Swedish Hockey League facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Swedish Hockey League

Formerly	Elitserien (1975–2013)
Sport	Ice hockey
Founded	1975
Inaugural season	1975–76
No. of teams	14
Country	Sweden
Most recent champion(s)	Skellefteå AIK (4th title)
Most titles	Djurgårdens IF (16th title)
TV partner(s)	Sweden: TV4 Group Finland: C More Entertainment
Relegation to	HockeyAllsvenskan
International cup(s)	Champions Hockey League
Related competitions	Swedish Women's Hockey League
Official website	SHL.se

The Swedish Hockey League (SHL; Swedish: Svenska Hockeyligan) is a professional ice hockey league in Sweden. It is the top division in the Swedish ice hockey system. The league currently has 14 teams.

The SHL was started in 1975. Before that, Swedish ice hockey champions were crowned in different ways since 1922. Since the first SHL season in 1975–76, the winner of the SHL playoffs gets the championship title and the Le Mat Trophy.

The league was first called Elitserien (Swedish Elite League or SEL). It began with 10 teams. In 1987, it grew to 12 teams. In 2013, it was renamed the SHL. In 2014, new rules were made, including expanding to 14 teams by the 2015–16 season. Also, new ways for teams to move between the SHL and HockeyAllsvenskan (the second-tier league) were introduced.

Teams from the SHL also play in the IIHF's yearly Champions Hockey League (CHL). This is a competition for European teams. The SHL is ranked as the No. 1 league in Europe. This allows its top five teams to play in the CHL.

History of the SHL

The Swedish Ice Hockey Championship was first awarded in 1922. This was only two years after ice hockey came to Sweden. An American film director named Raoul Le Mat helped bring the sport to Sweden. At first, the championships were a separate tournament. It wasn't until the 1952–53 season that the championship went to the winner of the top hockey league, which was then called Division I.

How the League Grew

The first Elitserien season started on October 5, 1975. It had 10 teams. Each team played every other team four times. This meant two games at home and two away, for a total of 36 games.

For over 20 years, the league had 12 teams, after growing from 10 teams in 1987. Many hockey experts agreed that the league needed more teams. They felt that more teams were needed in the top league, partly because of the strong competition from HockeyAllsvenskan.

On March 13, 2014, the SHL and HockeyAllsvenskan announced that the SHL would expand to 14 teams. This change started with the 2015–16 season. To make this happen, at least two teams from HockeyAllsvenskan were promoted to the SHL in the 2014–15 season.

Playing in Europe

In 2009, some SHL teams were interested in a bigger European hockey league. These plans were later stopped in November 2011. Instead, the Champions Hockey League was formed in 2013.

New Name for the League

On June 17, 2013, the league changed its name to "Svenska hockeyligan." This made it easy to translate to "Swedish Hockey League" in English. Both names use the short form "SHL." This new name was seen as better for the league's brand.

How SHL Games Are Played

The Elitserien logo used from 2007 to 2013.

Each regular season SHL game has three 20-minute periods. There is a break of up to 18 minutes between periods. If the game is tied after 60 minutes, a five-minute overtime period is played. This is a "sudden death" period, meaning the first team to score wins. Teams play three-on-three during this overtime.

If the game is still tied after overtime, a shootout decides the winner. In a shootout, each team takes three penalty shots. The team that scores the most wins. If it's still tied after three shots, the shootout continues one shot at a time until one team scores and the other doesn't.

During each period, there is a 70-second "power break" for commercials. This break happens after the first stop in play, at least 10 minutes into the period. However, power breaks do not happen right after a goal, penalty shot, or during a powerplay.

Playoff Games

In playoff games, if there's a tie, extra 20-minute overtime periods are played. They continue until one team scores. Unlike the regular season, playoff overtime periods are played five-on-five.

