The 2024 Valorian Hockey Season, stylized VHL 2024, is the forty-seventh and current running of the Valorian Hockey League and Coupe Balbuzard competitions, held from October 2023 to July 2024.
The Boston Spirits are defending league champions and Earle Trophy winners. The Spirits secured their 25th Earle Trophy and 50th trophy overall on the last matchday of the league, beating out the Mainers and Halifax Hockey Club.
The Newfoundland Sailors are reigning Coupe Balbuzard champions, having won the last two editions. They will host the 2024 Coupe Balbuzard finals at Kaufman Arena.
2024 is the first VHL season to promote the top eight teams to the playoffs, rather than the traditional four. This led to an extended playoffs tournament, with quarter-finals, semi-finals, and a finals series.
League
Heading into the season, the defending champions and Earle Trophy winners Boston were considered favorites to defend both titles, with the Carlos Ortega-led Mainers considered to be their strongest challengers. Three matchdays into the season, Charlottetown emerged as the surprise league leaders, as the only undefeated team remaining. They were quickly surpassed by the Spirits and the Doves, although both were surpassed by Halifax by matchday 9. By matchday 14, the Spirits and the Mainers overtook Halifax, closely followed by the Sailors. The Sailors surged into the lead from matchdays 18 to 22, although their performance dropped in the last third of the season. The Spirits and the Mainers eventually overtook the Sailors, entering a two-horse race for the Earle Trophy. On the final matchday, Halifax overtook the Mainers to claim runners-up in the league.
Playoffs
Quarter-finals 1
| Team
|
G1
|
G2
|
G3
|
G4
|
G5
|
| Boston Spirits
|
3
|
0
|
2
|
4
|
|
| Acadia Rage
|
2
|
4
|
3
|
1
|
|
Semi-finals 1
| Team
|
G1
|
G2
|
G3
|
G4
|
| TBD
|
|
|
|
|
| TBD
|
|
|
|
|
Quarter-finals 2
| Team
|
G1
|
G2
|
G3
|
| EH Bas-Canada
|
3
|
5
|
3
|
| Providence Doves
|
2
|
0
|
1
|
2024 Finals series
| Team
|
G1
|
G2
|
G3
|
G4
|
G5
|
| TBD
|
|
|
|
|
|
| TBD
|
|
|
|
|
|
Quarter-finals 3
| Team
|
G1
|
G2
|
G3
|
G4
|
| Halifax Hockey Club
|
1
|
3
|
3
|
2
|
| Salem Loggers
|
3
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
Semi-finals 2
| Team
|
G1
|
G2
|
G3
|
G4
|
| Halifax Hockey Club
|
|
|
|
|
| Newfoundland Sailors
|
|
|
|
|
Quarter-finals 4
| Team
|
G1
|
G2
|
G3
|
G4
|
| Mainers
|
1
|
6
|
2
|
0
|
| Newfoundland Sailors
|
5
|
2
|
3
|
3
|
Quarter-finals
Boston Spirits vs. Acadia Rage
b
EH Bas-Canada vs. Providence Doves
Bas-Canada started the series as the senior-seed, but betting odds were roughly even between the two teams. Bas-Canada had had a rough start to the regular season, but had improved to ultimately secure qualification early on and finish a strong fourth. The Doves,
Halifax Hockey Club vs. Salem Loggers
b
Mainers vs. Newfoundland Sailors
The Mainers entered this matchup as strong favorites, as the team, led by a two-time reigning Golden Puck winner Carlos Ortega, had enjoyed a consistently nearly league-topping regular season, while the Sailors' performance had noticeably dropped off in the last few months. While the Sailors had held a three-point lead as late as matchday 19, they had since fallen down to sixth. Despite this, some pundits pointed to the Mainers' demoralizing two losses in the final two matchdays, which saw them lose what could've been their first Earle Trophy. Additionally, this matchup was the most closely followed of the four quarter-finals, as both the Mainers and the Sailors (along with the Spirits, on the other side of the bracket) were competing to sign Carlos Ortega, whose contract with the Mainers was up at the end of this season.
The Sailors took a massive upset victory in the first game, winning 5–1 as the visitors and featuring a spectacular hat-trick from Sailors captain Danilo Lorenz. Commentator Walter Cobb described the Mainers' loss—their third in a row, if taking the two final matchdays of the league into account—as "utterly crushing," a sentiment echoed by a frustrated Dominique Bergeron, manager of the Mainers. His side responded convincingly, however, with their own dominant 6–2 victory in front of their home crowd, featuring four goals from Ortega. With the next two games at the Kaufman Arena, the Sailors had an opportunity to swing the series in their favor. They did just that with a 3–2 win in their first game at home. Ahead of the fourth game, pundits described the Mainers as "completely shattered," and Cobb noted that Ortega was "the only thing keeping them going." In the fourth game, Sailors goaltender Stefán Kaczmarek held Ortega and the Mainers to a shutout, while the Lorenz-led home side found the back of the net three times to secure their entry into the semi-finals. The Sailors' series upset against the Mainers was widely celebrated in Newfoundland, and Cobb said that Lorenz had quelled "any doubt that he's not still the greatest player in the VHL."
Semi-finals
Semi-final 1: TBD
b
Halifax Hockey Club vs. Newfoundland Sailors
b
2024 Finals series: TBD
TBD
Coupe Balbuzard
Main article: 2024 Coupe Balbuzard
The Newfoundland Sailors will enter this tournament as defending champions, seeking to become the first team to win three Coupes Balbuzard in a row.
Trophies and Awards
