And now the real season starts.. with the completion of the regular season, the top 5 teams in each conference will battle it out to decide who is named Season 4 ITHL Cup Champions.
With a couple hiccups along the way, this season featured intense competition. From the beginning of the season every team knew it was going to be harder than ever to secure a playoff spot.
Unfortunately some great teams wont be playing in the post season…
The Fly Guyz, 3rd Period Sexcellence, Outlaws, Twine Ticklerz and Sptifres all unfortunately had their seasons officially end last night as the last games were played, and positions within the standings were solidified. I would personally like to thank all 5 of these teams on being great members or our growing league, and I hope that I will see them on the ice again in future seasons.
Here are the final standings in each of the two Conferences:
Sandbaggers, CT Puck claim the Presidents trophy with an impressive 17-3-1 record. Not far behind them were the Comic Clowns who finished the season 16-4. Both teams will be #1 seeds in their respective conferences.
Securing Playoff births, the Boats and Vigilantes on the Blue side and SkubHub and Pilsner on the Red, finishing 2 and 3 in their conferences exempts them from the wildcard series.
The Wildcard series will feature the number 4 and 5 seeds in each Conference, the winner will then face the number 1 seed.
Here is how the bracket looks:
I am really excited to see how it all plays out! Every series has the chance to go either way. The league has never seen so much parity and it is awesome to see. Here is how each team is looking heading into the big dance..
Leading the way from the beginning, CT Puck looks to continue their dominance in the playoffs. With young, Evan Brunis in net, his experience, focus and preperation will be tested. CT’s scorers will have to continue to be on point as they were throughout the season. There’s arguably not a more deadly trio in the league deadlier than Bukurak, King and GILFS. They know how to score, and their opponents will need to learn how to stop them.
When the Clowns entered the league in Season 2 they showed how good they could be, finishing as the 2 seed out of 13 teams. In Season 3 they hit a rough patch and finished 9th out of 10 teams.
In Season 4 the old Clowns are back and ROLLING. Big free agency acquisition Defy Gravity (ITHL All-Star) really rounded out an already solid roster. The Clowns don’t lack talent at any position, having one of the best goalies in the league, allentap, Milstein and Buttersnaps complete a very talented forward line along with Gravity and ‘Pooch’ and ‘Diggle’ are veteran D-men making sure everything is okay in the defensive zone. This could be the Clowns season.
SkubHub, ran by GM of the year bhardin, has battled throughout the season. Having two of the best defenceman in the league, He Hate Me and M Smith along with ITHL veteran and stellar goaltender, Red Devil, it makes it hard for teams to score on Skub. They lead the league in fewest goals against at an impressive 46 GA in 21 GP. Their stingy, defense first style of play makes it hard for opponents to generate any sort of offense. Proof of this, Skub shutout 716, Vigilantes, Bulls and Spitfires throughout the season – Impressive. The offense being led by former TwC star Rick the Wafflestomper along with P Kane and newly acquired Ricky Sxx, this team is looking like they could go on a run in the Playoffs. It is hard to win a championship with out great goaltending and defense.
Ahh the Boats. The league meme team has struggled to find success in their first 3 seasons in the ITHL, but this season looks to be different. Known for their ‘Boats choke jobs’ (most notably getting reverse swept by In Cider last season), the Boats seem to have finally figured out how not to sink.
Starting the season 6-6, the Boats caught fire in the second half, finishing 13-6-1, losing only one game. That one loss came from previously mentioned rivals, In Cider. Maybe regarded as one of the games of the year, the Boats came back from a 4 goal deficit in the final 30 seconds to force OT. With still a couple signs of their old ‘Boats choke job’ ways, the Boats lost approximately 1 minute into OT.
The new look Boats offense led by newcomers Gundi and Ryan Kesler along with Captain Dumpo Chasington, have been able to score at will. Goonshow Zoinker and Silicon Cocking on the backend take no prisoners when their on the ice which makes it easy for newly assigned goaltender, Pizza Pizza to focus on stopping the puck. A tight knit group that takes no BS will look to continue their hot streak in the Playoffs as they face long time rival, the Vigilantes.
A team full of veterans, the Pilsner People look to secure their first ITHL Cup with a couple free agents that they signed at the beginning of the season on one year contracts. TwC legends, JG (former Hart winner) and brother Huge Beach give one of the leagues best 2-way forwards, Rudiger McMuffin III the scoring support that he needs. Their hound the net style of play is very hard to get a solid grip on. Matching up with ‘defence first’ SkubHub in the first round, it’ll be very interesting to see two contrasting styles of hockey go at it.
The sparkplugs in the lineup, McNugget and Captain Tebow McFlurry do all of the things that their forward group can’t do. They are capable of getting the puck to their forwards rather efficiently as well as holding the offensive blue line. McFlurry is a swiss army knife, formerly a forward, he got pushed back to D due to the free agency signings. His defensive capabilities are paired nicely with his offensive instincts which helps feed the Pils offense.
Filling out their roster is goalie Steve aka The Hamburglar who makes it easy for the Pils to relax during tight games. He is known to burgle pucks fairly often.
The Season 2 Champion Vigilantes came out of the gate slow, struggling to find any sort of momentum. At the trade deadline they decided that they needed to shake things up and make some moves.
