Name Voting Results

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Voting ended Tuesday night in the latest series of polls in the IceHL's 13 Weeks of R&R. Voters selected names for nine of the 11 teams being rebranded or relocated. Two teams will require run-off polls over the next two days. Click here to vote!

Dallas, Halifax still to be determined

The run-off polls will close Thursday night. Voters have decided to stick with Outlaws as the name of the Dallas franchise. The question now is whether the team will continue to be named for Dallas or switch to Texas instead.

Then for the Halifax team, voters will choose between Acadians and Atlantics. The two names have little to do with each other but were placed together due to conceptual similarity.

Five teams will keep their names

Based on the results, at least five of the 11 teams will keep their names.

  • Boston Colonials (51%)
  • Hamilton Steelcats (37%)
  • Montreal Olympiques (57%)
  • Vancouver Lumberjacks (42%)
  • Washington Sentinels (54%)

On a personal note, I have to express my disbelief at the continuation of the Hamilton Steelcats name. After all the complaints I've received over the years about the lack of a team in Toronto, I created many opportunities to change that. And it never happened. The voters have been heard loud and clear now.

Also, I'm somewhat disappointed to see we're sticking with the Lumberjacks for Vancouver. The rest of the names I'm happy to see stick around for the foreseeable future.

Four teams get new names

The Cavalry become the Calgary Stallions (47%) this summer. Happily, this allows for the possibility that the team could keep its horse-centric logo.

The Motorheads will now be the Detroit Chargers (49%). I'm not sure what the voters had in mind when they chose this name, but I'm very eager to see what our logo designers come up with.

Our team in Saskatoon will now represent its entire province as the Saskatchewan Sharpshooters (47%). Like the Stallions, the Sharpshooters could potentially keep their existing logo.

And finally, the Sharpshooters' former provincial rival, the Regina Renegades, have become the Philadelphia Patriots (37%) after a close vote. It topped "Renegades" by a very small margin.

This post will be updated Friday following the end of the Dallas and Halifax run-off polls.

Halifax, Philadelphia to Join IceHL

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Well this is only a week late.

Last Friday, our city polls came to an end. The two teams being relocated got new homes and voters made some decisions about what to call the teams that are being rebranded.

New cities to be welcomed in 2013-14

That's where two IceHL teams are being moved to this fall. Halifax, Nova Scotia was the most popular locale as it won both polls. But of course only one team can go there. With 39% of the vote, it'll be the Atlanta Arsenal moving north. 

Coming in at a close second, Philadelphia, Penn. will be the new home of the Regina Renegades. The move puts the team squarely on the eastern side of the map, which means they'll probably have to come out of the IceHL WEST fantasy league. More on that in a moment.

Sharpshooters become Saskatchewan's team

For the most part, our teams marked for rebranding will be keeping the city name they've had for five years. Almost all but the Saskatoon Sharpshooters. With the relocation of the Regina club, the Sharpshooters will be renamed for the province of Saskatchewan. Whether the Sharpshooters name sticks around still remains to be seen.

Voters were also split over whether to rename the Dallas franchise for the state of Texas. So during name voting, both options are available.

League realignment still to be determined

Now to this. Realignment will be a hot topic this summer. With the Renegades moving east, it would be silly to keep them in the IceHL WEST. But moving teams isn't as easy as it sounds now that we have a committed group of awesome GMs managing each team.

It would be most obvious to move the Minnesota Mammoths — clearly the westernmost team in the IceHL EAST. But this is a team coming off a championship season, expecting to pick first overall in the next draft. If they moved to the WEST, that league would have two championship teams — and only one team can pick first overall.

So let's take a look at the map. The St. Louis Archers are the second westernmost team. They could move. But GM Ryan Laden has been doing a masterful job assembling a roster full of talent. Should his team move to the WEST, he faces a Keeper problem. Every year, IceHL GMs get to carry four players over to the next season. Certainly there would be overlap with existing IceHL WEST clubs.

