Welcome back sports fans. We continue our analysis of the in season moves made by the Icecats, and getting insight into their logic through discussions with GM Saouaf. Over two weeks passed before the Icecats made additional deals. In a pair of moves, the Cats traded and acquired a dman. Leaving is veteran dman Rasmus Ristolainen for prospect Cameron Schmidt and arriving was dman Olli Maatta. Those moves were curious and we asked GM Saouaf about them. “Well, since Savard had cemented a spot in our lineup, Risto was forced to be an injury replacement. Risto wanted to play and we found a place to get him some minutes, sending him to Denver. We still needed a veteran dman to be a substitute, so we acquired Maatta. We were pleased to get Maatta and a talented prospect in Schmidt.”
The place for CCHL related articles, season previews, playoff predictions, draft previews, etc. NHL news and articles welcome, too!
Sunday, November 30, 2025
Iceland continues retooling - part 3
Icecats continue retooling - part 2
Hello again, sports fans. Today, we will continue to look at the roster reshaping of the Iceland Icecats this season. In the last blog, we saw the Icecats ship in a few veterans and ship out some veterans and youth. Let’s continue looking at GM Silvio Saouaf’s in season moves.
Icecats continue retooling - part 1
Hello again sports fans. Today we review some recent transactions of the Icecats and get some behind the scenes discussions with GM Silvio Saouaf on his logic. In the offseason, Iceland made a significant transition in acquiring veteran center Jordan Staal from Springfield for 3 draft picks. It appeared that GM Saouaf had a plan. Here is what he had to say. “With the additional positions that Aho and Suzuki could play, we saw an opportunity to pair one of them with Connor. As such, we needed someone reliable to be our 3rd line center and anchor our penalty kill. Staal was the perfect solution. Negotiations with Springfield were smooth and we got a deal done quickly.”
Fort Erie First Half of the season team awards!
Welcome to the Fort Erie Falcons HALFWAY AWARDS — the midseason celebration where some players earn glory, others earn shame, and everyone earns content.
No speeches will be cut short. No feelings will be spared.
Let’s dim the lights, raise the curtain, and hand out some deeply questionable hardware.
🏆 THE HALFWAY AWARDS
Presented by FOR Hockey & Poor Decision-Making
🥇 The “I Carried This Team Like It Was a Costco Haul” Award
Winner: Sam Reinhart
54 points in 39 games.
Honestly, if he slows down, so does your entire offensive ecosystem. He is your sun, moon, and reasonably priced power-play merchant.
🥇 The “Scoring on Elite Difficulty” Award
Winner: Jake Walman (FOR)
21.62% TOT SH% / 15.38% FOR SH%
This man is shooting like he found NHL 24 sliders and quietly turned accuracy to 99. Defenseman by position; sniper by lifestyle.
🥇 The “Hit Everything That Moves (And Some Things That Don’t)” Award
Winner: Vincent Trocheck
97 hits and still producing.
Trocheck plays like every opponent owes him money.
🥇 The “Conscientious Objector to Shot Blocking” Award
Winner: Leon Draisaitl
2 shot blocks.
He looked at the bench and said, “You want me to block that? I’m a playmaker, not a mattress.”
🥇 The “Surprisingly Elite Defensive Dad Energy” Award
Winner: Adam Fox
44 blocks with that injury history?
That’s grit, or a medical bill waiting to happen. Either way — respect.
🥇 The “Most Courageous Avoidance of All Physical Contact” Award
Winner: Roope Hintz (FOR)
12 hits in 11 games.
Man is 6’3”, fast as hell, and hits like a tax accountant.
🥇 The “Not Sure He Played But The Spreadsheet Says He Did” Award
Winner: Casey Cizikas
3 GP. 0 points. 8 minutes a night.
He’s like a cameo from a celebrity you vaguely remember.
🥇 The “I Do Everything But Score” Award
Winner: Jaccob Slavin
5.88% shooting, elite defense, endless minutes.
He shoots only to remind his stick it still has a purpose.
🥇 The “Power Play? Never Heard of Her.” Award
Winner: Brandon Hagel
0 PPG, 0 PPA, 0 PPP.
He’s on the top six but treats the power play like a union-mandated break.
🥇 The “Big Man, Small Hitting Energy” Award
Winner: Owen Power
21 hits for a 6’6” defenseman.
