Congrats to the Greys for repeating, maybe they can be the first to win three in a row. Wonder how the Greys success will impact the Barons moving forward, especially with the Great Depression. 

1930 MHL Offseason: Off the Ice

Off the ice, it was an unusually quiet offseason for the MHL, though there was some murmuring on potential things that could happen over the course of the season and the following offseason.

The league is actually stable for once?

Despite rumours of a teams having financial issues, the MHL announced that the for the first time in its history, the league would operate with the same number of teams for the second consecutive season. James Burris mentioned that he’d prefer an even number of teams, but the fact that none left is a huge win for the league, which hopes to keep expanding during the decade. 

New York Blue Birds unveil MHL uniform first

The New York Blue Birds unveiled brand new pants for the 1930-31 season, the first MHL team to wear a color other than the generic canvas. These new pants are the same blue as their jerseys, and feature orange and white striping, similar to the jersey. When asked how the club was able to color the pants this way, team owner Lloyd Oliver simply said “money.”

Detroit Guardians unveil away jersey

Extremely unhappy with his club’s progress after only two seasons, Guardians owner Hank Strattford went on a public tirade claiming that his players “don’t deserve to wear the great crest of the Detroit Guardian Hockey Club”, and unveiled an away jersey similar to their home, but white. Instead of the team logo on the front like the home, the away jersey simply had diagonal text reading “Detroit”. He later went on to say that “They need to show some [redacted] progress if they want to have the mighty deer across their chests.”

Virtually everyone agrees that Stratford is not a good owner.



Rumours of teams in financial trouble

Despite no teams leaving the MHL for the 1930-31 season, the falling economy is resulting in many rumours of teams struggling financially. There is a chance that over the coming few seasons, some teams may fold or relocate in attempts to gain more revenue. No teams have specifically been mentioned, but there’s a lot of background noise about some of the more struggling teams.

Loving the new blue pants for the 'Birds! That feels like a set that can stick around for quite a while.

1930-31 MHL Season: First Half

The 1930-31 season was the dawn of the MHL’s second decade, and it saw a lot of new, but also some of the same old. Some teams surprised, and others didn’t. Overall, goalscoring was down to just over 2 goals per game per team. Commissioner James Burris mentioned that while defense has its place, he will take the next couple of seasons to survey whether rule changes will need to be made to increase scoring.

Leading the Western Conference and the league are the Toronto Lakers, who just refuse to fall off. Their #1-ranked offense is scoring a whopping 2.45 goals per game, and they have 3 of the top 10 point scorers in the league so far, including the #1 in assists and points, newly re-signed Gregory Bekkering. Though their league-mandated move to the Toronto Garden 2 years ago was meant to be a hindrance, they have the #1 home record in the league, at 12-4. Overall, the lakers are at 22-11. 

Shockingly in 2nd for both the Western conference and the entire league are the Ottawa Lumberjacks, currently sitting on a 9-game winning streak. The 1929-30 season was disappointing for them, and it looked like another mediocre start before G John Gilchrist started balling out in goal. He leads the league in GAA by a fair margin, and is also #1 in SV%. He’s the main reason Ottawa has the best defensive stats in the league, as the team has only allowed 52 goals against in 34 games. If he keeps it up, the Lumberjacks may be a dark horse Abbott Cup candidate. They sit at 20-12-2.

In 3rd and outside the playoff are the Chicago Wildcats. the reigning Western champs has had a good start, and it’s unfortunate they’re with the 2 hottest teams in the league right now. They have run into early injury trouble, with star centre Roy Parent missing a chunk of the season already. The injury has affected his play as well, as he’s gone from a 0.77 points/game to just 0.39 at the halfway point. Chicago still has time to turn it around, as they sit at 18-12.

In 4th are the Detroit Guardians, who are blossoming into a decent young team. There have still been some hiccups, but it’s a vast improvement over their first two seasons in the MHL. Kenneth Moore, who was publicly called out by owner Hank Stratford last season, is having a good bounceback year, and winger Stephen Phillips is enjoying a breakout goalscoring year. James Davis is rapidly improving in net as well. All in all, while Detroit isn’t looking like a playoff team yet, their future is looking good, as they sit at 15-17.

The bottom 2 teams in the West are ones that are ones that are struggling with the failing economy. The St. Louis Centurions are doing better than their disaster of a 1929-30 season, but it’s still not great. The move from Peoria to a bigger city was a last chance for the franchise to be successful, but the lack of any success is hurting them. On the other hand, the Indianapolis Chauffeurs are falling apart. They have a devoted fanbase, but it’s not enough for the team to become even a middling one. Both teams may be playing their last seasons in the MHL, and will hope to end on a good note. St. Louis sits at 13-19-2, while Indy sits at 10-20.

