2014–15 HockeyAllsvenskan season

The 2014–15 HockeyAllsvenskan season was the tenth season of the second tier of ice hockey in Sweden under that name. The league featured 14 teams, including Stockholm-based AIK, who were relegated from the SHL following four seasons in the top league. Also joining HockeyAllsvenskan was HC Vita Hästen, which marked the return of elite-level hockey to Norrköping. A previous Vita Hästen club had played in Sweden's second-tier league until the 1995–96 season, but following that club's bankruptcy in 1996, the new Vita Hästen club rebuilt from the bottom of the league system, culminating in their promotion back to the second tier in the 2014 HockeyAllsvenskan qualifiers.[1]

2014–15 HockeyAllsvenskan season
LeagueHockeyAllsvenskan
SportIce hockey
Duration10 September 2014 – 2 April 2015
Number of teams14
Total attendance1,086,734
Average attendance2,986
TV partner(s)Viasat
First placeVIK Västerås HK
Top scorerJacob Lagace (ASP)
Promoted to SHLKarlskrona HK
Rögle BK
Malmö Redhawks
Relegated to HockeyettanSödertälje SK
HockeyAllsvenskan seasons

Sweden's top league, the SHL, expanded from 12 to 14 teams for the 2015–16 season. This, coupled with changes to the promotion and relegation format, created an "arms race" type of situation, in which teams had a strong incentive to invest heavily to try to secure an SHL spot during this season.[2]

Format

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As with previous seasons, the 2014–15 HockeyAllsvenskan season featured a 52-game regular season, with teams facing each other twice at home and twice away; however, significant changes were made to the format for promotion to the SHL. Teams 1 and 2 from HockeyAllsvenskan competed in the HockeyAllsvenskan finals (Swedish: HockeyAllsvenska finalen), a best-of-five series in which the winner qualified for play in the 2015–16 SHL season. Meanwhile, teams 3–8 advanced to the playoffs (Swedish: slutspelsserien), a single round robin tournament.

The three best teams from the playoff series, along with the loser from the HockeyAllsvenskan finals, and the two teams with the worst records from the 2014–15 SHL season, met in the SHL qualifiers (Swedish: Direktkval till SHL). These six teams were pair off into three best-of-seven series, with the winners of each matchup qualifying to play in the SHL.[3][4] On 16 February 2015, HockeyAllsvenskan announced that the playoffs was to be sponsored by Swedish firm MECA and have the collective name MECA Hockey Race.[5] This was later rejected by the Swedish Ice Hockey Association, saying they owned the naming rights.[6]

Participating clubs

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Team City Arena Capacity
AIK Stockholm Hovet 8,094
Almtuna IS Uppsala Metallåtervinning Arena 2,800
Asplöven HC Haparanda Arena Polarica 1,500
IF Björklöven Umeå T3 Center 5,400
BIK Karlskoga Karlskoga Nobelhallen 6,300
Karlskrona HK Karlskrona Telenor Arena Karlskrona 3,464
IF Malmö Redhawks Malmö Malmö Arena 13,000
Mora IK Mora FM Mattsson Arena 4,514
IK Oskarshamn Oskarshamn Arena Oskarshamn 3,346
Rögle BK Ängelholm Lindab Arena 5,150
Södertälje SK Södertälje AXA Sports Center 6,130
Timrå IK Timrå E.ON Arena 6,000
VIK Västerås HK Västerås ABB Arena Nord 4,902
HC Vita Hästen Norrköping Himmelstalundshallen 4,280