This keeper overlap will be a problem no matter which teams move. That is, however, unless the GMs stay in their respective leagues. For example, if Philadelphia and Minnesota switch fantasy leagues, the GMs could switch teams as well meaning rosters wouldn't be an issue. The Mammoths' keepers would transfer to Philadelphia while the Renegades' keepers would transfer to Minnesota. But I doubt Minnesota's champion GM Matt Riegler will be eager to give up his Mammoth identity easily.

I've been coming up with ways of dealing with this realignment problem and how to compensate teams that end up losing out. But it's a tough call, I have to tell you. There don't seem to be any easy solutions.

How do we deal with realignment?

I know the GMs are all very nervous about what happens next. Given the keeper implications, all GMs have the potential to be impacted by this. So before I make any decisions, I'd like to get some feedback from the community here.

Bearing in mind the impact on the GMs, how do you guys think we should handle this? Do we make it simple and let Philadelphia play in the IceHL WEST for a season (a la Winnipeg in the NHL's Southeast Division) leaving the tough calls for a later date? Or do we just rip off the Band-aid and get it over with? And if so, how?

For now I leave you with this.

Hope my photo edits make IceHL relocation feel a little more real.

Rebranding Voting Results

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It's clear from Week 2's poll results that the voters want to see a lot of changes to the IceHL this summer. So bring them on! What follows is an in-depth recap of the week.

Guardians, Mammoths will live on

Turns out the list of teams that will not be rebranded is shorter than the list of those that will. The New York Guardians will remain unchanged for the 2013-14 season based on a majority vote. And thanks to their (all but official) IceHL EAST championship, the Minnesota Mammoths will also dodge the rebranding bullet. (Championship teams are exempt, including the Huskies, Nighthawks and Beasts from previous seasons.)

Nine teams move toward rebranding

The other nine teams on the list will move forward. That may seem like a lot, but bear in mind that 1) the whole point of 13 Weeks of R&R was to redesign a bunch of IceHL teams, and 2) not all nine have to endure sweeping changes. So how will we move forward? That requires a more complex answer.

The IceHL Project has always been a living creative. I try to set some basic rules and then fine tune them as I see how voter feedback is looking. I'll explain what that means as we go on. First, the bullet points. Certain percentages will give us automatic changes.

Here's how that will work:

  • The magic number here is 75%. Any team with more than 75% combined "yes" vote (adding "major" and "minor" answers together), will not be able to go back to their old logo. Any other team will have that option. (More on this below.)
  • For any team that had more than 75% of its "yes" vote go for "major," a "full branding reboot" will be required. (Again, more on this below.) No team saw more than 75% of its "yes" vote go for "minor."
Option to revert back

This is a solution to a problem most designers are all too familiar with. Ever sat down to redesign something? You spend hours coming up with lots of different options only to realize none of them are better than what you started with.

In case this happens with 13 Weeks of R&R, I want to give IceHL voters the chance to hit the undo button. Without this option, we could end up in a situation where a team is designated for rebranding but none of the logo submissions are an improvement on the original. With so many talented artists expected to submit work, I doubt this will happen. But it could.

This option is an insurance policy against a collection of bad submissions. However, I set a cutoff of 75% because if that many people want "major changes," then the community as a whole must really dislike the existing identity and it will have to go.

Based on that 75% cutoff, this "undo" option will not apply to Dallas, Detroit, Hamilton and Saskatoon. For these four teams, a revision or full rebranding will be necessary.

The full branding reboot

As mentioned above, if 75% of a team's "yes" vote favors "major changes," it must undergo a full branding reboot. This number shows a large majority of voters wish to see sweeping changes, meaning the name, logo and even colors MUST change this summer. Not even a shadow of the former identity will be permitted.

Based on the 75% cutoff, this reset will apply only to Detroit. Other clubs will be allowed to keep their name, colors and/or logo depending on what the voters decide.

Rebranding: Team-by-team

Now the fun part. I've broken down the results for all nine teams that will continue in the rebranding process. Included with each is my opinion (as IceHL Commissioner) on how we might proceed. Feel free to agree or disagree by joining the conversation in the comments.