In the East, the Montreal Barons finally broke through to sit on top at the halfway point. They were a contender in both 1929 and 1930, but the East was too competitive for them to get a spot. With the Eastern juggernauts starting to get past their prime, they’ve jumped right in, and look to make the playoffs for the first time since 1924. Their star has been 33-year-old Thaddeus Morgan, who leads the league with 18 goals. The Barons sit at 20-13, 1st in the West on points, but not points%.

In second are a big surprise, the Brooklyn Kings. One of the oldest teams in the league, their former stars have been declining for a while and their 1929-30 season was uninspiring. However, this season has seen lots of great team play, and as a result, the Kings have the best points percentage in the West. No single player is carrying the team, but instead almost every player on the roster is consistently chipping in. Brooklyn sits at 18-11-3.

In third are the Nassau Scouts. The team that made their first postseason appearance last year is doing fine, but still aren’t at the same level as they were before. Kenneth Paquette is still far and away the best player on the team, and while the supporting cast isn’t awful, it’s not amazing either. Their defense and goaltending isn’t as good as it was the year before either. Nassau is ok, but definitely having a disappointing start to the year. Plenty of time to make a playoff push. They sit at 16-13-3.

In 4th are the Boston Harpers, bouncing back after a disastrous 1929-30 season. It’s still not great, but the team will take it after almost finishing dead last. Their offense has struggled, with their leading scorer Jeff Apps having only 16 points. As well, despite having a very solid defensive core, Caleb Ross has had an off year in net, resulting in some unfortunate losses after good games. It’s unlikely that the Harpers land in the playoffs, but they aren’t fully out of it yet, at 13-16-2. 

In 5th and 6th are the Montreal Greys and New York Blue Birds. The Greys have had an awful first half, especially considering they’re the two-time defending champs. Their defense and goaltending, which has been their source of success, fell off in a major way, and their offense isn’t good enough to make up for that. The Blue Birds are entering a mini re-tool of sorts, releasing longtime defenseman Andrew Moehring to make room for younger players. Their defense and goaltending have been decent, but like Montreal, their offense isn’t at the playoff level yet. Both teams sit at 14-18, with slim hopes of the playoffs.

Lastly, the Quebecois have taken a step back. They had hopes of their veterans and young signings getting together to take a leap forward, but instead they released veterans like Kevin Bishop and Mathieu Mercier, and their rookie signings have been largely disappointing. Very close to a worst case scenario for Les Bleus, but thankfully a rich owner has the team itself looking stable for now. Quebec sits at 9-22.



1930-31 Season Leaders (So Far)

1930-31 MHL Season: Second Half

The second half of the season saw plenty of action, with lots of movement in the standings, and playoff races that went to the very end. This ending left lots of fans happy, and others very disappointed.

Finishing 1st in the Western conference and the league are the Chicago Wildcats, who enjoyed an amazing second half. Their road record was the key to success, as they were the only team in the league with a better record away from home, albeit by a single point. Star centre Trevor Alrick led the team in scoring, after a disappointing first season in Chicago. He finished 3rd in league scoring with 40 points in 63 games, and is also considered one of the best defensive forwards. In net, Ted Harvey enjoyed a renaissance, going from unwanted free agent in 1929 to leading the league in save percentage just 2 years later. Chicago finished at 41-22-1.

Finishing in second were the Ottawa Lumberjacks, who slowed down a little, but still squeaked in to that last Western playoff spot. Their defense remained league-best, and two of their defenseman in Dim Meredith and Derrick Dorvilus were lauded as having the two best defensive seasons in the league. and their offense continued to play above average. They suffered a lot of injuries in the second half, some of which will carry over into the playoffs. It’s definitely an uphill battle against Chicago. Ottawa finished at 36-23-5.

In 3rd and missing the playoffs for the first time in their history are the Toronto Lakers. It was a second half to forget for them, as they went 0.500 to fall out of first and end up 2 points behind Ottawa for that final spot. Despite having the best offense in the league, and two top 5 point scorers in Gregory Bekkering and Joseph Ocking, their defense disappointed, and couldn’t reward their forwards for their great work. G Trevor Walker wasn’t much help either, with a shocking 0.860 SV%. Toronto will look to regroup for 1931-32, but making the playoffs for 10 consecutive years is an amazing achievement the franchise should be proud of. Toronto finished at 37-26-1.

Finishing 4th were the Indianapolis Chauffeurs. It was a much better second half, but despite that, it was still a sour mood among the team. With ownership not having enough funds to continue running, it was apparent that change was coming, whether that meant new Indy-based ownership, new ownership moving the team somewhere else, or the team folding completely. With the plethora of young talent on the team, other GMs will have their eyes on this situation. As for the team, their offense was amazing, but the defense was abysmal. They finished at 26-37-1.

