Week 1 of Season 6 is now in the books and we have learned a whole lot about the league in a short amount of time. With S6 featuring the most teams the ITHL has even seen (by a decent margin) there was a lot of uncertainty heading into the first matchups of the season. With more than half of the teams in the league being in their first season as well as having a lot of player movement between teams in the offseason, Season 6 is shaping up to be the most interesting season yet.
In Week 1 we saw a variety of teams ‘break out’ and start off very hot. This is how the power rankings look after one week of play:
Three teams remained undefeated after their Week 1 matchups as the Comets, Hot Pockets and Les Secs Scies took care of business going 6-0.
Comets
With the Black Knights folding after Season 5, GM Olly McShoota decided to assemble a very well rounded squad with a mixture of very skilled players at all positions. It is tough to spot a weakness in their lineup and with the small sample size that we have, it looks like they can work very well together. Although the Comets went 6-0 to start the season, they also had one of the toughest schedules in Week 1, facing former Champions – Surge, the pesky Comic Clowns and the see-saw Boats. Their Week 2 schedule doesn’t get much easier as they take on the Fly Guyz, Goats, and Aurora. The Comets were recently ‘freed’ from ITHL Discord prison. They do like to chirp a fair amount.. let’s see if they can back up the talk this season. Everyone should be keeping a close eye on the Comets going forward.
Les Secs Scies
Making it to the Conference Finals last season and taking the eventual Champions, Steel Maelstrom to Game 5, Les Secs Scies have come back with avengence. Being matched up against Steel in Week 1, they got their payback as they took both games in overtime showing that they aren’t to be messed with this season. The impressive wins didn’t stop there as they also took care of Aurora who made it to the Finals in Season 5. Finishing off their perfect week, they beat a veteran squad, Sea Sickness in both games, solidifying their spot at the top of the standings beside the Comets and Hot Pockets. Using 3 different goaltenders and 12 different skaters, they really showed the depth they have. The versatility of their lineup might be what puts them over the top this season.
San Francisco Hot Pockets
A new team in the league, not many people knew much about the Hot Pockets coming into the season. The only scrim they played before the season started was against the Boats.. the final score was 6-1 Hot Pockets. With a lot of their players having experience in different leagues, the Hot Pockets promise to continue to be one of the top teams in the league. Taking care of the Rockies, Knight Shift and Dirty Deer rather easily, they piled up 33 GF and only 10 GA. Just like Les Secs Scies, their versatility was on full display as they iced 11 skaters and 3 goaltenders. We will have to see if they can continue to ‘heat up’ going into Week 2.
Honourable Mentions
Returning teams, Trap House and defending Champions, Steel Maelstrom both continued to have success in the ITHL in Week 1. Both teams have very solid rosters and they can really shut down opposing team’s offenses. The 5-1 Trap House got their perfect week spoiled by a former teammate, Red Devil and his new squad, the NS Stars. On the Steel side of things, as previously mentioned, Les Secs Scies fought extremely hard against them in both games, and unfortunately for Steel they were two bounces away from going undefeated as well.
New teams like the Filthy Moose, Dillon Panthers and Scarborough Blue Devils all showed that they can be contenders for the cup as they started out very strong, all beating very good teams. With their first match up of Week 2, the Blue Devils took down the previously mentioned, undefeated Les Secs Scies in both games, solidifying the Blue Devils as one of the teams to watch in the coming weeks. Both the Panthers and Moose take on some very tough teams in Week 2 with the Panthers going up against Steel Maelstrom and the Moose going up against Trap House. These games will be the marquee matchups of Week 2 and I think everyone around the league is excited to see how they play out.