Boston Colonials

63% favor rebranding
46% of those prefer major changes

Commish Notes: The Colonials were toward the low end of the spectrum. It seems most voters want to see only minimal changes, and I'd agree. Perhaps just an update to the existing look would serve this team well.

Keep: This team has a great name and overall identity that we'd be wise to stick with. And the original logo designer has already submitted his revisions.

Change: Revising and modernizing the logo and uniforms may be all this team needs. But if you ask me, a color palette revision may be worth considering. This club is named after the group that gave birth to America and yet it's represented by blue and gold instead of the traditional red, white and blue.

Calgary Cavalry

71% favor rebranding
64% of those prefer major changes

Commish Notes: The Cavalry have a great primary logo and a unique color scheme, but I can't say I'm surprised at the result. The name is rather silly even if the visual identity is a strong one. How cool would it be if we managed to rename the team in a way that would let us keep the logo?

Keep: The color palette is solid and seen almost nowhere in pro sports. The logo? I'm a fan.

Change: Honestly, the name needs to go which means an entirely new identity is likely in order. I'm happy to take the do-over if it means we can improve on the name.

Dallas Outlaws

76% favor rebranding
66% of those prefer major changes

Commish Notes: The Outlaws were one of four teams to crack the 75% plateau, meaning we won't recognize them after the summer.

Keep: To be honest, there's very little I like with this franchise's identity and even less I'd like to see retained. Maybe we keep Dallas in the name, but other than that we really should start from scratch.

Change: Wholesale identity reboot, please. Even the name leaves room for improvement. And while we're at it, let's find new colors so we can more easily differentiate the two teams from Texas.

Detroit Motorheads

83% favor rebranding
79% of those prefer major changes

Commish Notes: This one caught me a little off guard. I never thought the Motorheads were that bad, but based on these results, it's clear this is the most disliked franchise in the IceHL. So let's start over.

Keep: The team has a palette unique to the league, but not one that's particularly special. Of course the 75% rule means that won't even be an option. We'll keep nothing.

Change: A callback to the original name of the IceHL project is in order. Let's rethink this one from the ground up. We might even reconsider whether to use Detroit in the new name. Perhaps Michigan or even "Motor City" could precede the nickname of this reimagined franchise.

Hamilton Steelcats

77% favor rebranding
69% of those prefer major changes

Commish Notes: This franchise has a sordid identity history. Even from the beginning voters were torn over whether to name them for Toronto — the Hamilton Steelcats name just edged out the Toronto Tritons back in 2008. Now, with Toronto in the relocation conversation, the decision may be easier to make.

Keep: This club has always had a cool logo, even if it is a bit odd. And the colors are uncommon too. Things worth keeping in mind as we move forward.

Change: I've never been a big fan of the name Steelcats, especially given the Houston Hellcats' existence. Two "cats" is too many for a league whose commissioner is allergic to them.

Montreal Olympiques

63% favor rebranding
63% of those prefer major changes

Commish Notes: Honestly, I'm not eager to lose this identity. It was on the list because, well, we needed 13 teams. My hope is that the Olympiques are around for years to come. I did not realize so many fans wished to see it go.

Keep: The name and logo are great! I'm only a little bothered by the color scheme but even that seems to work all right.

Change: If we do change anything, know in advance we won't be moving in any direction that's remotely similar to the NHL's Canadiens. Outside of that, I'm happy to explore new possibilities in Montreal.

Saskatoon Sharpshooters

76% favor rebranding
74% of those prefer major changes

Commish Notes: I'm a bit disappointed by this one. It just feels like one of those classic hockey logos. But it's even more clever than the typical logo that incorporates hockey symbolism like sticks and pucks. This one uses the faceoff circle for crying out loud! And yet, the masses have spoken.

Keep: Well, not much. Even the super long name is probably going to go. And I was just learning to deal with all of its six syllables and 22 letters.

Change: Let's start over and let's make this Saskatchewan's team with the Regina Renegades packing up and moving this summer. New colors. New logos. And a brand new name.

