1925-26 MHL Season: First Half

The first half of the 1925-26 season was fairly close to as predicted, though there were some surprises as well. When comparing the two divisions, the East was comfortably stronger than the West, with the top 3 teams of the first half all playing there.

Leading the West Division were surprise surprise, the Toronto Lakers. Reports of their demise appeared to be greatly exaggerated, as they were once again at the top. However, their form wasn’t quite on the level it had been in previous years. The Lakers’ forwards weren’t giving fans too much confidence, but their defenders were doing great on both sides of the ice. The Lakers sit at 16-10.

Sitting in 2nd and enjoying a nice bounce-back were the Chicago Wildcats. They made a couple of bold trades, both of which seem to be paying off. First, they sent newly-signed forward Victor Gosselin to New York in exchange for another freshly signed forward, Falconer King. As well, they sent defender Donald Benoit to Nassau for F John Martin. These moves, along with the stellar play of W Dan Vanderbeken, have Chicago at 15-11-1.

Sitting in 3rd, just outside of the playoff picture are the Pittsburgh Ints. Even though superstar Joseph Ocking is having a slow start, the Ints are doing their part to be in the playoff race, especially due to the emergence of players like Lawrence Nelson. The 21-year-old Nelson already has set a career-high in goals and leads the league overall in both goals and points. Pittsburgh sits at 15-12-1, right in the thick of things.

The bottom 3 teams in the West were all struggling, effectively making it a 3-team race for the playoffs. Ottawa has been rattled with lots of injuries, including a broken ankle for reigning scoring leader Byron Francis. In Kingston, the Sentinels are greatly disappointing, and their strong defense isn’t getting any help from their putrid offense. Lastly, the expansion Chauffeurs are doing reasonably well for a first-year team, but as is the pattern in the MHL, their defense is far and away the worst in the league. The three teams sit at 22, 20, and 16 points, respectively.

In the East, the Brooklyn Kings were on top as many predicted. Their offseason additions have been doing their part to make the Kings the league’s top team overall. In particular, defenseman Derek Collins was doing well, with 9 goals in 26 games. However, the main reason for the Kings’ success is Frank Clercius, who has an unreal 1.58 GAA and 0.922 SV% so far. Brooklyn sits at 19-9-1.

In second, and not going away easily are the New York Bluebirds. They had a slow start, and as a result made a huge trade, giving away Falconer King to Chicago in exchange for Victor Gosselin. So far, Gosselin has been great in New York, with 10 goals in 20 games for the team. This is making up for players such as Jacques Barbe and Andrew Moehring, who are both struggling so far. New York sits at 18-10-1.

In third, and only out of the playoffs on points percentage are the Boston Harpers. While they are playing good hockey, analysts believe that their second half is bound to see a decline, as neither their offense nor defense has been considered excellent so far. With that being said though, they could surprise in the second half and knock out one of the New York teams for that second spot. Boston sits at 18-11-1.

Sitting in 4th and 5th are the Montreal Greys and Barons, respectively. both teams were expected to be more competitive than they currently are, and their shortcomings are for completely opposite reasons. The Greys have been superb defensively but anemic offensively, while the Barons’ offense has been great and their defense awful. For the Greys, Alan Clercius is putting up MVP-esque numbers in net, but their offense has 60 goals in 28 games to show for it. For the Barons, their 77 goals for is second among non-playoff teams, but their 79 goals against have left them near 0.500. The Greys sit at 13-13-2, while the Barons sit at 14-15.

The final two places in the East belong to the division’s newest teams, the Nassau Lynx and Syracuse Icemen. The Lynx have been disappointed as many expected them to take a step forward this year. However, their offense just hasn’t done that, and their goals/game is dead last in the league. Syracuse isn’t fairing much better, with their offense being only slightly better, but their defensive stats are second-worst, with only the first-year Chauffeurs being worse. with playoffs out of the picture for both teams, they look to end the season strongly. Nassau sits at 11-17, while Syracuse sits at 10-16-1.



I'm working on expanding my graphics even more, so here's a league leaders graphic!

