dec. Rank-7): Beat everyone below them in the standings while keeping it close with the top teams, a month that reflected pretty much their entire solid return season.
8. Cracovia Krakow (Dec. Rank-8): Cracovia just couldn’t find enough scoring and were shut out in five of their 11 games. 55 of the team’s 84 goals this year have come from just five players. The team just lacks the depth to compete on a serious level.
9. STS Sanok (Dec. rank-9): The players walked, and the team withdrew. A winless season for Sanok.

THL Players of the Month

MVP – Hannu Kuru (GKS Tychy). What a month for Kuru, who is on a 10-game point streak and has 22 points (6G-18A) during it. A huge part of Tychy’s charge back to the top, he is also now the leading scorer in the THL by 8 points.

Forward – Andrei Buyalsky (Polonia Bytom). Buyalsky has continued to be a leader for Polonia, and January was his best month yet. The former Colorado third-round pick had 12 points (4G-8A) in the month and finished on a six-game point streak.

Defenseman – Matt Sozanski (Zaglebie Sosnowiec). The Canadian defender set a new career high in points this year. Sozanski’s career high was set this January, when he had 6 points (2G-4A).

Goalie – Jesper Eliasson (GKS Katowice). The second former NHL third-round pick to be named player of the month, Eliasson finished with a .915 SV% across the THL and Continental Cup.

U23 Player – Jonasz Hofman (GKS Katowice). Jonasz Hofman has been turning heads this year and earned national team opportunities en route to his first double-digit THL point total. A third of his points came in January as he had one goal and four assists.

January’s Top Stories

January 1st. In great news for Polish hockey, it was announced that TVP Sport will live-stream one game per gameday, eight games total, to conclude the regular season. Free streams on a major broadcaster’s site are always good.

January 7th. A familiar name returned to Poland as Ukrainian national team forward Illia Korenchuk signed with KH Torun for the remainder of the season. The 31-year-old started the season in England with the Milton Keynes Lightning. From 2023 to 2025, he appeared in Poland with KH Torun, GKS Tychy, and Zaglebie Sosnowiec.

January 7th. Rough news for Sosnowiec as Erkka Seppälä is out for the season with a knee injury. The playmaking center was enjoying a great debut season in Poland with 28 points (4G-24A) in 27 games.

January 8th. Departures continue in Sanok, as Slovak goalie Juraj Ovečka has returned home. The 26-year-old had an admirable season in a rough spot. He finishes with a .864 SV% in 15 games.

January 12th. Devastating news for Fredrik Forsberg and JKH GKS Jastrzebie as the Swedish star will miss the rest of the season. The 29-year-old had become the offensive leader of the club and was a massive part of their Polish Cup win. He finishes his first season in Poland with 22 points (13G-9A) in 19 games.

January 14th. Aleksi Hämäläinen is returning to Poland after signing with Sosnowiec. The Finnish forward had spent the last two and a half seasons in France. Hämäläinen appeared with STS Sanok during the 2022 season.

January 22nd. Sosnowiec’s return to contender status has been great for Polish hockey. The team will look to keep it going by locking up head coach Maso Lehtonen on a one-year extension with the option to extend for another. The club has already secured its first top-four regular-season finish since 2010.

January 22nd. Alexander Shkrabov was released by KH Torun in October and has now found his new home with Cracovia Krakow. The physical defenseman had an assist in seven games before his release.

January 27th. A majority of STS Sanok’s players resigned from the club today, citing late payments. Last month, the Sanok players delayed the start of their match against KH Torun in protest of unpaid wages. On January 28th, Sanok announced their withdrawal from THL and stated that they had been negotiating with players over the salaries owed for December, and did not owe any pay further back than that.

January 28th. In a big month of returns, Matias Lehtonen is also back in Poland. JKH GKS Jastrzebie picked up the three-time THL champion in an effort to replace Fredrik Forsberg. The 30-year-old Finnish forward started the season with GKS Tychy before making a few appearances in Czechia with Piráti Chomutov.

January 28th. Marat Saroka is back in Poland with Polonia Bytom. The 22-year-old forward had started the season with the Kyiv Capitals in the Baltic league.

January 29th. KH Torun is already getting a jump on next year. The team finished the month with three extensions.

• Ruslan Bashirov for 3 years. The The 28-year-old Kazakhstan forward is in his 5th THL season and has 32 points (14G-18A) in 35 games in 2026.
• Eryk Schafer for 2 years. The 21-year-old Polish defenseman is in his 5th THL season and has 5 points (1G-4A) in 32 games in 2026.
• Patryk Napiórkowski for 2 years. The 21-year-old Polish forward is in his 4th THL season and has 4 points (3G-1A) in 30 games in 2026.

January 31st. We finish with a story that is peak Polish hockey. During routine maintenance work on the ventilation system at Nowy Targ’s ice rink, two F1 hand grenades from World War 2 were found. The arena was evacuated for a few hours, and no one was harmed. The real question remains: how were they never found during any past maintenance?

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