Vancouver Lumberjacks

67% favor rebranding
65% of those prefer major changes

Commish Notes: I'm with a lot of others in feeling like this team is just a jumble of existing Vancouver hockey teams along with a lazy name. Lumberjacks? We get it, there are burly men up here. But we can do better. We will do better.

Keep: The numbers aren't as overwhelming as with other teams, but there's very little I think is worth keeping here. The colors belong to the Canucks and the logo to the Giants, essentially.

Change: It might be time to start fresh with this B.C. team. I say we put our creativity to work and come up with a great new name and look for this franchise.

Washington Sentinels

54% favor rebranding
51% of those prefer major changes

Commish Notes: As a group, we seem very much on the fence with this team. But the vote was just enough to put us in rebranding territory. So let's explore it. Personally, I wanted to see either the Sentinels or Guardians go because the identities were just to similar from the names to the color palettes. I'd like to see us begin anew in D.C.

Keep: It's hard to argue with red, white and blue for the team representing the capital city of the United States. Pro teams have tried other colors but always seem to come back to this classic palette.

Change: While I'd like to see a name change, voters seem hesitant to make sweeping changes. Perhaps a modernization of the logo and simplification of the colors would do the job.

That should do it. If you haven't already voted in this week's City Polls, what are you waiting for?

Relocation Voting Results

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The results are in on the first round of voting for 13 Weeks of R&R! You can take a look at the original post to see how everything turned out. Or you can read on for all the official outcomes and such.

Arsenal and Renegades will relocate

Let's knock out the big ones first. When it comes to the Atlanta Arsenal, 73% of voters want this team moved out of Georgia. So that will happen. Atlanta was the only city to exceed the required 60% "yes" vote. That town just can't seem to catch a break with hockey fans.

Despite reaching only 55% in the "yes" column, the Regina Renegades will be on the move anyway. As commissioner, I made a decision to permit Toronto and Hamilton to both have IceHL teams. In exchange, I required Saskatchewan to lose one of theirs. Saskatoon will stay put.

The rest move on to rebranding

The 11 teams that survived their relocation votes will now face one more test. They are all part of this week's rebranding polls. If you haven't voted yet, do it!

Destinations: Halifax, Toronto, Philly and Ottawa

Voters also selected which cities will be eligible to pick up our newly relocated teams. Out of 12 options, four rose to the top so each will have any opportunity in Week 3 polls. I had planned to stick to only as many cities as there were relocated teams. But 2nd, 3rd and 4th place were all within 0.2% of each other, so why split hairs?

Below are the four relocation cities alongside their percentage in last week's polls:

  • Halifax, Nova Scotia (12%)
  • Toronto, Ontario (10.2%) 
  • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (10.1%) 
  • Ottawa, Ontario (10%)

For both teams, you'll be able to choose from all four relocation cities. But what happens if the same city wins both polls? Whichever team got the highest percentage will get that city. The other city will have to go with its second choice. I think this is the fairest way to go. Those polls will take place in Week 3.

Speaking of Week 3...

I need to clarify something about Week 3. The original post about this project indicated that the City Polls were for relocated teams only. But that's not entirely accurate. Any team up for rebranding will also be included in these polls to determine whether they keep their existing location name.

For example, if the Motorheads were designated for rebranding, their Week 3 poll would ask whether they should be renamed for Michigan or stick with Detroit.

There will also be a surprise bonus poll! Check back next week — but make sure you vote this week first.

Quebec Armada Identity Tweaked

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I'm really bummed to have to write another one of these posts, but it must be done. Last week, the Mariners logos had to be changed when it was revealed the trident was identical to the one found on the national flag of Barbados.

Shortly after that, it was brought to my attention we have a similar issue with the identity of the Quebec Armada. As you can see in the graphic below, the fleur-de-lis featured in the secondary marks was pulled directly from a clipart design.

Unlike the Mariners situation, the "borrowed" artwork is not the basis for the Armada's primary logo, nor either of the secondary logos. So the overall identity of the team will not be changed. However, any use of this fleur-de-lis in team branding must be removed. Therefore we'll abandon the logo marked "left shoulder" above and keep the "right shoulder" mark without the violating symbol.