1925 MHL Season: Second Half

The second half of the 1925-26 season didn’t see too much movement, though both playoff races came down to the wire. the big story of the second half was the East’s continued dominance over the West. As a whole, the East dominated in interdivisional play, and it showed in the standings, as the 3rd seed in the East would’ve won the West.

The Toronto Lakers remained on top of the West Division, not giving up their lead. However, their second half play wasn’t quite the same as the first half in terms of consistency and intensity. Despite this, they still managed to move away from the other teams and clinch the division with time to spare. Sylvain Ermengille led the league in scoring, and became the first player to do so multiple times. Toronto finished at 33-23.

Finishing 2nd and just sneaking into the playoffs on a tiebreaker were the Pittsburgh Ints. For the second straight year, they clinched the last spot on the final day. In a crucial matchup against Montreal, the Ints came back from a 2-goal deficit to win it in overtime, clinching a spot on head-to-head over Chicago. They should be thankful to be in the West though, as they wouldn’t have qualified had they been in the East. Pittsburgh finished at 29-26-1.

Finishing 3rd and heartbreakingly outside of the playoffs were the Chicago Wildcats. They were neck and neck with Pittsburgh the entire way, but a shocking 5-0 loss to already-eliminated Ottawa in the final days of the season was the backbreaker. They did manage to win on the final day, but Pittsburgh’s win over Montreal sealed their fate. It’s unfortunate for the Wildcats, as the league’s leading goalscorer in Dan Vanderbeken will not be seeing any playoff action this year. Chicago finished at 29-26-1, the exact same record as Pittsburgh.

The bottom 3 teams in the West remained the same, and in the same order. Ottawa’s second half was actually above 0.500, as Byron Francis recovering from a broken ankle was a big boost for their offense. However, it still wasn’t close to enough to sniff the playoffs. They finished at 25-31. Kingston also improved in the second half, but like Ottawa, it wasn’t close at all. They’ll at least have some foundation to build on for 1926-27, finishing at 24-32. Lastly, in Indianapolis, The Chauffeurs just collapsed in the second half. They won just 5 of their last 28 games, as their defense let other teams feast on them. They were the only team that allowed over 3 goals against per game, at 3.5. Indy finished at 13-43, the second-worst record in league history.

In the East, it was Brooklyn that finished on top, becoming the first team not named the New York Bluebirds to do so. Their defense was lights out the whole way through, allowing only 1.66 goals against per game, an MHL record. With their offense being near the top of the league as well, they rolled over their competition, and are surely the favourites to win the Abbott Cup. Brooklyn finished at 39-16-1.

In second, the New York Bluebirds didn’t make it easy for Brooklyn. They too were elite defensively, and their offense was elite. They made the battle for #1 tough, but in the end the Kings were just that little bit better. In an interesting change from previous years, the Birds didn’t have one superstar stand out. Players like Andrew Moehring, Jacques Barbe and David Price contributed, but not at a superstar level like before. New York finished at 37-18-1, just 4 points behind Brooklyn.

Angrily finishing 3rd and missing the playoffs were the Boston Harpers. They finished 3rd in the East and 3rd overall, becoming the best team in MHL history to miss the playoffs. It got to a point where team manager Val Singer threatened to sue the MHL and James Burris if the league didn’t change their playoff format immediately. Boston finished at 34-21-1, just 6 points behind New York, and 3 points ahead of Toronto overall.

Finishing 4th and 5th were the Montreal Greys and Barons. Both teams were playoff contenders, but being in the stacked east showcased their flaws, keeping them near 0.500 the whole way. The Greys’ offense could never get going, so a historic season by Alan Clercius was wasted. On the other hand, the Barons’ defense let them down consistently, so their league-leading 2.8 goals per game wouldn’t see postseason action either. The Greys finished at 28-26-2, while the Barons finished at a perfectly balanced 28-28.

