It’s a brand-new playoff format for the GWMHL, as the field has been expanded by four total teams. The top two in each conference get a bye, so the first round will determine who moves on to face the first and second seeds. Here’s what that looks like in the Plante:

Salem Sabercats (40-31-11) vs. Hershey Bears (36-37-9)

Nobody tell the expansion Bears, miraculously seeing postseason action in their inaugural season, that they’re about to face the most successful dynasty in GWMHL history. Although the Sabercats are now two years removed from their most recent title, they still have a strong, balanced team led by veterans Anze Kopitar, Patrick Kane and David Perron, who all posted more than 80 points this season.

Yet, against the odds, Hershey actually won the season series 3-2-1, so maybe Salem’s path to the second round won’t be so easy after all. The Bears tied with Vancouver for fewest goals allowed, had the league’s best penalty kill (87.3%), and blocked more shots than any team in league history (379). They won’t score a ton (team points leader Carter Verhaeghe had 65; the next highest forward was Calle Jarnkrok with just 46), but they’ve been getting good goaltending from Chris Driedger, who will likely split games with Cal Petersen, and should be a worthy adversary. At the other end, Salem got a great season out of Marc-Andre Fleury (.923 save percentage in 51 games), so this series may be shaping up to be a goaltending duel.

Baltimore Crab (42-35-5) vs. Pittsburgh (38-35-9)

Lower seed Pittsburgh won the season series between these two teams pretty handily (4-2-0) and the teams seems evenly matched, which promises an exciting matchup. Baltimore has the more dangerous snipers (Sidney Crosby and Pavel Buchnevich scored 46 and 41 goals, respectively) and a monster on the back end in Cale Makar (65 points in 64 games) while the Hornets got timely if less spectacular production up and down their lineup, led by Ryan Strome (78 points), and boasts some major weapons on the blueline of their own in Quinn Hughes (74 points in 82 games) and Victor Hedman (50 points in 71 games).

There are some factors that could tilt things one way or the other, however. Baltimore needs a lot more out of its secondary scoring, as Mark Scheifele managed just 16 goals and 56 points in 82 games and Filip Forsberg potted a mere 11 goals in 57 games. The Hornets, who will be facing a strong regular season goalie in Philipp Grubauer (51 games, 2.73, .914, 6 shutouts), face a goaltending dilemma. Their nominal starter, Anton Khudobin, was pretty bad, posting an .890 save percentage in 43 starts. Backups Petr Mrazek and Ville Husso fared better but aren’t eligible to play in all the games if the series goes long. Pittsburgh will need Khudobin to find his A game if they’re going to have a chance against the Crab’s big guns. Oh, and it would help to have Evgeni Malkin, who made just 42 regular season appearances, in the lineup too.

The 2021-22 GWMHL closed with a bang, as some last-minute jockeying will have major playoff implications.

The final order in the Plante didn’t change much from the third quarter, but El Dorado retook first from upstart Charleston. Both teams will receive a bye in the first round, but the Lynx having home ice advantage could help them go on an extended run.

Further down the standings, the expansion Hershey Bears have made it to the postseason in their first year. Are they the beneficiaries of brand-new, expanded playoff rules? Yes. Is it still a remarkable achievement that few would have predicted? Also yes.

Your Plante matchups for the first round will be:

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Just 18 games remain in the 2021-22 GWMHL schedule, and the playoff races are heating up! With the rule changes that accompanied expansion last summer, the top six teams in each conference will make the playoffs, while the top two in each conference get a bye in the first round.

The third quarter saw some seismic shifts in the Plante Conference, as the Charleston Chiefs had a monster 14-6-4 quarter while rivals El Dorado (9-10-5) and Salem (10-11-3) were stuck in neutral. This allowed the Chiefs to not only leapfrog the Lynx to take first place in the conference, but put six points between them.

Further down the standings in the Plante, the Pittsburgh Hornets had a great 15-6-3 run that put them squarely in the playoff mix, and the expansion Hershey Bears skated to a nice 12-9-3 while both Parry Sound (5-15-4) and Winnipeg (5-19-0) struggled, putting the Bears in the final playoff spot by a mere point.

Not much changed near the top of the Sawchuk Conference, as the Adirondack Aces‘ 14-7-3 Q3 record kept them in first and nothing else has moved in the top four. But big changes were afoot after that, as the Hamilton Ti-Cats faded badly, going 5-17-2, while the Ice Harbor Storm surged to a 16-7-1 record that put them in the fifth spot, three points back of Vancouver and a commanding 16 ahead of San Jose. The Storm have by far the most potent offense in the league, averaging just short of five goals per game — they also allow the most goals, so every game’s an adventure. San Jose, Delta, and Hamilton will have to duke it out for the sixth and final playoff berth.