Updated jersey designs for Armada; original design by Alex Gerwitz

The fleur-de-lis also appeared on the jersey in a fashion not dissimilar from how it was used on the old Quebec Nordiques jersey. For that reason alone, I'm more than happy to have it removed from the jerseys. What you see above is the official, updated look of the Quebec Armada uniforms.

I've been unable to contact the designer of the Armada's logos, Craig Wheeler, for a few years now, so I've had to make these changes without consulting him in any way.

On a personal note, I'm glad to see this symbol removed. While I don't deny the significance of the fleur-de-lis to Quebec (it's all over the provincial flag for one thing), it always felt to me like a furtive effort to tie the Armada's identity to that of the Nordiques. And as I've said repeatedly, I really do not want any connections between the IceHL and NHL. That would sort of defeat the purpose.

Finally, there's the question of the next RinkGear jersey. With the Mariners possibly out due to the forced rebrand, we were looking to the runner-up, the Armada. I'm calling it the Second Jersey Curse. The universe is conspiring to keep a second IceHL/RinkGear jersey from happening.

Moving forward, I'll be in touch with RinkGear to see how they'd like to proceed. We may pick one of these two. We may hold another series of polls. Or RinkGear may just want to pick another IceHL jersey design all on their own. I wouldn't be opposed to that.

I'll keep you all posted on what's decided. But for now, of course, that second jersey is in limbo.

Hartford Mariners Unveil New Logo

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Today, the Hartford Mariners sport a brand new logo!

Hartford Mariners' new logo designed by Micah Loyed

It's a great new mark and the Mariners will "wear" it well. But as the commissioner of the IceHL, I'm disappointed, to report the reason for this sudden change.

It was brought to my attention yesterday that the previous Mariners logo bore a striking resemblance to the trident symbol found on the national flag of Barbados. In fact, it was more than a resemblance. The very shape was unchanged.

I contacted the designer, Eric Poole, who submitted the logo to our contest last year to get an explanation. Eric told me he'd never seen this flag but found the trident in a book of clip art and worked from that. Regardless, the simple fact is I've always made it very clear in every design contest that designers are to submit only their own original artwork and not to copy someone else's.

Being that the symbol comes from a national flag — designed by Grantley W. Prescod — this isn't an issue of copyright infringement. A national flag by its very nature is in the public domain. But that doesn't change the fact that this artwork submission violated Icethetics/IceHL contest rules.

With that, we move forward. The Mariners were not among the 13 teams designated for possible rebranding this summer as part of 13 Weeks of R&R. Because, as a 2012 expansion team, their design contest was only held last year, I didn't feel it right to ignore all of the great entries we previously received and voted on.

As commissioner, I decided to reward the runner-up in last year's voting. Micah Loyed's Mariners logo set will now become the team's new look. You saw the primary logo at the top of this post. Now, here's the secondary mark.

They're very sharp and distinct logos and should serve the team well. We should all congratulate Micah on a job well done — even if this wasn't the ideal way for his logos to be adopted.

Next, there's the question of the jerseys. As part of last year's expansion project, a jersey design was selected by voters. Unfortunately, it bears the old logos and colors. I didn't want to punish the uniform creator, Ian Dyck, by replacing his design, but nor do I want to hold another design contest for the Mariners.

Instead, I want you to decide so that I'm not making all the decisions. Using the new palette, I've recolored the top two jersey designs from last year's voting. I've also incorporated the new logos.

First, we have Ian Dyck's winning design — with revamped colors and logos. And then there's the runner-up, created by Alex Hackert. Vote in the poll below for one of these. After a week, I'll tally the votes. And the winner will be the new uniform design for the Mariners.

Cast your vote here:

If you have any questions, please ask. I'd be happy to answer. While it's not my intent to embarrass Eric Poole by executing this change, I do hope it will make future submitters think twice before submitting something that wasn't their original work. I'm all for taking inspiration from other designs, but here, to copy them outright does not sit well with me.