Regular season

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Standings

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Pos Team Pld W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 VIK Västerås 52 28 4 6 14 144 116 +28 98 Advance to the HockeyAllsvenskan finals
2 Karlskrona HK 52 26 8 2 16 159 124 +35 96
3 Malmö Redhawks 52 25 7 6 14 168 122 +46 95 Advance to the playoffs
4 Rögle BK 52 22 6 7 17 158 140 +18 85
5 BIK Karlskoga 52 22 6 4 20 162 162 0 82
6 IF Björklöven 52 19 10 4 19 135 136 −1 81
7 Mora IK 52 22 3 7 20 130 141 −11 79
8 Vita Hästen 52 19 6 5 22 129 142 −13 74
9 Almtuna IS 52 20 3 8 21 130 146 −16 74
10 Timrå IK 52 20 2 7 23 128 139 −11 71
11 IK Oskarshamn 52 16 6 9 21 133 151 −18 69
12 Asplöven HC 52 16 7 6 23 150 160 −10 68
13 AIK 52 16 5 7 24 118 142 −24 65 Advance to the HockeyAllsvenskan qualifiers
14 Södertälje SK 52 10 10 5 27 123 146 −23 55
Source: [1]

Post-season

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HockeyAllsvenskan finals

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VIK Västerås HK and Karlskrona HK, as the first and second place teams from the regular season, advanced to the HockeyAllsvenskan finals (Swedish: HockeyAllsvenska finalen), a best-of-five series. Karlskrona HK won the series, and were thus crowned HockeyAllsvenskan champions and qualified for play in the 2015–16 SHL season. VIK Västerås HK meanwhile advanced to the SHL qualifiers.[7]

VIK Västerås HK vs. Karlskrona HK

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4 March VIK Västerås HK 2–1 Karlskrona HK ABB Arena Recap  
No scoring First period Erik Thorell 1 - 0:33
Dustin Johner 1 - 14:11 Second period No scoring
Dustin Johner 2 - 17:18 Third period No scoring
Jonatan Bjurö ( 15 saves / 16 shots ) Goalie stats Patrick Galbraith ( 35 saves / 37 shots )
6 March Karlskrona HK 3–1 VIK Västerås HK Telenor Arena Karlskrona Recap  
Maksim Matushkin 1 - pp - 2:18
Niklas Lihagen 1 - pp - 12:56
First period No scoring
No scoring Second period No scoring
Alexander Bergström 1 - pp - 14:47 Third period Fredrik Johansson 1 - 19:49
Patrick Galbraith ( 38 saves / 39 shots ) Goalie stats Jonatan Bjurö ( 19 saves / 22 shots )
8 March VIK Västerås HK 3–4 2OT Karlskrona HK ABB Arena Recap  
Robin Jacobsson 1 - pp - 13:33
Jonas Emmerdahl 1 - 17:26
First period No scoring
No scoring Second period Joel Kellman 1 - 2:02
Joel Kellman 2 - 9:23
Robin Jacobsson 2 - 17:53 Third period Niklas Lihagen 2 - 0:11
No scoring Second overtime period Joel Kellman 3 - 10:50
Jonatan Bjurö ( 30 saves / 34 shots ) Goalie stats Patrick Galbraith ( 60 saves / 63 shots )
10 March Karlskrona HK 2–1 VIK Västerås HK Telenor Arena Karlskrona Recap  
No scoring First period Dustin Johner 3 - 4:11
No scoring Second period No scoring
Joel Kellman 4 - pp - 13:04
Vyacheslav Trukhno 1 - 15:31
Third period No scoring
Patrick Galbraith ( 21 saves / 22 shots ) Goalie stats Jonas Fransson ( 34 saves / 36 shots )
Karlskrona HK won series 3–1


Playoffs

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Teams 3 to 8 played a playoff series (Swedish: slutspelsserien), a round robin tournament consisting of five rounds where every team faced each other once. Teams 3–5 had home advantage in three out of five games. Teams were awarded starting points based on their position in the regular season standings: Malmö started with three points, Rögle with two, and BIK Karlskoga with one. The three best teams in the series, Rögle BK, HC Vita Hästen and Malmö Redhawks advanced to the SHL qualifiers (Swedish: Direktkval till SHL).[7]

Pos Team Pld W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Rögle BK 5 2 3 0 0 19 11 +8 14 Advance to SHL qualifiers
2 HC Vita Hästen 5 3 1 1 0 14 9 +5 12
3 Malmö Redhawks 5 1 1 0 3 8 13 −5 8
4 IF Björklöven 5 1 2 0 2 10 9 +1 7 Return to HockeyAllsvenskan for the 2015–16 season
5 Mora IK 5 1 0 3 1 12 13 −1 6
6 BIK Karlskoga 5 0 0 3 2 10 18 −8 4
Source: [2]