He is quite literally too nice.
🥇 The “Did You Even Try to Score?” Award
Winner: Colton Parayko (FOR)
0.00% shooting.
Not low. Zero. He is boycotting goals until further notice.
🥇 The “I Only Play Six Minutes But I Still Matter” Award
Winner: JJ Peterka (FOR)
6.21 minutes per game.
That’s not a shift — that’s an internship.
🥇 The “Still Elite, Just Too Tired to Show It” Award
Winner: Mark Stone (FOR)
10 points in 24 games, 9 giveaways, 39 blocks.
He’s playing like his back is one sneeze away from retirement but he refuses to stop being useful.
🥇 The “Old Man Still Stealing Lunch Money” Award
Winner: Alex Pietrangelo (FOR)
36 takeaways.
He plays like he’s collecting pucks for a charity auction.
🥅 GOALIE AWARDS
🥇 The “Winning Ugly Is Still Winning” Award
Winner: Mackenzie Blackwood
24–4–3 record with a .903.
He is the dictionary definition of “don’t ask how, ask how many.”
🥇 The “Finally Playing Like He’s Not Being Held Hostage” Award
Winner: John Gibson (FOR)
4–0–0, 1 shutout, .910, perfect shootout.
He escaped HFX and immediately remembered how to goalie.
🎤 THE CLOSER: Team MVP (Midseason Edition)
Winner: Sam Reinhart
No drama. No debate.
Just pure, relentless point production.
He IS your franchise right now.
What Every Team Should Be Proud Of — and One Thing They Can Laugh About Too
A hockey season is a wild ride — full of highs, lows, overtime losses that age you ten years, and victories that feel like divine intervention. But no matter where your squad sits in the standings, there’s always something worth celebrating… and always something worth laughing at.
Here’s one real point of pride for every team — and one lighthearted, humorous “win” to keep the vibes positive.
1. Fort Erie Falcons
Proud Of: The most dominant record in the league. A .808 winning percentage is just unfair.
Humorous Win: You’ve scored so much that your goal horn is filing a workplace grievance.
2. Las Vegas Aces
Proud Of: A twelve-game winning streak. Nuclear-level momentum.
Humorous Win: At this point, Vegas casinos are offering a “Bet the Aces, Win Your Mortgage” promo.
3. Fergus Flapping Kilts
Proud Of: A +26 goal differential and elite road play.
Humorous Win: Opponents spend half the game trying not to get distracted by the kilts. Advantage: Fergus.
4. Denver Spurs
Proud Of: Winning tight games with a tiny goal differential.
Humorous Win: No fanbase in the league burns more calories pacing during third periods.
5. Capeside Loons
Proud Of: 158 goals — your offense is pure chaos in the best way.
Humorous Win: The Loons are legally required to buy new nets every month due to overuse.
6. Iceland Icecats
Proud Of: A dominant 14–5–0 record at home.
Humorous Win: Visiting teams spend more time complaining about the cold than defending.
7. Calgary Chinook
Proud Of: A steady offense that shows up every night.
Humorous Win: Chinook games have so many lead changes that fans get vertigo.
8. Amos Comets
Proud Of: An 8–2–0 surge shows your ceiling is high.
Humorous Win: Comets games feature more streaks than a nudist beach.
9. New Mexico Scorpions
Proud Of: One of the most explosive offenses in the league.
Humorous Win: Your games are basically sponsored by defibrillators. Goals = heart attacks.
10. Victoria Ronin
Proud Of: Consistent defensive clutch play.
Humorous Win: Nobody in Victoria remembers what a “normal, low-stress game” feels like.
11. Halifax Norsemen
Proud Of: Staying competitive despite getting outscored overall.
Humorous Win: The Norsemen are single-handedly keeping the league’s supply of moral victories afloat.
12. Wisborg Donuts
Proud Of: A stellar 13–5–1 record at home.
Humorous Win: Opponents are distracted wondering why a team named “Donuts” hits so hard.
13. Parry Sound Orrsmen
Proud Of: A strong late-season push at 7–3–0.
Humorous Win: The team’s new tactic: lull opponents into a false sense of security, then explode.
14. Seattle Reign
Proud Of: A solid recent stretch that’s pulled them back to .500.