Don't forget, 13 Weeks of R&R starts tomorrow! Look for details on the main Icethetics blog Saturday afternoon. For now, I'll leave you with a look at the Mariners' new wordmark.

Week 12: Final Scores

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Some of us thought it would never end, but at long last, the NHL lockout is over! The two sides have agreed to a deal that should be ratified within the week. The plan is to begin a 48-game season on Sat., Jan. 19. That means our AHL experiment officially ends now.

Week 12 will be the final week using AHL players and stats. Week 13 will pick up as soon as the NHL begins play and will be operated through our League Offices as ESPN.com (links above). The IceHL will take a short hiatus in the interim. For now, a look at our final week of AHL action.

Our final week with the AHL came with more than its share of surprises. For one thing, we saw a lot of underdogs do some damage. The last-place Gators surprised the second-place Winterhawks with a 64-55 victory. New Orleans was powered by a combined 54 points from Jordan Eberle and Richard Panik who, together, earned 9 goals and 3 assists. Simply outstanding efforts from these two.

After an unbelievable start that kept them at the top of the league standings for seven straight weeks, the Winterhawks have now lost three in a row. But it wasn't all bad news. Winnipeg's defense put their forwards to shame with the blue line pair uniting for 32 points, including 2 goals and 6 assists.

Also making noise from the bottom of the standings were the Sharpshooters, who slammed the Renegades 65-33. Radko Gudas added an assist to his 19 penalty minutes for 22 points while Chris Bourque picked up a goal and 2 assists on his way to 14 points for Saskatoon. Mark Mancari led the way in Regina with 2 goals and 2 assists.

The Hellcats had their best week of the season as they shot down the Narwhals 72-40. Houston got double digit points from four players, a feat last accomplished 10 weeks ago. Eric Selleck and Ryan Stanton each contributed 12 PIMs while goalie David Leggio backstopped two wins and a shutout for 16 points. Tomas Tatar was the star for the Narwhals with 2 goals, 3 assists and a minor penalty for 19 points.

Not surprisingly the Aviators led the IceHL WEST with the most points this week, knocking off the Cavalry 78-61. Penalty minutes were the name of the game for Seattle with a combined 40 of them between Peter Holland and Cameron Gaunce. Calgary got a 32 total PIMs from Eric Tangradi and Bobby Robins and, despite a 16-point week from netminder Ben Scrivens, couldn't hang on for the win.

The week's closest match saw the Beasts edge the Kodiaks by two points, 56-54. Brendan Smith put 4 assists toward an 18-point effort for Boulder as Mike Sgarbossa and Mikael Granlund each talled 11 points. Taylor Hall, meanwhile, was a "beast" for Edmonton, collecting 2 goals, 3 assists and 4 penalty minutes for 21 points. Mark Arcobello added 5 assists as the Kodiaks really showed their offensive teeth in this one.

Elsewhere, the Wave squashed the Scorpions 32-27 with help from James Sheppard's 13 points. The Huskies stopped the high-ranked Outlaws with a 65-54 win as Jonathan Audy-Marchessault and goalie Dustin Tokarski came together for 42 points themselves. And Pioneers beat the Lumberjacks 51-45 with impressive offensive numbers.

Now back east.

Back in the IceHL EAST, the top teams were reinvigorated. The Barracudas moved back into sole possession of first place with a 71-38 thumping of the struggling Mammoths. Jason Zucker made big noise with 33 points on 2 goals, 5 assists and 10 PIMs this week for Tampa Bay. That combined with 3 wins and a shutout from Dustin Tokarski helped the Barracudas run away with this one.

Under new management, Minnesota was starting to turn its luck around before the AHL portion of the season came to its conclusion this week. Tim Erixon led the way from the blue line with 3 assists and 6 penalty minutes for 15 points.

Two high-powered, high-scoring teams created fireworks in the final week of AHL action. The Nighthawks defeated the Hitmen 90-75 — a whopping 165 points between them. Jordan Eberle was the big man for North Carolina, tallying 5 goals and 3 assists for 29 points! The defense united for another 33 points — thanks in part to 15 PIMs from Mark Fraser. The Hitmen had all but one player in double digits as Tomas Tatar and Gustav Nyquist each picked up 19 points. Perhaps most impressive for Chicago was that only 4 of its 75 points came from penalty time.