SHL qualifiers

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In the SHL qualifiers (Swedish: direktval till SHL), six teams were paired up into three best-of-seven series, where each series winner would qualify for play in the 2015–16 SHL season. Västerås, as winners of the HockeyAllsvenskan finals, were paired with playoff-winners Rögle BK. Modo, who finished 12th in the SHL, were paired with Vita Hästen who finished second in the HockeyAllsvenskan playoffs. Lastly, Leksands IF, who finished 11th in the SHL were paired with Malmö, who finished third in the HockeyAllsvenskan playoffs.

The better-ranked teams Leksand, Modo, and Västerås, had home venue advantage in games 1, 3, 5 and 7.[7] Modo were the first team to win their series, beating Vita Hästen 4–0 on 25 March 2015 and therefore successfully defending their SHL spot. Four days later, on 29 March 2015, Rögle won their series against Västerås 4–1, and were promoted to the SHL. The series between Leksands IF and Malmö Redhawks went to a decisive game seven on 2 April 2015 in which Malmö Redhawks won and therefore also the series with 4–3. Malmö Redhawks were promoted to the SHL while Leksands IF lost their SHL spot.

Leksands IF vs. Malmö Redhawks

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15 March Leksands IF 3–4 Malmö Redhawks Tegera Arena Recap  
Tomi Sallinen 1 - 2:15 First period No scoring
Linus Hultström 1 - pp - 3:47 Second period Björn Svensson 1 - pp - 12:05
Eric Himelfarb 1 - 19:55
Mattias Guter 1 - 1:23 Third period Eric Himelfarb 2 - 12:50
Mattias Persson 1 - 18:30
Oscar Alsenfelt ( 26 saves / 30 shots ) Goalie stats Niko Hovinen ( 19 saves / 22 shots )
18 March Malmö Redhawks 2–3 OT Leksands IF Malmö Arena Recap  
Eric Himelfarb 3 - 4:57 First period No scoring
Christoffer Forsberg 1 - 14:38 Second period Linus Hultström 2 - pp - 18:52
No scoring Third period Linus Hultström 3 - 11:53
No scoring First overtime period Tomi Sallinen 2 - 13:41
Niko Hovinen ( 31 saves / 34 shots ) Goalie stats Oscar Alsenfelt ( 26 saves / 28 shots )
21 March Leksands IF 4–3 Malmö Redhawks Tegera Arena Recap  
Mattias Guter 2 - 0:50 First period No scoring
Mattias Guter 3 - 7:11
Patrick Cehlin 1 - 12:26
Second period No scoring
Mattias Guter 4 - 8:15 Third period Christoffer Forsberg 2 - 9:53
Nils Andersson 1 - 11:44
Magnus Häggström 1 - 16:06
Oscar Alsenfelt ( 30 saves / 33 shots ) Goalie stats Niko Hovinen ( 19 saves / 23 shots )
24 March Malmö Redhawks 3–1 Leksands IF Malmö Arena Recap  
Jens Jakobs 1 - 1:00
Nicklas Jadeland 1 - pp - 11:19
First period No scoring
No scoring Second period Kevin Kapstad 1 - 15:29
Nils Andersson 2 - 14:58 Third period No scoring
Niko Hovinen ( 34 saves / 35 shots ) Goalie stats Oscar Alsenfelt ( 33 saves / 36 shots )
27 March Leksands IF 2–1 Malmö Redhawks Tegera Arena Recap  
Tomi Sallinen 3 - pp - 14:57 First period Eric Himelfarb 4 - 18:10
No scoring Second period No scoring
Patrick Cehlin 2 - 2:50 Third period No scoring
Oscar Alsenfelt ( 24 saves / 25 shots ) Goalie stats Niko Hovinen ( 31 saves / 33 shots )
30 March Malmö Redhawks 6–3 Leksands IF Malmö Arena Recap  
Jeremias Augustin 1 - 11:29
Nils Andersson 3 - pp - 13:59
Nicklas Jadeland 2 - 17:31
First period Jon Knuts 2 - 12:46
Tomi Sallinen 4 - pp - 19:47
Mathias Tjärnqvist 1 - pp - 21:01 Second period Patrick Cehlin 3 - 22:55
Jens Jakobs 2 - 52:36
Mathias Tjärnqvist 2 - 59:40
Third period No scoring
Niko Hovinen ( 28 saves / 31 shots ) Goalie stats Oscar Alsenfelt ( 21 saves / 26 shots )
2 April Leksands IF 2–4 Malmö Redhawks Tegera Arena Recap  
Jonas Frögren 1 - 12:59 First period 19:46 - Nils Andersson 4
Tomi Sallinen 5 - 15:29 Second period 6:44 - Jens Henrik Tönjum 1
10:47 - Björn Svensson 2
No scoring Third period 19:50 - en - Henrik Hetta 1
Oscar Alsenfelt ( 29 saves / 32 shots ) Goalie stats Niko Hovinen ( 35 saves / 37 shots )
Malmö Redhawks won series 4–3


