The regular season of the THL has come to a close. A once wild season ended with standings closer to what was predicted at the beginning of the year. Still, it was a highly competitive season with any of the top eight being able to beat each other. That was seen in the final week, as with the top spot up for grabs, underdogs stole plenty of wins. I don’t know if that will result in any playoff upsets, but it was a fun regular season.

Final THL Standings

Rank	Team	GP	W	L	OTW	OTL	PTS
1	GKS Katowice	40	23	6	5	6	85
2	Zagłębie Sosnowiec	40	24	10	3	3	81
3	GKS Tychy	40	23	10	4	3	80
4	Unia Oświęcim	40	23	10	3	4	79
5	JKH GKS Jastrzębie	40	16	15	6	3	63
6	KH Toruń	40	18	15	1	6	62
7	Polonia Bytom	40	15	20	3	2	53
8	Cracovia Krakow	40	9	25	4	2	37
9	STS Sanok	40	0	40	0	0	0

THL Power Rankings

1. GKS Katowice (Jan. Rank-4): The most consistent team in Poland. Since October, Katowice has only lost six games.
   • Team MVP: Jean Dupuy
2. Zaglebie Sosnowiec (Jan. Rank-1): A hot start that slightly cooled during the season. Losses to Cracovia and Polonia to end the year are likely to leave a sour taste in their mouths heading into the playoffs.
   • Team MVP: Aron Chmielewski
3. GKS Tychy (Jan. Rank-2): A poor start doomed their quest for number one, but Tychy showed throughout the year they’re still a heavyweight and also flawed. A three-game losing streak to end the season was broken by an overtime win over Torun, making it harder to see them winning four games in the finals.
   • Team MVP: Hannu Kuru
4. Unia Oświęcim (Jan. rank-3): Despite some off-ice struggles heading into the month, Oświęcim was able to pick up a big win over Tychy, but having Polonia drop seven on them to end the season means another team should head into the postseason angry.
   • Team MVP – Erik Ahopelto
5. JKH GKS Jastrzębie (Jan. Rank-5): Jastrzębie is likely going to be the hardest underdog to beat in the playoffs. They have been upsetting the top teams in big games all year, but can they do it for a series reminds to be seen. Injuries to their top forwards really slowed down their momentum.
   • Team MVP: Karolus Kaarlehto
6. KH Toruń (Jan. Rank-6): Toruń remained the biggest wildcard team of the season. That strayed true to end the year. They lost to Katowice and Sosnowiec by a combined 10-1 in February, then beat Oswiecim and took Tychy to overtime. They’re going to be an annoying team to face in the postseason.
   • Team MVP: Nikolai Syty
7. Polonia Bytom (Jan. Rank-7): Polonia’s return was a great one for the THL and surpassed my expectations. I hope to see them continue to grow and improve next year.
   • Team MVP: Andrei Buyalsky
8. Cracovia Krakow (Jan. Rank-8): A lot of great news off the ice recently for Cracovia, but this year showed that a lot of their Polish players are not up to the level to seriously compete in the THL.
   • Team MVP: Henry Karjalainen
9. STS Sanok (Jan. rank-9): Sanok did not play this month after withdrawing in January.
   • Team MVP: Lauri Huhdanpää

THL Players of the Season

MVP – Aron Chmielewski (Zagłębie Sosnowiec). The return to Poland showed that Chmielewski is still one of the best active Polish players. He led the regular season in scoring with 23 goals. With 41 points (23G-18A) in 39 games, he led Sosnowiec in scoring by 11 points.

Forward – Andrei Buyalsky (Polonia Bytom). One of the most consistent forwards of the year, there were only ten games in which Buyalsky didn’t have a point. Of Polonia Bytom’s 126 goals, Buyalsky had a point on 49 of them.

Defenseman – Bartłomiej Pociecha (GKS Tychy). Offense isn’t everything, but Pociecha had an outstanding season, leading all defensemen in goals, assists, and points. As the leader on the Tychy blueline, he was the only THL defenseman to put up double-digit goals this year.

Goalie – Karolus Kaarlehto (JKH GKS Jastrzebie). Most games appeared in, the second most shots faced, and Kaarlehto still led all starting goalies in save percentage. It was a massive season for the Finnish goalie who helped carry Jastrzebie to a Polish Cup.

U23 Player – Szymon Kiełbicki (JKH GKS Jastrzębie). There were so many good candidates for this award, but Kiełbicki was also the easy choice. The national forward led all U23 skaters in goals (16) and points (25). He and fellow U23 player Jakub Slusarczyk had pretty much inverse goal and assist numbers as the young stars helped Jastrzębie to a fifth-place finish.

Playoff Predictions

In the THL playoffs, the first round is a best-of-seven series. The three highest-ranked teams picked their opponent in order of standings.

1. GKS Katowice vs. 8. Cracovia Krakow

Cracovia’s depth just won’t be able to keep up with Katowice. I don’t expect it to be a series of blowouts. There is also a chance that Cracovia’s Santeri Lipiäinen steals a game. Katowice is just too consistent for any major slip-up.

Katowice 4-0

2. Zagłębie Sosnowiec vs. 7. Polonia Bytom

Polonia has been able to annoy Sosnowiec during the season, but getting to four wins first will be a challenge. Sosnowiec has had a huge season, and they’re looking to get past the quarterfinals for the first time since 2010. They can’t think too far ahead and will want to get this series done as clean as possible.

Sosnowiec 4-1

3. GKS Tychy – 5. JKH GKS Jastrzębie

Tychy went against the standings and now faces Jastrzębie in the first round. Injuries have hit Jastrzębie hard this season, with the biggest being Fredrik Forsberg’s. Forsberg was a major factor in the Polish Cup victory for Jastrzębie. When these two teams met for the Super Polish Cup, it was Tychy on top. I see that same result playing out in this series.

Tychy 4-1

4. Unia Oświęcim – 6. KH Toruń

The ultimate wildcard team is going to be a challenging battle for Oświęcim. Toruń matched up well in the regular season, winning four of the five regular season match ups. In two of the losses, Oświęcim put up over 50 shots with an over +20 differential. That is not sustainable, and Toruń will be without its 4th leading scorer, Zdenek Sedlak (Released). This whole series rests on the play of Oświęcim’s Linus Lundin. If he falters, Toruń could have the first series upset of the playoffs.

Oświęcim 4-3

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!