The bottom 2 finishers in the west were the Detroit Guardians and St. Louis Centurions. Detroit absolutely plummeted in the second half, going 10-21-1 in the second half. As you can expect, owner Hank Stratford was NOT happy, and continued publicly calling out whoever he could and threatening changes. You have to wonder how much longer commissioner James Burris can handle this. Detroit finished at 25-38-1. As for St. Louis, the team in a financial crisis did about as well as you’d expect, only picking up 22 points in the second half, not paying their players, and playing in front of virtually nobody. Their entire time in the MHL from Peoria has been a mess. They did have the league’s top point scorer in Claude Brown though, which is impressive for how bad they were. They finished at 24-38-2.

In the East, it was the Brooklyn Kings who took the top seed. They had both the #1 ranked offense and defense in the conference, so it wasn’t a huge shocker to see them leapfrog up to 1st. Richard McGrath and Hugh Mathieu were top 3 in goals and points, respectively, and Paul Anderson continued being one of the league’s best defensive presences. the emergence of Andrew Williams in net was another key piece to their success. Overall, the Kings are a surprisingly well-rounded team, and won’t be easy to eliminate. They finished at 35-21-8.

In second are the Nassau Scouts, who exploded in the second half to make their second straight playoff appearance. Despite Kenneth Paquette missing 33 games with a fractured foot, the rest of the team stepped up, and stepped up hard. Harold Henderson, Larry Nelson and Paul Brooks all played a key part offensively, and despite their defense being shaky at times, they won when they needed to, and comfortably took second, 8 points clear. Nassau finished at 36-24-4.

In third are the Montreal Barons, who you can yell “YA BLEW IT!” to. After leading the East at the halfway point, they played so poorly in the second half that they finished EIGHT points out of the playoffs. That takes a lot of skill. So what went wrong? The offense was good, the defense was good, but it was the close games that got them. So many of their losses were by a single goal, and when they needed their clutch the most, it wouldn’t come. It’s a shame, because the Barons were looking like they finally had their breakthrough, but instead, they finished at 34-30. At least they managed to be ahead of the Greys.

In 4th are the Greys, who almost finished above their crosstown rivals, but finished their disappointing back-to-back title defense season well out of the playoffs. They had a much better second half, but that first-half hole was too much for them to get out of. As usual, their defense was their defining position, and they finished with the best defense to not make the playoffs. Alan Clercius, while still good, didn’t have the dominance that carried them to victory the past two seasons. All in all, the Greys will look to bounce back in 1931-32. They finished 2 points behind the Barons, at 33-31.

In 5th and 6th are the New York Blue Birds and Boston Harpers. New York was marginally better in the second half, but still a far cry from previous years. In a retool situation, the Birds hope to improve next year and get right back into their dominance. As for Boston, They collapsed in the second half, going 12-20-1 to finish off the year. The playoffs were already a slim hope at the half, and they played like their season was already over. It’s disappointing, as they’ve grown a super passionate fanbase hungry for wins. New York finished at 30-33-1, while Boston faltered to a 25-36-3 record.

Lastly, the Quebecois continued just as they were before the half, absolutely atrocious. A disappointing step back for a team that has showed promise over the past two years, Quebec hopes this step back results in an even bigger step forward next year. There was really nothing to write home about for them, with the league-worst offense AND league-worst defense. It’s not an impossible situation to get out of, but it won’t be easy. Quebec finished at 20-43-1.



1930-31 Season Leaders:



Playoff Predictions:

W1 - Chicago Wildcats vs W2 - Ottawa Lumberjacks
Previous Meeting: None
Result: N/A
Series Record: N/A

Chicago meets Ottawa for the first time in the postseason. The Wildcats are looking to advance to their second straight Abbott Cup finals, while Ottawa is making their second ever postseason appearance, and looking for their first series victory.

The two teams met 6 times in the regular season, and it was actually Ottawa who took the series, winning 4 times. It was a super defensive season series, with a total of 18 goals in those 6 games. The two teams actually had similar numbers in the regular season, though Ottawa takes the edge in defense. This series will likely be decided on that side of the game over pure offense, though both teams do have firepower. Ottawa does have key injuries, which Chicago must capitalize on to make this job easier.

My pick: Chicago takes a hard-fought series, 2 to 1.

E1 - Brooklyn Kings vs E2 - Nassau Scouts
Previous Meeting: N/A
Result: N/A
Series Record: N/A

Just like the west, the East has a first-time matchup, with 2 of the NY teams duking it out. Brooklyn was a surprise team this year, but they do have more of a history with the playoffs than Nassau does.  

Two hot teams from the same general area will always be fun to watch. These are also two teams that play close games, with a combined 12 ties between them. It seems like a given that the games will be close too, no matter how many games this series takes. Brooklyn will look to capitalize on Nassau’s weaker defense, while the Scouts will and try and show the world that this Kings season was just a fluke.

My pick: Nassau takes an extremely close series with an equally close game 3 victory.