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49-662: Kvalserien was formed after the regular seasons of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL, previously named Elitserien) and the second-tier league HockeyAllsvenskan had been played. The two worst ranked teams in the SHL and the best four teams in HockeyAllsvenskan formed the league together with the winner of a six-round round-robin tournament between the teams ranked 4–7 from HockeyAllsvenskan. The six Kvalserien teams played each other twice, once at home ice and once on

98-522: A Playoff round-robin tournament) and regular-season winner Leksands IF took the two available spots for the 2013–14 SHL season . Örebro promoted to the SHL for the first time in club history, while Leksand returned to the SHL for the first time since 2005–06 . Timrå were relegated to HockeyAllsvenskan for the first time since 1999–2000 , while Rögle's return to Elitserien lasted for only one season. The 40th and final Kvalserien ended with Örebro HK defending their SHL spot and Djurgårdens IF returning to

147-477: A goal, penalty shot, icing call or during a powerplay. In the event of a tied game during the playoffs, additional 20-minute overtime periods are played perpetually until one team scores. Unlike in the regular season, playoff overtime periods are played five-on-five. Only one game in Sweden has ever surpassed four full overtime periods, and no SHL games have surpassed three full overtime periods. The longest SHL game

196-429: A wall. It measures 30 by 60 meters (98.42 by 196.85 ft), conforming to international standards. Counting from the formation of the SHL in 1975, Färjestad BK is the most successful team with ten Swedish Championship titles. Brynäs IF and Djurgårdens IF are tied for the second most successful team with six championship titles. Counting from 1922, when the first Swedish championships were played, Djurgårdens IF

245-484: Is a Swedish professional ice hockey team from the town of Leksand in the region of Dalarna . The team plays in the top-tier league, Swedish Hockey League (SHL), after succeeding through the 2019 SHL qualifiers and thus earning promotion to the SHL. The club's home arena is Tegera Arena , which seats 7,650 spectators. The club was formed on 13 August 1919, originally playing bandy and ski competitions. In 1920 they also took up football . The first hockey game

294-410: Is composed of three 20-minute periods, with an intermission of a maximum of 18 minutes between periods. If the game is tied following the 60-minute regulation time, a five-minute three-on-three sudden death overtime period is played. If a game still is tied after the overtime period, a shootout decides the game. In a shootout, the team that scores the most penalty shots out of three attempts wins

343-434: Is crowned the league champion and is awarded a prize sum of 1,000,000 SEK (approx. US$ 150,000) as a bonus. The six highest-ranked teams by points qualify directly for the playoffs. The four teams ranked 7–10 play a best-of-three series and battle for the two remaining playoff spots. The two lowest-ranked teams after the regular season have to play in the relegation and promotion series Kvalserien in order to qualify for

392-586: Is presented as the "Flagship Game" and shown on TV4 Hockey with a studio show before, between the periods and after the game. During the 2004–05 NHL lockout , SHL games were being broadcast in Canada by Rogers Sportsnet . In the beginning of the 2023-24 season it was announced that all games would be available on HomeofHockey.tv in the US, UK, Canada, Ireland, Netherlands, Italy, Belgium and Spain with one selected game having English commentary. Sveriges Radio (SR)

441-489: Is the most successful team with sixteen championship titles, followed by Brynäs IF with thirteen, as well as Färjestad BK with ten and IK Göta with nine. The league consists of 14 teams; Brynäs IF returned to the SHL after one season in the HockeyAllsvenskan , where they won the 2023–24 title. IK Oskarshamn were relegated to the HockeyAllsvenskan at the end of the previous season, after five seasons in

490-671: Is the official radio broadcaster of the SHL. Each round is covered by Sportextra in SR P4 with reports from all arenas; all games are available in their entirety on SR's internet radio and to mobile phones via 3G. Teams from the league are playable in the video games Elitserien 95  [ sv ] and Elitserien 96  [ sv ] for Sega Mega Drive , and Elitserien 2001  [ sv ] for PC . Since NHL 2004 , teams have appeared in EA Sports ' NHL series Leksands IF Leksands Idrottsförening

