East Prevails in Second Round of Interdivision Play

The SHL Eastern Division made its case as the superior division over the last couple of weeks. The season’s second and final round of interdivision play concluded on Tuesday, and the East once again prevailed, going 29-24-3 against the West in their home arenas after going 28-23-5 against them at home in the first half of the season.

“For years now, we have said that the West is no longer the best,” said coach Martin Delorme, whose Quebec Tigres went 5-2-1 in this round. “Now we have the numbers to back it up with evidence.”

For the season, the East finished 57-47-8 in interdivision games, winning approximately 55% of the games. It’s a nice payback for the East after the West won both rounds of interdivision contests last season, in addition to winning the SHL Finals.

Somewhat surprisingly, the results of this round affected the Western Division race more than the East. The Tigres’ 5-2-1 mark allowed them to hold onto first place and the league’s best overall record, but they were barely better than their closest pursuers, the Boston Badgers and Hershey Bliss, each of whom went 5-3-0.

“We’re still within striking distance,” said Badgers coach Kyle Barrow. “We’ve got a dozen games left, and we’ll settle this thing head-to-head on the ice, which is the way it should be. Would we have liked to win one or two more here? Sure. But bottom line, we won more than we lost, and we’ll take that.”

Further down the Eastern standings, the Rhode Island Seekers (4-3-1) held onto the final playoff spot, but finished just slightly better than the Washington Galaxy and Hamilton Pistols (both 4-4-0). The only Eastern team to lose meaningful ground was the last-place Baltimore Longshoremen, who went 2-6-0 in this round and 5-11-0 overall, the only team in the division with a losing record against the West.

Meanwhile, the Milwaukee Growlers finished with the best overall record in this round, going 6-2-0 to surge into first in the Western race. Milwaukee got a significant boost after the Michigan Gray Wolves (3-4-1) and Anchorage Igloos (2-6-0) both stumbled, and the Portland Bleubacks (4-3-1) lost ground as well.

“We’ve taken the lead out of the clubhouse turn!” exalted Growlers coach Rodney Reagle. “We’re coming down the stretch, and we’re riding the prettiest horse in the race. I don’t know a lot about horse racing, but I assume that there’s a beauty contest that’s part of it.”

If the Igloos wind up falling short in their quest to win the West this season, they will likely have their interdivision record to blame. They went 6-10-0 against the East this season, the only one of the four top Western contenders with a losing interdivision record. The Igloos have given up 9 points to Milwaukee, 8 to Portland, and 5 to Michigan in interdivision contests.

“Not the result we wanted by any stretch, but we’ve got to put that behind us and move on,” said Igloos coach Sam Castor. “The good news is, the first two rounds of the playoffs are against the West, and we’ve done great against those guys this year, so I like our chances.”

One bright spot for the West: the last-place Saskatchewan Shockers went 3-4-1 this round, suggesting that they have broken free of their dismal midseason skid. “It’s a small step forward, but any steps forward are good for us,” said Shockers coach Jeffrey Marsh. “We found the rope, and we’re pulling ourselves out of the quicksand.”

Does the East’s superiority in interdivision play presage a potential Finals win, the division’s first since 2020? Delorme, whose Tigres have lost the last two Finals, certainly hopes so.

“I am not opening any champagne based on this,” said the Quebec coach. “But perhaps I will put a bottle in the refrigerator, in case we need it later on.”

SHL Meme of the Week (Week 14)

• Quebec Tigres fan @toujours_debout on Twitter, taunting their fellow Canadian team’s struggles this season

Tigres Open Lead in East

The SHL’s Eastern Division has been a horse race all season long. For most of the first half, the Quebec Tigres and Boston Badgers were involved in a two-horse race. Around the All-Star break, the Hershey Bliss got hot and made it a three-way race. Now, with the season hitting the three-quarter mark and getting ready to head down the stretch, the Tigres have opened up a lead, and may be on the verge of pulling away from the Badgers and Bliss and putting the race out of reach.

Martin Delorme

“We have been working hard all season, and now we are coming into our ideal form,” said Tigres coach Martin Delorme. “If we can hold on to this caliber of play and maintain it for the rest of the season, then we will be very dangerous indeed.”

Over the last couple of weeks, the Tigres went on a 7-0-1 streak (which finally snapped on Sunday when they lost 5-1 to Kansas City). During that run, they never gave up more than two goals in a game, and had a stretch of six games in a row in which they allowed just one goal per game.

“Defense has always been central to our identity,” said Delorme. “And our defense feels as though it is clicking together into place at the best possible time.”

Getting the defense to click was a top priority for the Tigres coming into this season. Coming off of back-to-back Finals losses, Quebec found itself incorporating two rookies, Axel Borgstrom and Olezka Bulakov, into its blueline corps. That kind of turnover would require adjustment for any team, but particularly a team as defense-dependent as this one.

The project of incorporating the two rookies only became more challenging due to a string of injuries. In the first week of the season, the Tigres lost Borgstrom to an injury. No sooner did he return than McKinley – the longtime captain of Quebec’s blueline corps – suffered an injury that required surgery and kept him out of action for three weeks. Bulakov later missed a few games himself.