Humorous Win: Seattle somehow has the league lead in “almost heart attack” games.
15. Niagara Falls Thunder
Proud Of: A respectable road record for a mid-pack team.
Humorous Win: Thunder games guarantee at least one goal that makes physics walk out.
16. Senneterre Beavers
Proud Of: Better-than-expected road numbers — 10–8–1 is no joke.
Humorous Win: Beavers block more shots than half the league’s goalies.
17. Chippawa Crackerjacks
Proud Of: A promising recent stretch with real improvement.
Humorous Win: You might not win every game, but you definitely win every vibe check.
18. Georgetown Millers
Proud Of: A sneaky offense that still pumps goals despite the record.
Humorous Win: The Millers’ breaks often last longer than their defensive-zone shifts.
19. Chattahoochee Crawdads
Proud Of: A solid .500 home record — fans get a real effort every night.
Humorous Win: Crawdads players lead the league in “Well… that was almost a great play.”
20. Willowdale Rush
Proud Of: Pushing games to OT — this team never dies easily.
Humorous Win: Rush fans have developed elite meditation habits to survive all the tight finishes.
21. Val-d'Or Nuggets
Proud Of: Forces games into extra time with pure stubbornness.
Humorous Win: Nuggets players are experts at keeping things interesting… even when nobody asked them to.
22. Springfield Isotopes
Proud Of: Consistently keeping games from blowing out of control.
Humorous Win: They hold the league record for “most near-comebacks that made the other team sweat.”
Miller's Musings
Another week full of losses and roster churn…
(11/22/25) GEO signs D. O’Connor to a 2 yr., $2.5M contract…
Georgetown signs the speedy bottom 6 forward with an eye towards contributing next season, but the team’s current struggles will likely see him getting a look on the 4th line and PK sooner rather than later.
(11/23/25) GEO waives T. Brodie...(waiver expiration date 11/26/25)…
Acquired in the big trade with Fergus, the veteran D was looked at as little more than a depth option and after making one appearance for the Millers, was waived and subsequently cleared.
(11/23/25) CHP trades D. Cozens & J. Schwartz to GEO for J. McCann & J. Drysdale…
The focus of the aforementioned trade with FEK was Drysdale, moved onto Chippewa along with Jared McCann for Dylan Cozens and Jaden Schwartz.
McCann wasn’t working as the 2nd line C, so as much as he’s liked by Georgetown’s management, he was sent back to CHP to get a natural C in Cozens and a scoring winger in Schwartz. GEO is hopeful that Cozens can lock down the 2nd line C spot for the next several years.
(11/28/25) GEO signs J. Van Riemsdyk to a 1yr., $1M contract…
The veteran winger is a depth signing, and could get a look as a PP specialist if the club decides to move out scoring forwards as part of a re-tool.
(11/28/25) AMO trades D. Toews & W. Foegele to GEO for T. Sanheim & A. Copp…
After a fast start Sanheim had not found chemistry with any partners and was dispatched for what the club hopes will be an answer to their recent scoring woes, trading in the sturdy defensive-minded blue liner for a puck-moving (yet still strong defensively) D in Toews and a middle 6 scoring winger in Foegele.
Millers management plans on letting these new additions gel and gain some chemistry before deciding their next move. There are some depth players who were floated on the trade block but the response was tepid. Although it’s difficult to project the lineups while things are in flux, this is a best guess as to how the team shapes up for the next few weeks.
Forwards:
Larkin-Kasper-Necas
Cozens-Schwartz-Guenther
Gourde-Foegele-Moore
McCarron-Johansson-Mikheyev
The club want to give Marco Kasper every chance to find his game, but in case the rookie can’t expect Martinook to re-enter the lineup on the 4th line and a winger to move up. O’Connor, Rasmussen and Robinson may make the odd appearance. JVR is expected to act more as a mentor then an on-ice contributor, at least for the time being. Joseph is highly unlikely to see the ice until next season.
Defense:
Toews-Roy
LaCombe-Edmundson
Chatfield-Marino
Gustafsson will act as the 7th D barring a trade. Shea is 8th. Matinpalo would only play in an emergency.
Goal:
Dostal
Allen
Grubauer
No changes here. The club is happy with Dostal’s performance.