539-460: The 2010 Kvalserien , finishing three points ahead of AIK . In the ninth round of the 2010 Kvalserien, Leksand had a good chance to put them in the driver's seat for promotion to Elitserien, but Leksand failed to beat the Kvalserien's worst ranked team Växjö Lakers and, despite a win in the tenth and final round, Leksand missed Elitserien as both AIK and Rögle BK won their respective games in

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588-423: The 2012–13 season . For the 2007–08 season , Leksand signed former NHL goaltender Ed Belfour in an attempt to regain top league status. After winning the second league with relative ease, the team failed in the final qualification stage, Kvalserien , to gain promotion. Ed Belfour retired after the 2007–08 season. Leksand once again won Allsvenskan in the 2008–09 season , but once again failed to qualify for

637-460: The 2013–14 season , the top-tier teams got to choose their opponents in the quarterfinals. The eighth finals are played as best-of-three series while the other rounds are played as best-of-seven series. In each series, the higher-ranked team of the two has home-ice advantage . Each series is played in an alternating home-away format, with the first game played at the higher seed's home venue. Any given series ends when one team has won more than half

686-681: The 2015–16 season , and a new format for promotion from and relegation to HockeyAllsvenskan , the second tier league. Teams from the SHL participate in the IIHF 's annual Champions Hockey League (CHL), competing for the European Trophy. Participation is based on the strength of the various leagues in Europe (excluding the European/Asian Kontinental Hockey League ). Going into the 2022–23 CHL season ,

735-538: The 2015–16 season . To make this change happen, at least two HockeyAllsvenskan teams would be promoted to the SHL in the 2014–15 season. In 2009, Håkan Loob , the general manager of Färjestad BK , sent a letter to Alexander Medvedev , the owner and president of the Russian Kontinental Hockey League , on behalf of five SHL teams – Färjestad, Frölunda , Djurgården , Linköping and HV71 – that were reportedly "interested in discussing

784-471: The Le Mat Trophy . The regular season is a round-robin , where each team plays 52 games. Points are awarded for each game, where three points are awarded for winning in regulation time, two points for winning in overtime or shootout, one point for losing in overtime or shootout, and zero points for losing in regulation time. At the end of the regular season, the team that finishes with the most points

833-470: The football league Allsvenskan , which in the 2013 season had an average attendance of 7,627. Between 2009 and 2013, the league hosted an outdoor game in the regular season in December every year. The first outdoor game was played on 28 December 2009, between Frölunda HC and Färjestad BK at Ullevi . Frölunda came out on top with a 4–1 victory. 31,144 spectators saw the game, setting a new record for

882-467: The 2006-07 season in HockeyAllsvenskan. Skellefteå AIK re-qualified for Elitserien and Södertälje SK returned to Elitserien after one year in lesser divisions. Brynäs IF remained in the highest league and Rögle BK were promoted to Elitserien at the expense of Mora IK . Södertälje SK and Rögle BK ended up respectively second and first and both re-qualified for Elitserien for the 2009–10 season. Södertälje SK finished first in Kvalserien for

931-582: The Elitserien in the 2009 Kvalserien . The managers Thomas Kempe and Thomas Jonsson were sacked following three straight defeats in the beginning of the Kvalserien . The team finished the 2009 Kvalserien with five wins in the last six games, but still failed to qualify. For the 2009–10 season, Leksand employed Leif Strömberg , who had previously successfully guided Södertälje SK through Kvalserien. The team once again won Allsvenskan and qualified for

980-442: The Kvalserien. Before the 2011/12 season, assistant head coach Christer Olsson took over the reins, but was sacked following a defeat at Sundsvall Hockey in late November and replaced by Andreas Appelgren . After winning the regular season in the 2012–13 season , Leksand once again qualified for play in Kvalserien . In the 2013 Kvalserien , Leksand finally promoted back to the Swedish Hockey League (SHL; formerly Elitserien),