“It’s hard to incorporate new guys and really get used to skating as a unit if you can’t even get everyone on the ice at the same time,” said McKinley. “It wasn’t really until the second half that we’d had enough reps to really start to feel comfortable with each other.”

That adjustment period is reflected in the stats. Quebec is allowing an average of 27.3 shots per game, good for fifth in the league; a credible number, but a notch below the league’s best defenses. On the bright side, Borgstrom and Bulakov both bring an offensive upside that was missing from previous Quebec defenses. The Tigres are averaging 2.8 goals per game, solidly middle of the pack – which is excellent for a team that typically operates at a slower and more deliberate pace than most SHL clubs.

Perhaps mot remarkable, Quebec has remained at or near the top of the division all season in spite of these injuries, which have also extended to the team’s forward group – most notably an early-season absence from LW Walt Camernitz.

RW Stephane Mirac believes that the injuries – and the fact that the team needed to play through adversity – may have been a blessing in disguise. “Because we were so often shorthanded, especially at the start of the season, our secondary players had to step up,” said Mirac. “The fact that they did this beautifully, and we continued to win even in the absence of our stars, I think prepared us to be strong from the top of the roster to the bottom. And that has shown in our results.”

As encouraging as Quebec’s performance has been so far, there’s still a major question to be resolved. After all, the Tigres have been here before. Last year in particular, the Tigres looked utterly dominant all season, and seemed to be the odds-on championship favorite – right up until they were dismantled in the Finals by a Michigan Gray Wolves team that seemed a lot less imposing on paper.

While the regular season has been fun, the Tigres know that they won’t be regarded as a truly great team until – and unless – they bring home a Vandy.

“I don’t like to use the term ‘championship or bust,’ but we know what the stakes are,” said McKinley. “We’ve had a championship-worthy squad for three seasons running, but we haven’t captured the big prize yet. At some level, it doesn’t matter how many regular-season games you win, or how many times you go to the Finals – until you get the Vandy, there’s always an asterisk on your record. I know it, Coach Delorme knows it, we all know it. And we’re all hungry to take the next step and fill in that last blank on our resume.”

The Tigres will be very pleased if they can lock down first place over the next couple weeks. But they’re keeping their eyes fixed on the bigger goal, the ultimate prize that will get this team the recognition they believe they deserve.

2024 SHL Week 12 Transactions

• On Monday, the Kansas City Smoke recalled LW Roy Mutz from their CHL affiliate in Omaha and returned C Mason Alpine to Omaha. With C Mike Rivera returning from an injury, the Smoke decided to bring up the 23-year-old Mutz – making his SHL debut – to get some minutes until LW Pascal Royal returns from injury.
• On Wednesday, the Thunder Bay Kestrels – CHL affiliate of the Saskatchewan Shockers – activated LW Darius Ghilezan from the injured list. To make from for Ghilezan’s return, the Kestrels released F Harper Hawking. Hawking appeared in 7 games for Thunder Bay, recording two goals and an assist.
• Thursday was the SHL’s trading deadline. The following transactions occurred at the deadline:
  • The Baltimore Longshoremen traded RW Alberto Fedregotti to the Portland Bluebacks in exchange for minor-league RW Fletcher Queen and a fourth-round draft pick. In related moves, Baltimore recalled RW Rolf Knaufl from their affiliate in Fargo, and Portland demoted F Zeljko Brankovic to their affiliate in Spokane.
  • The Shockers traded D Blake Blacklett to the Washington Galaxy for minor-league D Stieg Lisander. In related moves, Saskatchewan recalled D Roscoe Corbetta from their affiliate in Thunder Bay, and Washington returned D Russ Klemmer to their farm team in Virginia.
  • The Smoke traded RW Adriaen van der Veen to the Galaxy in exchange for F Sidney Archer. In a related move, the Smoke returned F Roy Mutz to their affiliate in Omaha and called up C Mason Alpine from Omaha.
  • The Shockers traded D Buster Kratz to the Michigan Gray Wolves for D Ilya Morozov and a third-round pick. In related moves, Saskatchewan called up D Damir Kriutchkov from their farm team in Thunder Bay, and Michigan demoted D Barrett Snow from their affiliate in Cincinnati.
  • The Shockers traded RW Samson Kucharov to the Quebec Tigres in exchange for RW Bryan Irvin and a third-round pick. In related moves, Saskatchewan recalled F Michael Jennings from Thunder Bay, while Quebec demoted F Billy Knox and signed D Luke Boskill to a short-term contract for their affiliate in Halifax.
  • The Shockers traded D Harald Haakom to the Hershey Bliss for D Dustin Ecklenburg and a second-round pick.
• On Friday, the Fargo Flickertails activated D Colt Mayhem from the injured list. To accommodate his return, Fargo released D Powell Kelmore from his short-term contract. Kelmore appeared in 2 games for the Flickertails, recording an assist.