There is heartbreak and hangover in Saint John this week as the annual ODBHL General Managers meeting approaches on the horizon. This Saint John Kings team spent the season on top from game1 going on to smash regular season records. The Kings put up 110 points beating their own record of 104, as well as improving the goals against to 199 which was tied for the second best in the league's history. The marker though that drove the total points was the offence, Saint John scored 322 goals, absolutely destroying their own record of 289 in a season. The Kings team was heainf references of being a juggernaut and this staggering offence looked unstoppable posting a 30 game winning streak to start the season, however even the most dominant looking teams have to touch down to earth eventually.
Then there were playoffs, the time in the season that has been the nemesis of the Saint John Kings. They have managed to grasp 1 ODBHL Cup, but the trophy has eluded this team more times than many analysts suggest it should have. GM John Kenny has spent many seasons tweaking and building teams he felt should bring home gold, but too many times has fallen short. Could this shortfall happen again on such a dominant season, did not seem like it but like any other sport, sometimes somebody rises just a little higher.
The playoffs did start off on the right foot for the Loyalist City machine known as the Kings outplaying a real team on the rise in the Miramichi Moose. This Moose team is going to continue to grow as they are laced with young talent lead by Quinton Byfield who is coming off a record setting 106 point season. The talent is abundant in the Mooland and after getting knocked out in 6 games there is no doubt they will be looking to improve in next years playoff landscape.
Next came the perennial pain in the arse of the Kings being the Cains River Blues. This team has always been consistently deep in the playoff runs and with Patrik Laine and Connor Zary trading the league goal scoring lead back and forth, it looked like this was going to a shoot out the lights series. Zary and Liane were held to 2 goals each in this series but that did not stop the Kings from sweeping the Blues. The games were all close in this clash with the Kings only out scoring their opponents by a total of 5 goals in the 4 game series.
The finals were now set with the Kings playing the team that finished second overall in the regular season. In game one at home the Kings tasted defeat setting the fans of Saint John into a frenzy where boos and chants of the kilt wearing haggis eating fools flooded Harbour Station going into game 2. Game 2 saw captain Liam Foudy once again assert his dominance after missing most of game due to an undisclosed injury. Game 3 and 4 in the Sou also saw the Kings rolling, back in the fashion that was anticipated by many around the league for this series. Then game 5 is where things started to fall apart, the momentum seemed to switch when Nick Suzuki managed to squeak one by Logan Thompson in overtime. Game 6 can only be described as a dogs breakfast, where it seems neither played to the normal game plan and once again in overtime we saw the Scotsmen strike down the mighty Kings on a goal by former King Clayton Keller. Game 7 can only be described as a meltdown of the Saint John system, after being rattled in game 6 with a 7-6 loss it appeared many Kings players just did not show up for work being shut down and shut out the newly crowned ODBHL Cup champion South Esk Scotsmen.
Here in the City of Saint John we are looking forward to seeing what off season developments come along as we know when the Kings don’t win, GM John Kenny brings change and after a season with the fewest transactions the team has ever seen, we assume there will be change.
Irwin P Freeley
Telegraph Journal
10/24/2025 - 698 words