Modo Hockey vs. HC Vita Hästen

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16 March Modo Hockey 3–0 HC Vita Hästen Fjällräven Center Recap  
No scoring First period No scoring
Donald Brashear 1 - pp - 1:01 Second period No scoring
Juha-Pekka Haataja 1 - 5:49
Per-Åge Skrøder 1 - en - 18:04
Third period No scoring
Linus Ullmark ( 19 saves / 19 shots ) Goalie stats Henrik Lundberg ( 34 saves / 36 shots )
19 March HC Vita Hästen 0–2 Modo Hockey Himmelstalundshallen Recap  
No scoring First period Jonas Ahnelöv 1 - 18:56
No scoring Second period Marcel Hossa 1 - 3:59
No scoring Third period No scoring
Henrik Lundberg ( 39 saves / 41 shots ) Goalie stats Linus Ullmark ( 24 saves / 24 shots )
22 March Modo Hockey 4–1 HC Vita Hästen Fjällräven Center Recap  
Simon Önerud 1 - 11:20 First period No scoring
Marcel Hossa 2 - 10:16
Adrian Kempe 1 - 10:41
Second period No scoring
Simon Önerud 2 - 9:58 Third period Daniel Åhsberg 1 - pp - 11:55
Linus Ullmark ( 22 saves / 23 shots ) Goalie stats Henrik Lundberg ( 26 saves / 30 shots )
25 March HC Vita Hästen 1–4 Modo Hockey Himmelstalundshallen Recap  
Wilhelm Westlund 1 - 10:17 First period Samuel Påhlsson 1 - 9:34
No scoring Second period Emil Pettersson 1 - 1:08
Simon Önerud 3 - 1:33
No scoring Third period Peter Öberg 1 - 17:20
Henrik Lundberg ( 29 saves / 33 shots ) Goalie stats Linus Ullmark ( 31 saves / 32 shots )
Modo Hockey won series 4–0