Sunday, November 23, 2025
From the office of the Finance Guru ; the magic of the Payroll Page
Before taking over the finances for the league the only real use I had for the payroll page was during trade talks to match up salaries. But this year thanks to a certain CCHL team, I find myself spending a lot more time on it learning the ins and outs. Last night while processing a minor transaction I noticed a multiple teams were in some cases well over the roster limit. But worse - a lot of teams do not seem to have a handle on the rules.
In my opinion what makes the CCHL great is the investment we all make in the league, anyone can sign up for a yahoo league and let yahoo run the league for them. The CCHL is our league and with that comes a lot of work and a lot of reward. When I took over the lowly Ottawa Barracuda 7 years ago I was overwhelmed with all the procedures in the CCHL and of that is the case for you I would like to remind you that you can email me at any time and I will do my best to help. But in case you are worried that I may try and suck you into long drawn out trade negotiations around your star American player I’ll post some free advice here.
Each team is allowed to have up to 30 players on their rosters. Reserve and M-designated players do not count towards your 30 active players.
- A reserve player is one that did not play in enough NHL games the previous year and is not allowed to play in any CCHL games for the year. A skaters needs to have played in at least 11 NHL games and 5 for a goalie to be “disc eligible”.
- a M-designated player is a rookie that did play enough NHL games the previous year and has become disc eligible for the first time. Often their ratings stink and are unusable so to help with that tou are allowed to place a M-designation on them prior to the season . This allows you to maintain a roster of more than 30 players. You are able to use these rookie players in CCHL games if you get into a pickle , but once they play their 11th CCHL game they lose their M-designated exemption and become an active roster player thus counting against your 30 man roster. If this is confusing it may be better explained in section C of the CCHL rules.
So when you look at your team’s payroll page you will see all your players listed. The first group will have the term “on roster” to the right. You need to make sure you have 30 or less of these “on roster” at all times.
After those your M- designated players are listed. They are ins a light blue font and have the term “minors” next to them. There are no limits to how many you have but they must have been submitted to the league during g the appropriate time in the off season.
After your rookies come your Reserve players. Again there are no limits on these but they can never be used in a CCHL game .
Following your reserves are players that have been traded, waived, released or bought out and are no longer a part of your team .
Hopefully you are still paying attention and this has helped you if you were previously lost. And while I have you I need to remind everyone that there are reasons why we are so strict on how we format communications to the league. This league is hopefully fun for you and it’s why you’re here reading a blog about a league that if you are lucky enough to win (I never have) your reward for your hard work is a digital banner on top of the website. Don’t worry if and when I do win I will be going out and buying myself a trophy that I will display prominently in my house! But I’m getting off track, the CCHL as I mentioned is not yahoo or espn or fantrax we run it ourselves with our own time and out of the kindness of our hearts. Matt has much more of a life then I do and has a lot more work between simming the games, updating the website and making sure all the rules are being followed . It’s a ton of work, we ask you submit in a certain format so that as these transactions come in at all hours from different time zones they can just be copied and pasted. It may not seem like a big deal but there are sooooo many transactions and it would be insane to constantly be having to retype everyone’s .
When I started I made myself a little cheat sheet with the different formats so I wouldn’t get scolded and have to be on a phone call for 2 hours with a person 20 years older then me that I didn’t know - so be glad you’re just reading a blog lol. All formats can be found by scrolling through the transaction page but here are some common ones
SIGNINGS
CAP signs T. Czepiel to a 2 yr., $500K contract…
(Please abbreviate the word year to yr and use K for thousands and M for millions )
WAIVING
CAP waives T. Czepiel (waiver expiration date 11/26/25)…
(The waiver date is always 3 days from your submission date )
TRADING
CAP trades T. Czepiel, Hank Czepiel-p, CAP 1st-26 & $1.75M to CGY for B. Tkachuk…
*in a trade always list active players then prospects then draft picks (try and place them in order by pick and then by year, then cash
** active players have first initial . Last name (T. Czepiel)
*** prospects are ones that are still located on your prospect page , full first name last name -p (Trevor Czepiel-p)
****draft picks ie 1st-26 or 4th-27 and so on
I hope all this helps , please remember this league is hopefully fun for everyone that loves hockey. None of us want to be hard asses over small things and remember if there is something you don’t know and you can’t figure it out in the rules email me and I’ll try not to guilt you into trading me one of your upcoming American players I promise!