2014–15 HockeyAllsvenskan season

2014–15 HockeyAllsvenskan season
League HockeyAllsvenskan
Sport Ice hockey
Duration 10 September 2014 – 2 April 2015
Number of teams 14
Total attendance 1,086,734
Average attendance 2,986
TV partner(s) Viasat
First place VIK Västerås HK
Top scorer Jacob Lagace (ASP)
Promoted to SHL Karlskrona HK
Rögle BK
Malmö Redhawks
Relegated to Hockeyettan Södertälje SK

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]

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

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

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

Standings

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:

Post-season

HockeyAllsvenskan finals

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

Karlskrona HK won series 3–1

Playoffs

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:

SHL qualifiers

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

Malmö Redhawks won series 4–3

Modo Hockey vs. HC Vita Hästen

Modo Hockey won series 4–0

VIK Västerås HK vs. Rögle BK

Rögle BK won series 4–1

2015 HockeyAllsvenskan qualifiers

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:
(P) Promoted; (R) Relegated.

References

  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.
  4. ↑ "HockeyAllsvenskan 2014/15" (PDF). Swedish Ice Hockey Association.
  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. 1 2 3 4 "Spelchema Kval 2015" (PDF). hockeyallsvenskan.se (in Swedish). HockeyAllsvenskan. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
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