Ice Harbor’s Alex DeBrincat had a huge third quarter, with 43 points in 24 games, and teammate Jonathan Huberdeau had 36 points. Both have jumped past Leon Draisaitl for the points lead and DeBrincat becomes the first player on the season to reach 100 points, with 107. He also now leads the league in goals with 53, and is joined in the 50-goal club by Portland’s Brad Marchand (51) and the extremely unlikely Vancouver’s Connor Brown (50).

Kirill Kaprizov leads the rookie race with 70 points in 62 games, and West Virginia teammates Jakob Chychrun and Dougie Hamilton are one-two in the league for points from a defenseman with 71 and 68 respectively.

Forty games are in the books. That’s plenty of time to weed out the outliers, the statistical anomalies and the weird hot streaks, so it’s a good time to look at the biggest shockers of the season so far.

1) Adirondack goes from drafting first overall to… first overall

The GWMHL has seen its share of spectacular turnarounds, but few of them have been as remarkable as the Adirondack Aces, who went from a pitiful 22-53-7 record last season to a league-leading 32-7-1 record today. Adirondack’s poor year last season was a bit of a head-scratcher and a rebound seemed inevitable, but to be launched right into the stratosphere? Shocking. Led by first overall pick Kirill Kaprizov’s 27 goals and an excellent start by Semyon Varlamov, the Aces have dramatically complicated the already-crowded Sawchuk Conference playoff race.

2) Ice Harbor could still make the playoffs despite allowing a ridiculous number of goals

Only Boston has allowed more goals than Ice Harbor’s 173, yet the Storm have a solid 21-15-4 record and are just three points from fourth place in the Sawchuk. While Carter Hart (20gp, 4.83, .850) and Linus Ullmark (20gp, 3.71, .894) have languished, the scorers in front of them have gotten it done — the Storm are even outscoring the high-powered West Virginia River Rats, thanks in no small part to Jonathan Huberdeau’s 31 goals and 63 points.

The Boston Banshees shuffled its veterans around at the trade deadline in a pair of deals. In the first, they sent winger Jason Zucker to the Hamilton Ti-Cats for a fourth round rookie pick, then — somewhat paradoxically — they acquired rearguard Alec Martinez from the South Side Renegades for a third.

In 30 games with Boston this year, Zucker had 16 points but just 4 goals. Martinez had only gotten into half of South Side’s 40 games, but had tallied a respectable 5 goals and 6 assists.

Staring at a tight playoff race ahead, the Vancouver Night Train added two veterans from the expansion Hershey Bears one day ahead of the trade deadline. Goaltender Mike Smith and centre Luke Glendening will be joining the Night Train, while Hershey acquires goaltender Cal Petersen and forward prospect Will Lockwood. The teams also swapped second round rookie picks in the move.

While the Night Train try to secure a playoff spot in a very tough conference, the move is still a bit of a head-scratcher when you consider the numbers. Smith has struggled with Hershey, posting a GAA of 3.45 and save percentage of .879 in 20 games. The much younger Petersen, meanwhile, had been Vancouver’s best netminder, with a GAA of 2.47 and save percentage of .919 in 19 games. Vancouver must feel they need the veteran leadership if they’re going to have any chance against Adirondack, West Virginia or Farmington.

At the halfway mark of the 2021-22 season, El Dorado (24-13-3) leads the way in the Plante Conference, ahead of a resurgent Salem (23-14-3). Charleston put together a strong 13-5-2 quarter and leapfrogged Baltimore and Parry Sound to pull into the third spot — certainly one of the surprises of the year so far.

The Sawchuk Conference is topped by the league’s two best teams, Adirondack (32-7-1) and West Virginia (31-7-2). An 8-10-2 quarter for Vancouver, meanwhile, put them behind Farmington with both Hamilton and Ice Harbor nipping at their heels.

West Virginia’s Leon Draisaitl still leads the scoring race, with 77 points in 40 games, and also shares the league lead in goals (34) with Vancouver’s Connor Brown. Hamilton’s Tyson Barrie leads all defensemen with 46 points in 40 games, just ahead of the River Rats’ two blueline aces Jakob Chychrun and Dougie Hamilton. Tim Stutzle of Parry Sound leads all rookies with 42 points in 40 games, while Adirondack’s Kirill Kaprizov has the most goals among freshmen with 27 in 38 games — a major reason the Aces have climbed out of the basement. The Aces’ other big difference maker, Semyon Varlamov, tops the league in wins with 23 (to go along with a solid 2.65/.917 stat line), well ahead of the pack.

The talk of the GWMHL’s first quarter was Adirondack — after a rough 2020-21 season, the Aces surged to a league-best 16-3-1 start. Trailing just behind in the Sawchuk are two teams who were expected to be there in West Virginia (16-4-0) and Vancouver (15-4-1). Defending champ El Dorado leads the Plante with a strong 13-6-1 record, just ahead of Salem (12-7-1) and Baltimore (11-9-0).