The fully up-to-date standings:
SEASON 6
| Pos | Team | GP | W | L | OTL | PTS | GF | GA | Diff | L10 | Strk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Hot Pockets | 50 | 39 | 9 | 2 | 80 | 229 | 115 | 114 | 0-7-2-1 | W1 |
| 2 |  Trap House | 50 | 37 | 11 | 2 | 76 | 244 | 151 | 93 | 0-7-1-2 | W4 |
| 3 |  Aurora | 50 | 35 | 10 | 5 | 75 | 221 | 135 | 86 | 0-9-0-1 | W7 |
| 4 |  Scarborough Blue Devils | 50 | 34 | 12 | 4 | 72 | 232 | 157 | 75 | 0-5-4-1 | L2 |
| 5 |  Comets | 50 | 33 | 11 | 6 | 72 | 211 | 143 | 68 | 0-6-4-0 | W3 |
| 6 |  Steel Maelstrom | 50 | 32 | 14 | 4 | 68 | 207 | 164 | 43 | 0-7-3-0 | W2 |
| 7 |  Knight Shift | 50 | 30 | 14 | 6 | 66 | 202 | 138 | 64 | 0-6-4-0 | W4 |
| 8 |  Les Secs Scies | 50 | 32 | 17 | 1 | 65 | 218 | 186 | 32 | 0-6-4-0 | W1 |
| 9 |  NS Stars | 50 | 31 | 16 | 3 | 65 | 171 | 162 | 9 | 0-8-1-1 | W5 |
| 10 |  BMS Goats | 50 | 29 | 18 | 3 | 61 | 265 | 203 | 62 | 0-6-3-1 | L2 |
| 11 |  Miami Vice Tigers | 50 | 28 | 18 | 4 | 60 | 246 | 168 | 78 | 0-6-4-0 | L1 |
| 12 |  Dillon Panthers | 50 | 28 | 19 | 3 | 59 | 232 | 198 | 34 | 0-7-3-0 | W1 |
| 13 |  FlyGuyz HC | 50 | 28 | 20 | 2 | 58 | 214 | 180 | 34 | 0-7-2-1 | W6 |
| 14 |  Boats | 50 | 27 | 20 | 3 | 57 | 232 | 204 | 28 | 0-7-2-1 | OTL1 |
| 15 |  Twine Ticklerz | 50 | 27 | 20 | 3 | 57 | 192 | 162 | 30 | 0-7-3-0 | L1 |
| 16 |  Comic Clowns | 50 | 25 | 21 | 4 | 54 | 184 | 174 | 10 | 0-4-5-1 | W2 |
| 17 |  Surge HC | 50 | 25 | 22 | 3 | 53 | 197 | 210 | -13 | 0-3-6-1 | L1 |
| 18 |  Colon Cannonballs | 50 | 22 | 21 | 7 | 51 | 154 | 175 | -21 | 0-6-2-2 | W2 |
| 19 |  Blue Huskies | 50 | 20 | 25 | 5 | 45 | 147 | 151 | -4 | 0-0-10-0 | L12 |
| 20 |  Filthy Moose | 50 | 20 | 28 | 2 | 42 | 184 | 196 | -12 | 0-3-7-0 | L1 |
| 21 |  Dirty Deer | 50 | 17 | 32 | 1 | 35 | 134 | 185 | -51 | 0-2-8-0 | L3 |
| 22 |  The Armada | 50 | 14 | 30 | 6 | 34 | 126 | 211 | -85 | 0-4-4-2 | L2 |
| 23 |  Sea Sickness | 50 | 13 | 33 | 4 | 30 | 157 | 261 | -104 | 0-1-9-0 | W1 |
| 24 |  Albuquerque Queens | 50 | 10 | 35 | 5 | 25 | 134 | 281 | -147 | 0-3-7-0 | W2 |
| 25 |  Blue Dragons | 50 | 11 | 37 | 2 | 24 | 123 | 274 | -151 | 0-0-9-1 | L8 |
| 26 |  North West Rockies | 50 | 3 | 46 | 1 | 7 | 116 | 388 | -272 | 0-3-7-0 | W1 |
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
GOALIES OF THE WEEK
With the league growing to 26 teams and with the playoff format changing to ‘Top 16’, it is going to be very exciting seeing how the remaining 8 weeks go down. The parity has really shown already and it is hard to pick the 16 teams who are going to make the playoffs at this point. Although very early, it is really cool to see that all 26 teams have a realistic shot at making the playoffs.
The league is reaching new levels and it is all thanks to the great members and teams within the community.
.
m00ner