1029-538: The SHL playoffs is named Swedish Champions and awarded the Le Mat Trophy . There is only one trophy that is awarded to players based on their statistics during the regular season; the Håkan Loob Trophy for the goal-scoring leader. One of the most prestigious individual awards is Guldhjälmen , which is awarded annually to the Most Valuable Player . The voting is conducted by the players in

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1078-648: The SHL was ranked the No. 1 league in Europe, allowing them to send their top five teams to compete in the CHL. The Swedish Ice Hockey Championship was awarded for the first time in 1922 , only two years after ice hockey was introduced in Sweden by the American film director Raoul Le Mat . At this point, the Swedish Championships were held as a separate tournament. It was not until the 1952–53 season that

1127-507: The SHL, taking the place of the relegated team. In the 2010–11 season, the SHL was the world's most evenly matched professional ice hockey league. During the 2011–12 season , the SHL was the most well attended ice hockey league in Europe , averaging 6,385 spectators per game, however in 2013–14 , the SHL was third best in Europe, with an attendance average of 5,978. The SHL was the second most popular sports team league within Sweden, after

1176-675: The SHL. Starting in 2010, an annual playoff MVP was acknowledged. The playoff MVP award was later renamed the Stefan Liv Memorial Trophy in honour of Swedish goalkeeper Stefan Liv after his death in the 2011 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash . SHL games are broadcast nationally in Sweden by TV4 and streamed on TV4 Play . Selected games are shown in Finland by C More and in Norway by VG+ . One game from each round

1225-573: The SHL. The SHL season is divided into a regular season from late September through the beginning of March, when teams play against each other in a pre-defined schedule, and a playoffs from March to April, which is an elimination tournament where two teams play against each other to win a best-of-seven series in order to advance to the next round. The final remaining team is crowned the Swedish champion , or Svenska mästare in Swedish, and receives

1274-463: The SHL. Guldpucken is awarded annually to the ice hockey player of the year in Sweden. It is not necessarily awarded to a player in the SHL; for the 2005–06 season the award was given to Kenny Jönsson in the Swedish second-tier ice hockey league HockeyAllsvenskan . The award Årets Rookie (Rookie of the Year) is awarded annually by Svenska Spel and Svenska Hockeyligan to the best rookie player in

1323-475: The championship was awarded to the winner of the top-tier hockey league, which at the time was Division I . The inaugural Elitserien season began on 5 October 1975, with the league consisting of 10 teams, each playing one another four times—two at home and two on the road—for a total of 36 games. There has been extensive discussion about the number of teams in the SHL. The league had 12 teams for over 20 years since an expansion from 10 teams in 1987, however, there

1372-485: The final round. After failing promotion, Leif Strömberg was replaced by ex-Leksand forward Niklas Eriksson , under whom the following season Leksand attempted to reach the Kvalserien for the seventh consecutive season. The team finished fourth in Allsvenskan and missed automatic qualification for the Kvalserien and had to play in a pre-qualification series to reach the Kvalserien, but Leksand finished third and missed

1421-484: The first time in club history. Leksands IF were relegated to HockeyAllsvenskan. Brynäs IF re-qualified for Elitserien and Leksands IF returned to Elitserien after one year in lesser divisions. Malmö Redhawks were relegated to HockeyAllsvenskan. Malmö Redhawks and Skellefteå AIK respectively finished first and second and qualified for play in Elitserien in the 2006–07 season. Södertälje SK and Leksands IF were relegated from Elitserien and were forced to spend

1470-568: The future of European hockey". It was believed that these five teams had intended to leave the SHL league after the 2009–10 season; they terminated their shareholders' agreements with Hockeyligan , the name at that time for the SHL's interest organisation. The teams also formed an interest group to investigate the possibility of forming a continental hockey league spanning several European countries. These plans were abandoned in November 2011, however, with Frölunda's chairman expressing hopes for

1519-564: The future of the European Trophy (which was disbanded with the formation of the Champions Hockey League in 2013). On 17 June 2013, the league was renamed "Svenska hockeyligan", since this would allow for an easy English translation ("Swedish Hockey League") and a common acronym in the two languages ("SHL"), all of which was considered to be a better brand identity for investment. Each regular season SHL game