Only one game in Sweden has ever gone past four full overtime periods. No SHL games have gone past three full overtime periods. The longest SHL game happened on March 23, 1997. It was a semifinal game between Leksands IF and Färjestad BK. Andreas Karlsson scored the winning goal for Leksand after 59 minutes of overtime. That's almost three full overtime periods!

SHL games are played on an ice hockey rink. The rink is a rectangle with rounded corners and walls. It measures 30 by 60 meters (about 98 by 197 feet). This size follows international standards.

SHL Teams

Head coaches at the start of the 2011–12 Elitserien season.

Since the SHL started in 1975, Färjestad BK has won the most Swedish Championship titles, with ten wins. Brynäs IF and Djurgårdens IF are tied for second, with six titles each.

If we count from 1922, when the first Swedish championships were played, Djurgårdens IF has the most titles with sixteen. Brynäs IF is next with thirteen, followed by Färjestad BK with ten, and IK Göta with nine.

Teams in the 2022–23 Season

2022–23 SHL season

How the Season Works

The SHL season has two main parts:

• The regular season runs from late September to early March. Teams play each other on a set schedule.
• The playoffs run from March to April. This is a knockout tournament. Two teams play against each other in a series. The first team to win four games in a best-of-seven series moves on. The last team standing is crowned the Swedish champion. They receive the Le Mat Trophy.

Regular Season Rules

In the regular season, each team plays 52 games. Points are given for each game:

• Three points for winning in regular time.
• Two points for winning in overtime or a shootout.
• One point for losing in overtime or a shootout.
• Zero points for losing in regular time.

At the end of the regular season, the team with the most points wins the league championship. They also get a prize of 1,000,000 SEK (about US$150,000).

The top six teams in points go straight to the playoffs. The teams ranked 7th to 10th play a special series to get the last two playoff spots. This is a best-of-three series. The two lowest-ranked teams after the regular season must play in a relegation series called Kvalserien. This decides if they stay in the SHL for the next season. Before the 2013–14 season, the top eight teams went directly to the playoffs.

If two or more teams have the same number of points, these rules decide their rank:

1. The team with the best goal difference (goals scored minus goals against).
2. The team that scored the most goals.
3. The results of games played between the tied teams.

Playoff Rules

The SHL playoffs are a knockout tournament. Teams play in multi-game series. A team must win a certain number of games to move to the next round. The eighth finals are best-of-three series. The other rounds are best-of-seven series.

The playoffs have four rounds:

• Eighth finals: The 7th-ranked team plays the 10th-ranked team. The 8th-ranked team plays the 9th-ranked team.
• Quarterfinals: The six best teams from the regular season and the two winners from the eighth finals play. The highest-ranked team plays the lowest-ranked team remaining.
• Semifinals: Teams are re-ranked. The top remaining team plays the lowest remaining team. The other two teams play each other.
• Finals: The last two teams play to decide the Swedish ice hockey champions.

Before the 2013–14 season, the top teams could choose their opponents in the quarterfinals.

In each series, the team that ranked higher in the regular season gets home-ice advantage. This means they play the first game at their home arena. A series ends when one team has won more than half of the games needed to win the series.

Relegation Rules

The two teams with the lowest rank after the regular season play in a Kvalserien series. This is a best-of-seven relegation series. The higher-ranked team gets home-ice advantage. The team that wins this series stays in the SHL. The team that loses is moved down to the second-tier league, HockeyAllsvenskan. The champion of HockeyAllsvenskan is then promoted to the SHL, taking the place of the team that was moved down.

Attendance and Special Games

In the 2010–11 season, the SHL was known as the world's most balanced professional ice hockey league. In the 2011–12 season, the SHL had the highest attendance in Europe, with an average of 6,385 fans per game. However, in 2013–14, it was third best in Europe, with an average of 5,978 fans. The SHL was the second most popular sports league in Sweden, after the football league Allsvenskan.

Between 2009 and 2013, the league held an outdoor game each December during the regular season.