Sure, that one was high-scoring but this one was high-scoring and tight! The Blue Crabs edged out the Olympiques 78-72 in another offensive slugfest. Richard Panik's 4 goals helped him toward an amazing 25 points. Only Slava Voynov was in single digits, but at least his stat was a goal. On the Montreal side, two players topped 20 points! Peter Holland relied on time in the box while Taylor Hall was a scoring machine. Definitely an exciting one to watch here.

The streaking Guardians were brought down by the Colonials this week, 51-44. Boston got a combined 4 goals and 8 penalty minutes for 24 points from Alexandre Bolduc and Sean Couturier. Curtis McElhinney led New York from the crease on a pair of wins. No player in this match-up was left off the scoresheet.

The week's top-scoring player helped the Armada to a 61-34 stunner over the Steelcats. New addition Brandon Bollig earned 31 points for Quebec on a goal and 27 penalty minutes. Hamilton, meantime, got 12 points each from Brett Connolly and Nino Niederreiter in the defeat.

Elsewhere, the Sentinels topped the Mariners 59-53 with Joe Colborne grabbing 2 goals and 3 assists toward 19 points for Washington. The Arsenal broke a five-game losing streak with a 41-38 win over the Lagers and have Jonathan Audy-Marchessault to thank for it. And in a surprising twist, the Archers were felled by the Motorheads 48-45 as the 4-7 team beat the 7-4 team. Detroit got four double-digit performances this week.

And so that wraps things up for now. The IceHL will now take a 12-day break — think of it as an extended All-Star break without the All-Star Game. The season will pick up with Week 13 match-ups on ESPN as soon as the 2013 NHL season gets underway.

Here's a quick look at our Week 13 opponents:

  • IceHL EAST: Barracudas vs Colonials; Hitmen vs Blue Crabs; Armada vs Archers; Nighthawks vs Olympiques; Lagers vs Sentinels; Guardians vs Mammoths; Arsenal vs Mariners; Motorheads vs Steelcats
  • IceHL WEST: Kodiaks vs Wave; Cavalry vs Beasts; Winterhawks vs Hellcats; Pioneers vs Aviators; Scorpions vs Lumberjacks; Gators vs Renegades; Narwhals vs Outlaws; Sharpshooters vs Huskies
Who's psyched for NHL hockey?!

Week 12: Preview

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This late in the week, I'm not sure it really qualifies as a "preview" anymore, but nevertheless here are the updated rosters and match-ups for Week 12.

And now the transactions executed for this week.

Also, I haven't posted these in a while, so now that we're at the midpoint of the season, I figure some of you may be interested in these Stat Packs. Each one is an 8MB PDF file with loads of numbers:

Do enjoy and good luck to everyone this week!

Week 11: Final Scores

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First, my apologies for the delay in getting updates out this week. Now let's go!

We saw an IceHL record get positively shattered in Week 11. For six weeks, the Portland Pioneers held the record for points in a single week with 92. Then the New York Guardians came along, destroying the Lagers 108-24 — and securing first overall in the IceHL EAST standings. The Guardians primarily have Patrick Maroon to thank, as he amassed 45 penalty minutes during the week and tacked on a goal and an assist for 52 points! That, too, may be a new IceHL record. But you can't discount the big help from T.J. Brennan, who tallied a goal, 5 assists and 6 PIMs for 25 points.

The Lagers, meanwhile, continue their slide with one win in the last eight weeks. Mikael Granlund came back in a big way with 3 goals and an assist for 15 points. But Milwaukee got little else as three players, including goalie Justin Peters, were held scoreless this week.

The Archers, who held the No. 1 spot last week, fell all the way to fourth at the hands of the Olympiques by a score of 62-51. Cory Conacher led Montreal with 2 goals and 3 assists for 24 points. Taylor Hall added another 3 goals and 2 assists for 18 points. It all proved to be a bit too much for St. Louis, despite a combined 33 points from Cam Atkinson and Matt Frattin.