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1568-416: The game. If the game is still tied after the first three penalty-shot rounds, the shootout continues round by round, until one team scores while the other team fails to score. During each period, there is one 70-second "power break" used to display commercials; each commercial is played after the first stoppage of play at least 10 minutes into the period. Power breaks do not, however, take place directly after

1617-465: The largest attendance at an ice hockey league match in Sweden. The following year, Färjestad and Frölunda met again in an outdoor game, this time in Karlstad . Färjestad won the game 5–2 in front of 15,274 spectators. The 2013 outdoor game was played on 14 December 2013, between Frölunda HC and Skellefteå AIK at Gamla Ullevi . The game was promoted as "Julmatchen" (English: The Christmas game ) and

1666-708: The leaders in the number of SHL regular season games played, with Lundqvist having played 812 games, Sandström 800 and Davidsson 776. The top three point-scoring forwards for the 2021–22 season were Ryan Lasch (66 points), Max Véronneau (60) and Linus Omark (58). Véronneau was the top goal-scorers and thus the Håkan Loob Trophy winner, with 34 goals. The top three point-scorers on defence were Jonathan Pudas (44 points), Joel Persson (39) and Joey LaLeggia (38). The top three goaltenders by save percentage among those who played more than 40% of their team's minutes were Jhonas Enroth (.923), Christoffer Rifalk (.921) and Gustaf Lindvall (.920). The winning team of

1715-406: The maximum number of games needed to decide the series. The two lowest ranked teams after the regular season have to play in a best-of-seven relegation series called Kvalserien , with the higher-ranked team having home-ice advantage. The winning team remains in the SHL, while the losing team is relegated to the second-tier league, HockeyAllsvenskan . The champion of HockeyAllsvenskan is promoted to

1764-420: The next round. The playoffs consist of four rounds: The eighth finals, the quarterfinals, the semifinals and the finals. In the first round, the eighth finals (known as Play In before the 2015–16 season), the 7th-ranked team from the regular season is paired against the 10th-ranked team and the 8th-ranked team is paired against the 9th-ranked team. In the quarterfinals, the six best teams from the regular season and

1813-405: The next season of the SHL. Before the 2013–14 season , the eight highest-ranked teams qualified for the playoffs. If two or more teams end up tied in points, the seeds are determined by the following tiebreaker format : The SHL playoffs are an elimination tournament consisting of multi-game series where two teams battle to win a best-of-three or best-of-seven series in order to advance to

1862-931: The road, giving 10 games per team and a total of 30 games. The two teams finishing first and second were promoted to the SHL the next season, while the remaining four teams played in HockeyAllsvenskan the next season. IF Björklöven and Timrå IK returned to Elitserien after respectively one and eighteen seasons in lesser divisions. VIK Västerås HK and Linköpings HC were relegated to HockeyAllsvenskan . Linköpings HC and Södertälje SK returned to Elitserien after one and three seasons, respectively, in lesser divisions. Leksands IF and IF Björklöven were relegated to HockeyAllsvenskan. Timrå IK re-qualified for Elitserien and Leksands IF returned to Elitserien after one year in lesser divisions. AIK were relegated to HockeyAllsvenskan. Both Linköpings HC and Brynäs IF re-qualified for Elitserien. Malmö Redhawks re-qualified for Elitserien and Mora IK qualified for Elitserien for

1911-505: The runners-up in 1989 . In 2001, they were the club with the second most consecutive seasons in the highest division at that point (the record is held by Södertälje SK , with 53 consecutive seasons between 1925 and 1978). Following the relegation to HockeyAllsvenskan in April 2001, Leksand commuted between the top and second divisions until 2005–06 , when the team was relegated to the second tier again, where they would find themselves until

1960-484: The second consecutive year, and AIK returned to Elitserien after eight seasons in lesser divisions. Växjö Lakers , HockeyAllsvenskan's regular-season winners, finished with 26 points and qualified for Elitserien for the first time in club history, at the expense of Södertälje SK . Modo Hockey re-qualified for Elitserien. Timrå IK defended their Elitserien spot, while Rögle BK returned to Elitserien after two years and replaced Djurgårdens IF who were relegated to

