Slapshot Kirby wrote:

Wait, my Buffalo Colts are leaving the MHL!?




Okay, joking aside, the New Yorker in me will just root for the Bluebirds. I'm also intrigued by this new round of expansion! Winnipeg probably has the best looking uniforms of the three new teams, although Peoria also has a cool name, seeing as foxes don't get used as mascots in North American sports much. 

 
One day my friend, the MHL will return to Buffalo.

Very excited to see Winnipeg getting a team, obviously not great for travel, but size-wise, it makes a lot of sense. I do really like the look, although brown has never been my favourite colour for sports teams, I think it works well here and the logo is really classy. 

Otherwise, I like the other new teams as well, they are solid looks. I like the orange look for Peoria. 

Otherwise, I agree with QCS in that I like that these teams are just making random decisions and changes, it helps with the realism.

Hmm, seems like Buffalo's guys all got their payday with their new teams. Excited to see if my Steelers can make a run in 22-23!

1922-23 Regular Season: First Half

The 1922-23 season saw the league have 14 teams, its highest total so far. These teams would be split into two conferences, with the top 2 teams in each conference clinching a playoff spot. 

Scores from the league’s first games of the season included:
A tight 4-3 victory by the Sentinels over the Steelers,
Winnipeg just falling short 3-2 in their first game against Ottawa,
The Barons prevailing 5-2 in the Battle of Montreal,
The Lakers holding off a late comeback effort against the Kings in a 3-2 win,
Chicago winning 3-2 in overtime against the Ints,
An 8-2 thrashing of the expansion Foxes by Boston,
And an easy 5-1 victory by New York over the Spiders.

The Western conference, unlike previous years, had a much worse record than the east, but this was due to the fact that 2 of the 3 expansion teams were in that conference.

In the west, as most people expected, it was the Toronto Lakers in first. Their trade with Brooklyn have put them over the top. In fact, two of the players they got, Sylvain Ermengille and Chris Paquet, are 1st and 7th overall in league scoring. They seem unstoppable right now, and a threat for the Abbott Cup. Toronto sits at 19-6 halfway through.

Holding the second playoff spot were the reigning Western champs, the Pittsburgh Ints. None of their players were having insane years, but they were getting good play throughout their lineup, especially defensively. Their 60 goals against were the best in the West, which made up for the unimpressive offense. Pittsburgh sits at 15-9, 2 points in the playoffs.

Sitting just outside the playoffs in 3rd are the Hamilton Steelers. It was a remarkable turnaround for the team that finished dead last a season prior, without many major moves. However, experts believe their record might be a fluke, and that they’ll fall in the second half. At the halfway point, Hamilton sits at 14-11.

Sitting in fourth via a tiebreaker with Hamilton are the Chicago Wildcats. Similarly to the Steelers, they’ve made a remarkable turnaround from a terrible 1921-22 season. Their players have made lots of growth, especially winger Kevin Bishop, who went from being an average player to point-per-game in 1922-23. Chicago sits at 14-11, 2 points out of the playoffs.

The remaining 3 teams in the West are the Kingston Sentinels and the two expansion teams, Winnipeg and Peoria. Kingston is playing at around the same level at in 21-22, decent but not good enough. They sit at 13-12-1. As for the expansion teams, it’s been rough. Winnipeg has suffered immensely from travel and the costs associated with it. They’ve still managed an ok record for a team going through all this, as they sit at 6-19. As for Peoria, yikes. They lost their first 19 games before finally managing a tie against Kingston. After yet another loss, they eventually got their first win against an injury-riddled Ottawa team. That’s their only win to date, as they sit with a record of 1-23-1 through 25 games.

In the east, it was once again the New York Bluebirds on top, continuing right where they left off from their Abbott Cup-winning season in 21-22. Last year it was their offense that was unstoppable, this year it’s their defense that’s stealing the show, only giving up 53 goals in their 25 games so far. New York sits at 18-6-1, 1 point off the 1st seed overall in the MHL.

Sitting 2nd in the east were the Boston Harpers, improving even more off of an impressive expansion year. Their offseason additions were playing very well, and the addition of forward Tom Badie via a trade with Chicago was really paying off. Their offense was on pace with the Bluebirds’ as well, a very impressive feat. Boston sits at 15-9 halfway through.

Sitting just outside the playoff spots are the two Montreal teams. They were both doing well with similar overall records, but both had one aspect of their game that wasn’t good enough to get to the next level. For the 3rd-place Greys, it was their offense, who sometimes couldn’t bail out their world-class defensive performances. For the Barons, it was their defense causing them problems. Either way, both teams are still very much in the playoff hunt. The Greys sit at 15-10, while the Barons are sitting at 15-11.

The Brooklyn Kings were having their best season to date, but the problem for them was that despite this, there were still 4 Eastern teams ahead of them in the standings. However, their 10-3-1 divisional record will be a huge boost in their favour in case of tiebreakers. On the other hand, their record against the west and away from home are not that great, and are things they’ll have to work on in the second half. Brooklyn sits at 14-11-1.

The bottom two teams in the East are the Ottawa Lumberjacks and expansion Providence Spiders. Ottawa has had injury issues in the first half, with superstar and backbone centre Tom Robert injuring his shoulder early on in the year. The team has sputtered to an 8-16 record without him. In Providence, they’ve actually been the best of the 3 expansion teams so far, which isn’t really saying much. They’re still greatly struggling and sit at 6-19 at the halfway point.



League Leaders:

Goals: 
Robert Courbouche (MTB/CAN) (24)
Jacques Barbe (NYB/CAN) (23)
Alexander Palmer (BRK/CAN) (22)

Assists:
Lewis Urban (BRK/CAN) (18)
Sylvain Ermengille (TOR/CAN) (14)
Rod Jensen (TOR/CAN) (13)

Points:
Sylvain Ermengille (TOR/CAN) (33)
Alexander Palmer (BRK/CAN) (31)
Victor McDonald (KGN/CAN) (29)

Save Percentage:
Moses Addison (NYB/USA) (0.920)
Denis Jones (PIT/CAN) (0.916)
Alan Clercius (MTG/CAN) (0.911)

Goals Against Average:
Moses Addison (NYB/USA) (2.06)
Alex Graham (BOS/CAN) (2.29)
Denis Jones (PIT/CAN) (2.44)

Rugrat wrote:

And should the Greys be in first if they have 39 points?

If you look at their record, they should have 30 points, so I’m inclined to say that Noe made a typo when he made the graphic.