West Virginia’s Leon Draisaitl leads all scorers with 44 points (18 goals and 26 assists) in 20 games, ahead of Ice Harbor’s Jonathan Huberdeau (37 points) and West Virginia linemate Sebastian Aho (36 points). Vancouver’s Connor Brown is the league’s unlikely goal leader at the quarter pole, lighting the lamp 22 times. Veteran Ice Harbor defenseman Kris Letang leads all blueliners in scoring, with 27 points in 20 games, while Parry Sound’s Tim Stützle sits atop this year’s rookie class with 20 points in his first 20 games.

Also of note, West Virginia’s Brian Elliott leads all goalies in wins with 16 despite a terrible .871 save percentage. Watch out for the River Rats when Juuse Saros gets his turn in net.

We conclude our four-part preseason preview with a look at the rest of the Sawchuk Conference. Missed the rest? Here they are: Plante part 1 and part 2; Sawchuk part 1.

Ice Harbor Storm

Last season: 42-37-3 (missed playoffs)

Draft picks: G Spencer Knight (9), F Dylan Cozens (12), F Arthur Kaliyev (34), D Wyatt Kalynuk (78)

Notable additions: F Trevor Moore, F Victor Rask, F Sam Carrick

Notable subtractions: F Boone Jenner, F Nazem Kadri, F Kyle Turris, F Justin Williams, D Calvin De Haan, G Malcolm Subban

Analysis: Ice Harbor’s excellent depth up front — led by Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau, with Alex DeBrincat, Matthew Tkachuk, Brayden Schenn, Blake Wheeler, and Sam Reinhart filling in the ranks — helped to absorb the fairly heavy losses of Nazem Kadri and Boone Jenner in the expansion draft. The team has yet to address its glut of righthanded defensemen, however, which puts perhaps unfair pressure on lefties Nick Leddy and Mike Matheson, and the team made waves by drafting Spencer Knight, which many saw as a vote of non-confidence in Carter Hart. Knight is a season away, and the team is hoping to shelter Hart with Jonathan Bernier and Linus Ullmark. The gambit could pay off. On paper, this is a playoff-caliber team — but that was true last season as well.

Player to watch: The Storm have a pretty good defensive group, but only one dynamic offensive presence in the form of Kris Letang. The Storm’s fortunes have often risen and fallen with Letang’s health. If he can play most of the season, it bodes well.

Outlook: Playoffs

Portland WinterHawks

Last season: 20-46-16 (missed playoffs)

Draft picks: F Yegor Sharangovich (5), D Mikey Anderson (25), G Vitek Vanecek (47), D Jacob Bryson (69)

Notable additions: F Ryan Hartman, F Alexander Barabanov

Notable subtractions: F Blake Lizotte, F Jake Virtanen, D Matt Niskanen, D Brent Seabrook, G Jaroslav Halak

We now turn our attention to the 11 teams in the Sawchuk Conference. Whose turn is it to rise out of the basement to contend for the cup? If you missed them, read the previews for Plante (part 1) and Plante (part 2).

Adirondack Aces

Last season: 22-53-7 (missed playoffs)

Draft picks: F Kirill Kaprizov (1), D Alexander Romanov (23), D Alexandre Carrier (45), F Wade Allison (67)

Notable additions: F Drew O’Connor, D Gustav Forsling

Notable subtractions: F Alexander Kerfoot, F Marcus Sorensen, D Dennis Cholowski, D Danny DeKeyser, D Ron Hainsey, G Devan Dubnyk

Analysis: One year after a 46-25-11 season, the Aces totally collapsed and finished with the league’s worst record. It almost defies explanation. It seems likely, then, that a rebound is on the way. For one thing, first overall pick Kirill Kaprizov is poised to step right into the top of the lineup and make an immediate impact. For another, they didn’t lose much in expansion and also managed to grab Gustav Forsling in free agency to shore up the D. Assuming Patrice Bergeron still has gas in the tank (spoiler: he does) and Roope Hintz can stay mostly healthy, they also have a formidable group down the middle, with William Karlsson and Sean Monahan in the bottom six. On paper, this team should be playoff-bound, but considering last season’s woes, calling them a bubble team is the safer bet.

Player to watch: An exceptional year from Semyon Varlamov could be enough to get Adirondack back in the postseason conversation.

Outlook: Bubble

Boston Banshees

Last season: 46-28-8 (lost in 1st round)

Draft picks: G Ilya Sorokin (17), F Michael Bunting (39), D Logan Stanley (56), F Jonah Gadjovich (70), D Niko Mikkola (82), G Stuart Skinner (83)

Notable additions: F Filip Chytil, F Robert Thomas, F Nicolas Roy, G Matt Murray