2009-439: The second-tier league, HockeyAllsvenskan, for the first time since the 1977–78 season . Rögle became the first HockeyAllsvenskan team in history to qualify for Elitserien by winning the playoff round to get into the Kvalserien. For the first time since 2006, neither of the two Elitserien teams, Timrå IK and Rögle BK , managed to defend their Elitserien/SHL spot. Instead, HockeyAllsvenskan teams Örebro HK (who qualified through

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2058-677: The title and the Le Mat Trophy have been awarded to the winner of the SHL playoffs since the league's inaugural 1975–76 season . The league was founded in 1975 as the Elitserien (known in English as the Swedish Elite League or SEL ), and initially featured 10 teams, though this was expanded to 12 for the 1987–88 season . The league was renamed the SHL in 2013, and in 2014, a number of format changes were announced, including an expansion to 14 teams to be finalized prior to

2107-489: The top-tier league after a two-year stint in HockeyAllsvenskan. AIK were relegated to HockeyAllsvenskan. Swedish Hockey League The Swedish Hockey League ( SHL ; Swedish : Svenska Hockeyligan ) is a professional ice hockey league , and the highest division in the Swedish ice hockey system . The league currently consists of 14 teams. The league was founded in 1975, and while Swedish ice hockey champions have been crowned through various formats since 1922,

2156-407: The two winners of the eighth finals are paired seed-wise against each other, with the highest seed playing the lowest-remaining seed. In the semifinals, the teams are re-seeded, with the top remaining seed playing against the lowest remaining seed, and the other two remaining teams pairing off. In the finals, the two remaining teams face each other to determine the Swedish ice hockey champions . Before

2205-408: Was general agreement among hockey experts that the league needed to be expanded by at least two more teams. They meant that, apart from just the economic situation for some of the clubs, the competition from HockeyAllsvenskan had shown that more teams were needed in the top-tier league SHL. On 13 March 2014, the SHL and HockeyAllsvenskan announced that the SHL would be expanded to 14 teams, starting in

2254-429: Was played in 1938, when they beat Mora IK 11–0, and this sport is now the only sport the club competes in. Despite the fact that the town of Leksand only has 6,000 inhabitants, Leksands IF is one of the most popular teams in Sweden, and the team averages over 4,000 spectators per game in their home arena despite playing in the second tier. Leksand played in the top hockey division in Sweden from 1951 until 2001. The club

2303-455: Was the first game of the 1997 Swedish Championship semifinals, played on 23 March 1997 between Leksands IF and Färjestad BK . 6,012 spectators saw Andreas Karlsson score the game-winning goal for Leksand after 59 minutes of overtime (almost three full overtime periods). See Longest ice hockey games in Sweden for other games. SHL games are played on an ice hockey rink , which is rectangular ice rink with rounded corners and surrounded by

2352-470: Was very successful between 1969 and 1975, when they became Swedish champions four times ( 1969 , 1973 – 1975 ). Before the current top division, Elitserien (now known as the SHL), was formed prior to the 1975–76 season , they had been the runners-up four times: 1959 , 1964 , 1971 and 1972 . Leksand has never become SHL champions despite winning the SHL's regular season in 1980 , 1994 and 1997 , and being

2401-663: Was won by Skellefteå 4–1 in front of 13,452 spectators. Three players in SHL history have been awarded the Golden Puck , as ice hockey player of the year in Sweden, more than once; Anders Andersson , Leif Holmqvist and Peter Forsberg have all won it twice. The top five career scorers in the SHL are Johan Davidsson (561 points), Fredrik Bremberg (501), Håkan Loob (500), Stefan Nilsson (489) and Ove Molin (484). The top three career goal scorers are Håkan Loob (263 goals), Magnus Wernblom (241) and Peter Gradin (214). Joel Lundqvist , Jan Sandström and Johan Davidsson are

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