Fairly controversial, they dished star forward, Noggy back to 716 along with (no longer in the league) goaltender Squill. In return they received big defenceman, Child Please and a new on the scene goaltender, Immune Hen.
The Vigilantes weren’t done there as they shipped forward, Sleuhr to teh Outlaws in exchange for star forward, Hoskins. A fairly lopsided trade, the Outlaws wanted to give Hoskins a shot at the Cup since they were pretty much out of it by the trade deadline.
After the roster changes it took a couple games for the Vigilantes to figure everything out, but they finished the season off strong, coming in the back door and snatching the 3 seed in the Blue Line Conference from 716. Leaders – Fishy, Maple and Johnny have helped the newcomers adapt to the run and gun style of play the Vigilantes quite often use. Immune Hen quickly proved to be one of the league’s best goalies, frequently stealing games for the Viggys. They’ve had their playoff opponent, the Boats, number throughout their history together, and hopefully they can continue that trend.
The Championship hangover in the ITHL is a real thing. Defending champs 716 have struggled to find consistency throughout the season. Losing two time Slater Award winner, Big Ras, it proved that the hole he filled was big. Along with the loss of Big Ras, 716 had lost their star goaltender and Season 3 Conn Smythe winner, Noggy to his hometown Vigilantes. Not knowing what to do with these never before felt struggles, GM Kiss the Baby looked to the trading block.
With their original goalie, Child Please leaving a couple days into the season due to ‘being too busy’ they decided to ship him and new goalie Immune Hen to the Vigilantes in exchange for the a capable goalie (Squill) and star, Noggy.
Noggy’s roll was supposed to change in his second go around with 716, as he was slotted to play up front with star players Kiss the Baby (S3 Hart Winner) and Freddy Douglas (S3 Most Feared Man). Struggling to find consistency with their new line up they decided to put Noggy back in net where they found success in Season 3 and it proved that that was a good decision. Bringing ‘one timer wonder’ Justin Sider back up to forward brought back old success. Lone Senator and Kato round out the backend, and after a long experiment with roster composition, 716 looks to take their squad back to back.
Now in their second ITHL season, In Cider lost two big time players to the Vigilantes as star forward and defenceman SpedWings and Johnny joined back with the Vigilantes after their Season 3 hiatus. Scrambling to fill these 2 holes In Cider would try out multiple players throughout the first half of the season. It was a bit rocky to say the least, but they battled through and seem as if they have secured some consistency again.
Led by one of the league’s best goalies and defenceman, Jarry and Snake Houston, these two lay the foundation of a solid roster. Jarry has shown that one of his favourite hobbies is standing on his head. Jarry is a stud in net. Pete on the other hand slows the game down very well, as he is able to move the puck up the ice as well as calmly disrupt opponents offensive opportunities. Up front Sexc Sue leads the way, scoring at will. Hopefully the Big 3 of In Cider can lead the way for the rest of their team heading into Playoffs.
Can the Berlin Bulls make a run in the playoffs?
“A wild ride”. That is probably the best way to describe the Berlin Bulls year in the ITHLs fourth season. The bulls had their ups, and a lot of downs. Some of which including players being banned, players leaving, losing streaks, team chemistry, and much more. But despite that, the bulls find themselves in a playoff spot with a chance to make a run for the championship
After signing two new free agents, the Bulls had a great roster with high hopes and the chance to get off to a hot start. That wasn’t the case, the bulls started off with a measly 2-5 record and dug themselves into a hole. They did rebound, going on a 3-0-1 streak bringing them back to
5-5-1, but shortly after they ran into some trouble. Two of the bulls’ players left the team due to undisclosed reasons, and shortly after the team was almost banned. Certain bulls’ players wanted access to the team Instagram account to help with posts and updates, the owner did not allow it which caused issues with the team. Unfortunately, the argument came over to the league discord and resulted in the team nearly being banned. Despite that, the bulls have since come together and fought for a playoff spot.
Down the stretch, the Bulls had big contributions from certain players. ITHL all-stars, Salted Ritz-Crackers and Olly McShidder, along with Freddy Kiselovich have become what’s known as “the bulls big 3”. Up front, Olly and Freddy been major offensive threats, and Salted has locked down the crease, keeping the team in tons of games. Along with the big 3, the D pairing of Kergwa and Grenade have down their jobs helping keep the puck out of the net. Kergwa, a very aggressive player has mastered the body check and physical side of the game. His partner, the Grenade, is a calmer and more collected D man who has mastered the stick lift. The D pairing is very effective in the offensive zone, mostly due to Kergwa’s rocket of a shot. His shot has resulted in tons of gaols and tip ins. By working together, this team finished the year at 7-10-3 and placed 5th in the Blue Line which puts them up against defending champion, 716 in the Wildcard round. Matching up with 716 in the playoffs last season, the Bulls took 716 all the way to a deciding Game 5 but would unfortunately fall short. We will have to see if the Bulls can get their revenge. (Written by Olly McShidder)
With the bracket set, all 10 teams will begin their playoff journey this coming week. Be sure to follow along with all the action as we post updates on the playoffs on our website, twitter and instagram.
Who will be named “Season 4 ITHL Cup Champs”?
-m00ner