As teams take the final turn into the fourth quarter and the playoff push, big changes are afoot.

In the Plante, the El Dorado Lynx (38-19-7) strengthened their grip on first place, as they sit 10 points ahead of second place Pittsburgh. The Denver Spurs, meanwhile, had a disastrous 6-17-1 quarter, dropping them from second all the way to sixth, as the Parry Sound Orrsmen surged into playoff position with a 15-5-4 Q3 record. Denver is now tied with Salem for points, meaning a battle for the final playoff berth is in store.

In the Sawchuk, the San Jose Hosers had a wonderful 18-win quarter to wrest first place from Ice Harbor. Four Sawchuk teams have already hit the 40-win mark, with the top three all vying for a first-round bye. The story of the Sawchuk is the Boston Banshees, who somehow came up with a 19-2-3 Q3 record, rocketing them into the playoff picture and dropping Vancouver out of the top six entirely. The Night Train now trail the Banshees by six points with just 18 games remaining.

Adirondack’s Chris Kreider leads all goal-scorers with 62, but it’s the San Jose duo of Steven Stamkos and Mitch Marner, who each have 120 points, who are putting up the most impressive offensive seasons so far. Only West Virginia’s Leon Draisaitl joins them in the 100-point club so far. His numbers might be eclipsed somewhat by fellow Russian Ilya Sorokin, but San Jose’s Igor Shesterkin has put up a .920 save percentage and a league-leading 28 wins while facing an average of 40.2 shots per game, second most in the league.

The annual midseason trade deadline has come and gone, and although it was relatively quiet, a few teams making adjustments ahead of the season’s second half.

The Boston Banshees accounted for four of five transactions. First, the Banshees sent winger Jakub Voracek, defenseman Brian Dumoulin, and a third round pick to the Denver Spurs for forward Michael McLeod, defenseman Niko Mikkola and a second round pick. Next, the Banshees sent blueliner Jordan Harris to Parry Sound for defenseman Nate Schmidt and a fourth. Then Boston flipped newly acquired to Mikkola to the Delta Sturgeon for a fourth, only to send that pick right back to Delta in another deal, along with the Denver second and winger Kyle Palmieri, for wingers Yakov Trenin and Jakub Vrana.

Finally, in the one deal to not involve the Banshees at all, Great Lakes added winger Evgenii Dadonov from Parry Sound for a first round free agent pick in 2023.

As the GWMHL season hits its middle, the Ice Harbor Storm (28-7-5) have taken sole possession of the league’s top spot, but the surging San Jose Hosers (29-10-1) are just two points back. The defending champion Adirondack Aces (26-11-3) have fallen to third place in an ultra-competitive Sawchuk Conference. In fact, the Plante’s top team, El Dorado (24-11-5), would barely be in fifth place if they switched conferences. Behind the Lynx are two surprise stories — the Denver Spurs (22-14-4) and the South Side Renegades (22-16-2).

As the first team to score over 200 goals on the year, San Jose is dominating the offensive categories — Hosers Steven Stamkos, Mitch Marner, and Nazem Kadri are 1-2-3 in the scoring race with 76, 72, and 71 points respectively, and teammate Charlie McAvoy leads all defensemen with 57 points. South Side freshman Trevor Zegras leads the rookie scoring race with 16 goals and 37 points, but Hershey’s Anton Lundell is also putting together a stunning rookie season with 19 goals in just 32 games thus far.

San Jose’s Igor Shesterkin is turning in one of the season’s best goaltending performances — despite facing over 40 shots per game, he’s managed a .920 save percentage, two shutouts, and 28 wins.