• The first outdoor game was on December 28, 2009, between Frölunda HC and Färjestad BK at Ullevi. Frölunda won 4–1. A record 31,144 fans watched the game.
• The next year, Färjestad and Frölunda played outdoors again, this time in Karlstad. Färjestad won 5–2 in front of 15,274 fans.
• The 2013 outdoor game was on December 14, 2013, between Frölunda HC and Skellefteå AIK at Gamla Ullevi. This game was called "Julmatchen" (The Christmas game). Skellefteå won 4–1 with 13,452 fans watching.

Famous Players

Three players in SHL history have won the Golden Puck (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 players with the most points in SHL history are:

• Johan Davidsson (561 points)
• Fredrik Bremberg (501)
• Håkan Loob (500)
• Stefan Nilsson (489)
• Ove Molin (484)

The top three players with the most goals are:

• Håkan Loob (263 goals)
• Magnus Wernblom (241)
• Peter Gradin (214)

Joel Lundqvist, Jan Sandström, and Johan Davidsson have played the most SHL regular season games. Lundqvist has played 812 games, Sandström 800, and Davidsson 776.

For the 2021–22 season, the top three point-scoring forwards were:

• Ryan Lasch (66 points)
• Max Véronneau (60)
• Linus Omark (58)

Véronneau was the top goal-scorer with 34 goals, winning the Håkan Loob Trophy. The top three point-scoring defencemen were Jonathan Pudas (44 points), Joel Persson (39), and Joey LaLeggia (38).

The top three goaltenders by save percentage (for those who played more than 40% of their team's minutes) were:

• Jhonas Enroth (.923)
• Christoffer Rifalk (.921)
• Gustaf Lindvall (.920)

Trophies and Awards

A referee during an SHL game at Hovet in Stockholm.

The team that wins the SHL playoffs is named Swedish Champions. They are given the Le Mat Trophy. There is only one trophy given to players based on their regular season statistics: the Håkan Loob Trophy for the player who scores the most goals.

One of the most important individual awards is Guldhjälmen. This award is given every year to the Most Valuable Player. The players in the SHL vote for this award.

The Guldpucken is given each year to the best ice hockey player in Sweden. This award doesn't always go to an SHL player. For example, in the 2005–06 season, it was given to Kenny Jönsson from the second-tier league, HockeyAllsvenskan.

The award Årets Rookie (Rookie of the Year) is given every year by Svenska Spel and Svenska Hockeyligan. It goes to the best new player in the SHL.

Starting in 2010, a playoff MVP award was given. This award was later renamed the Stefan Liv Memorial Trophy. It honors Swedish goalkeeper Stefan Liv after he sadly passed away in the 2011 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash.

Watching and Listening to SHL Games

Hosts Tommy Åström and Niklas Wikegård inside the C More's ice hockey studio.

SHL games are shown across Sweden by TV4 and streamed online on TV4 Play. Some games are shown in Finland by C More and in Norway by VG+. One game from each round is chosen as the "Flagship Game." It is shown on TV4 Hockey with a studio show before, during, and after the game.

During the 2004–05 NHL lockout, SHL games were even shown in Canada by Rogers Sportsnet. At the start 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. One selected game also has English commentary.

Sveriges Radio (SR) is the official radio broadcaster for the SHL. Each round is covered by Sportextra on SR P4, with updates from all arenas. All games can be heard fully on SR's internet radio and on mobile phones.

Past Winners

SHL Regular Season Winners

SHL Playoff Winners (Swedish Champions)

Video Games

Teams from the SHL are included in some video games. You can play with SHL teams in Elitserien 95 [sv] for Sega Mega Drive, [[Elitserien 96|Elitserien 96 [sv]]] for Sega Mega Drive, and Elitserien 2001 [sv] for PC. Since NHL 2004, SHL teams have also appeared in EA Sports' NHL series.

See also

In Spanish: Svenska hockeyligan para niños

• Marathon SHL standings
• List of ice hockey leagues in Sweden