The Steelcats jumped back above .500 after a surprising 69-42 victory over the Hitmen. Hamilton all but one member of its roster in double digits this week. Nino Niederreiter notched 3 goals for 12 points while Marcus Foligno added another 18 points. The Cats even got help from another shutout win by goalie Braden Holtby. A pair of wins from goalie David Leggio (12 points) along with an offensive burst from blue-liner Mark Barberio (11 points) gave Chicago a boost, but couldn't get the job done.

Finally finding their second win of the year were the Mammoths, who defeated an imploding Sentinels club 35-10. Minnesota was led by 12 points from goalie Robin Lehner. D-man Tim Erixon also contributed 3 assists for 9 points. Washington, on the other hand, got production from just two players — and the only offense was a single goal by Joe Colborne. The Sentinels have some roster changes in store for the second half of the season.

Elsewhere, the Barracudas just edged the Mariners 41-40 to move back into second overall. The Blue Crabs again have a winning record after pinching the Motorheads 46-37. The Colonials topped the Arsenal 23-20 in the week's lowest-scoring match-up. And in a battle of titans, the Nighthawks wiped out the Armada 54-40 with the help of 11-point performances from Kyle Palmieri and Brendan Smith.

Time to go out west.

If Week 11 brought surprises to the IceHL EAST, it brought some major shockers to the IceHL WEST. For one thing, the Winterhawks were dethroned, falling out of first place for the first time since Week 4, as they lost 80-58 to the Wave. California got big help from Patrick Maroon's penalty-heavy 52-point effort as well as another 11 points from James Sheppard.

Winnipeg put up strong numbers as well, but almost nothing can touch a team when one of its players tallies more than 50 points. Marcus Foligno grabbed 2 goals, an assist and 7 penalty minutes for 19 points. Brett Connolly was good for another 13 points on 3 assists and 4 PIMs. The Winterhawks have now lost back-to-back games for the first time all season.

Taking the Hawks place at the top this week are the Aviators, following a 44-16 trouncing of the Gators. Seattle got points all the way down the roster, including a combined 21 from Kris Newbury and Tyler Johnson. New Orleans was again led by Jordan Eberle, who earned a goal and 2 assists for 10 points, but half the team was left with goose eggs in this one.

Also continuing a climb up the IceHL WEST standings are the Kodiaks, after a 68-58 win over the Sharpshooters. Edmonton sits atop its division after getting double digits from four players in Week 11. Taylor Hall and Mark Arcobello each picked up 18 points this week, including a combined 4 goals and 6 assists. Despite the loss, Saskatoon is continuing to improve with its second-best performance of the season. Ondrej Palat and Radko Gudas both earned 13 points to lead their team.

After a couple of weeks of relying on self-proclaimed "goon hockey," the Cavalry beat the Narwhals 48-27 on a bit of an offensive explosion. D-man T.J. Brennan got a goal, 5 assists and 6 PIMs for in impressive 25 points. Northwest was led by goalie Carter Hutton with 12 points as most of the roster was pretty quiet.

Elsewhere, the Renegades held off the Beasts 49-44 with a solid offensive showing. The Pioneers locked up the surging Outlaws with a 42-31 victory. The Hellcats got the edge over the Lumberjacks 25-22 as both teams relied on goaltending. And the Huskies had one of the best weeks while the Scorpions had their worst with Alaska coming out on top 62-19.

Some interesting notes from the standings at the halfway point of 2012-13:

  • Week 10 brought us a 4-way for first in the IceHL EAST. In Week 11, we got the same thing in the IceHL WEST as the Aviators, Winterhawks, Wave and Outlaws each sit at the top with 8-3 records.
  • It'll take more than just a winning record to make the playoffs in the IceHL EAST. After 11 weeks, 10 of 16 teams are above .500, but only 8 teams can qualify for the postseason. And three of the top four are in the Southeast Division.

What else have you picked up on this year? What do you expect for the second half of the season? Who will make the playoffs?