The only other change in the standings after Pittsburgh leapfrogging Chicago was Syracuse doing the same to Nassau. Neither team had a drastically different second half, but Syracuse did go on a hot streak near the end to avoid finishing last. The Icemen’s offense was starting to come into its own, allowing them to bail out the defense occasionally. In Nassau County, the Lynx couldn’t win a close game to save themselves. As well, goaltender Ted Harvey finished in the top 5 for save percentage, but the high volume of shots proved to be too much. Syracuse finished at 21-34-1, while the Lynx finished at 20-36.




Playoff Predictions:

W1 - Toronto Lakers vs W2 - Pittsburgh Internationals
Previous Meeting: 1925 Abbott Cup Final
Result: Toronto 2-0 Pittsburgh

The Lakers and Ints meet in a rematch of last year’s championship series. Toronto proved too tough for Pittsburgh to handle, but they’re certain to try and get revenge this time.

The season series was evenly split between these two, with each winning 2 games apiece. 3 of those 4 games were by 2 goals or less, and 1 of them was in overtime. The key to this series will be the health of Toronto’s Sylvain Ermengille, who lead the league in scoring. He’s going to play, but he won’t be at 100%. If Pittsburgh can neutralize his play, they have a decent shot here. 

My pick: The Lakers eliminate the Ints once again, taking this series in 3.

E1 - Brooklyn Kings vs E2 - New York Bluebirds
Previous Meeting: 1924 Semifinals
Result: New York 2-0 Brooklyn

This series is going to have a lot of eyes on it. The top two teams in the league, from the same city, with a spot in the Abbott Cup on the line? This is gonna be good.

There were 5 games between these two, and Brooklyn won 3 of them, 2 of them in overtime. While there were some close games, there were also some blowouts. New York won one matchup 6-2, and Brooklyn handily shut down New York 3-0 in another. It could really go either way here.

My pick: New York knocks off the Kings, winning this series 2-1.

Yeah, Boston deserved to go to the playoffs, they should be back with a vengeance next season. Should be interesting to see who comes out on top this time. Wonder if the Toronto in odd years, New York in even years will continue or will it be someone else. 

Even though I have a real hard time supporting a Pittsburgh hockey team, real or not, gonna have to go for the Ints in this one.

1926 MHL Offseason: Off the Ice

For the first time in the MHL’s history, no teams relocated or folded following a season. Every team was more or less financially stable for another year. As a matter of fact, one team even recovered so well that they returned after a 1-year hiatus. The Peoria Foxes were given 1 year to attempt to recover their finances, and they did just that, getting together enough money for James Burris to welcome them back to the MHL. As for their roster, part of the proposition of their hiatus was that they were to start from scratch with players, but that they could negotiate with former players to return. Free agency will be interesting from their perspective.

Expansion

Newark Yellow Jackets

The newest expansion team for the MHL was the 4th team in the NY metropolitan area, on the other side of the Hudson River. The Newark Yellow Jackets came to fruition thanks to Simon Pethes, a Newark-based newspaper tycoon who wanted a team to represent his city and the state of New Jersey. The Yellow Jackets will wear gold and blue, and their logo features one of the namesake insects in the team colors. The jersey is gold with blue arms, and two gold stripes on each arm.



Other Changes

Toronto Lakers 

The Lakers added more arm stripes to their look and modified the “TORONTO” font on the front of their jersey. They also added a navy away, featuring a white chest stripe with red numbers on the front and back. Toronto becomes the second team to have a designated away jersey, after the Chicago Wildcats.

Ottawa Lumberjacks

The Lumberjacks keep making changes to their set, this time unveiling a new striping, consisting of one red and one white stripe on the arms and hem. They elected not to create a designated away jersey, as club owner Terrance Surch does not believe them necessary.

Montreal Greys

The Greys decided their jerseys weren’t confusing enough, modifying the striping and changing the colours so the arms had more black. However, to offset this, they unveiled a plain gray “clash” jersey when their main kits are too similar to an opponent’s. The clash jersey features a singular black stripe on the arms and hem.

Boston Harpers

The Harpers made a small tweak to their set, adding a B logo to the arms. As well, they unveiled an away jersey, a simple colour swap of their green and gold.