VIK Västerås HK vs. Rögle BK

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17 March VIK Västerås HK 3–4 Rögle BK ABB Arena Recap  
No scoring First period Ludvig Rensfeldt 1 - pp - 3:27
Stefan Gråhns 1 - 3:14
Erik Andersson 1 - 13:17
Second period Christopher Liljewall 1 - 3:43
Jordan Smotherman 1 - pp - 11:59
Stefan Gråhns 2 - pp - 14:42 Third period Jordan Smotherman 2 - pp - 16:37
Jonas Fransson ( 20 saves / 24 shots ) Goalie stats Lars Volden ( 44 saves / 47 shots )
20 March Rögle BK 4–3 VIK Västerås HK Lindab Arena Recap  
No scoring First period No scoring
Calle Rosén 1 - pp - 3:18
Sebastian Stålberg 1 - 6:39
Second period No scoring
Ludvig Rensfeldt 2 - 4:40
Peter LeBlanc 1 - 6:41
Third period Brock Montpetit 1 - 5:33
Jonte Berg 1 - 10:16
Eddie Davidsson 1 - 13:06
Lars Volden ( 25 saves / 28 shots ) Goalie stats Jonas Fransson ( 18 saves / 22 shots )
23 March VIK Västerås HK 3–0 Rögle BK ABB Arena Recap  
Fredrik Johansson 1 - 10:52 First period No scoring
Mikael Frycklund 1 - 4:13
Stefan Gråhns 3 - 19:45
Second period No scoring
No scoring Third period No scoring
Jonas Fransson ( 38 saves / 38 shots ) Goalie stats Lars Volden ( 24 saves / 27 shots )
26 March Rögle BK 6–1 VIK Västerås HK Lindab Arena Recap  
Daniel Sylwander 1 - 15:26 First period Jeremy Williams 1 - 16:38
Niklas Hansson 1 - 4:24
Jakob Lilja 1 - 7:57
Peter LeBlanc 2 - 14:04
Second period No scoring
Calle Rosén 2 - 3:28
Taylor Matson 1 - 11:49
Third period No scoring
Lars Volden ( 34 saves / 35 shots ) Goalie stats Jonas Fransson ( 23 saves / 29 shots )
29 March VIK Västerås HK 0–2 Rögle BK ABB Arena Recap  
No scoring First period No scoring
No scoring Second period Jesper Jensen 1 - 5:06
No scoring Third period Christopher Liljewall 2 - 12:38
Jonatan Bjurö ( 18 saves / 20 shots ) Goalie stats Lars Volden ( 31 saves / 31 shots )
Rögle BK won series 4–1


2015 HockeyAllsvenskan qualifiers

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AIK and Södertälje SK, ranked 13th and 14th after the regular season, were forced to defend their HockeyAllsvenskan spots against four teams from Hockeyettan in the 2015 HockeyAllsvenskan qualifiers (Swedish: Kvalserien till HockeyAllsvenskan). Joining them from Hockeyettan were AllEttan North winners IF Sundsvall, AllEttan South winners IK Pantern, and the two surviving teams from the Hockeyettan playoffs, Västerviks IK and Tingsryds AIF. These six teams played a double round-robin tournament, with the top four teams qualifying for play in HockeyAllsvenskan for the 2015–16 season.[7] AIK defended their spot in the HockeyAllsvenskan while Södertälje SK were relegated to Hockeyettan. Tingsryds AIF, IK Pantern and IF Sundsvall Hockey were promoted to HockeyAllsvenskan.

Pos Team Pld W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 AIK 10 4 4 0 2 35 23 +12 20 Qualify for play in the 2015–16 HockeyAllsvenskan season
2 Tingsryds AIF (P) 10 5 0 2 3 37 28 +9 17
3 IK Pantern (P) 10 5 1 0 4 26 29 −3 17
4 IF Sundsvall (P) 10 4 1 1 4 19 22 −3 15
5 Västerviks IK 10 3 0 2 5 17 29 −12 11 Qualify for play in the 2015–16 Hockeyettan season
6 Södertälje SK (R) 10 3 0 1 6 26 29 −3 10
Source: [3]
(P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

References

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  1. ^ "Vita Hästen". Eliteprospects.com.
  2. ^ Gustav Pettersson (2014-03-13). "SHL utökas med två lag". Västerbottens Kuriren.
  3. ^ "SHL och HockeyAllsvenskan utvecklar elithockeyn". HockeyAllsvenskan. 2014-03-13. Archived from the original on 2014-04-13.
  4. ^ "HockeyAllsvenskan 2014/15" (PDF). Swedish Ice Hockey Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-04-13. Retrieved 2014-04-11.
  5. ^ "SHL-kvalet blir MECA Hockey Race". hockeyallsvenskan.se (in Swedish). HockeyAllsvenskan. 16 February 2015. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
  6. ^ "Förbundet: De får inte sälja namnet". aftonbladet.se (in Swedish). Aftonbladet. 17 February 2015. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
  7. ^ a b c d "Spelchema Kval 2015" (PDF). hockeyallsvenskan.se (in Swedish). HockeyAllsvenskan. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 January 2015. Retrieved 28 January 2015.