Swedish Women's Hockey League
The Swedish Women's Hockey League (Swedish: Svenska damhockeyligan (SDHL), previously Riksserien) is the elite league for women's ice hockey in Sweden. It was established in 2007 by the Swedish Ice Hockey Association and has ten teams.
| Most recent season or competition: 2019-20 SDHL Season | |
 | |
| Formerly | Riksserien (2008-2016) |
|---|---|
| Sport | Ice hockey |
| Founded | 2007 |
| Founder | Swedish Ice Hockey Association |
| Inaugural season | 2007–08 |
| President | Agne Bengtsson |
| Claim to fame | Top tier of women's ice hockey in Sweden |
| No. of teams | 10 |
| Country |  |
| Most recent champion(s) | Luleå HF (3rd title) |
| Most titles | Segeltorps IF & Luleå HF (3 titles each) |
| TV partner(s) | C More Sport, SVT |
| Relegation to | Damettan |
| Related competitions | Swedish Hockey League |
| Official website | sdhl |
The league decided to change its name from Riksserien to the Swedish Women's Hockey League prior to the 2016-17 season.[1]
Format
When a game is tied after regulation, a sudden death overtime is played with only four skaters per team for maximum 10 minutes (or 20 minutes in the playoffs). If the game is still tied after overtime, the winner is decided by game winning shots.
The regular season is a double round-robin tournament, with each team playing twice at home and twice away against every other team, resulting in a 28-game regular season per team. After the regular season, the top six teams qualify for the Women's Swedish Championship playoffs (Swedish: SM-slutspel damer). The two teams with the best regular season records in Riksserien are given a bye to the semifinals, with the remaining four qualified teams starting in the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals, team 3 gets to pick their choice of opponent between teams 5 and 6, leaving the remaining club to meet team 4. In the semifinals the first ranked team chooses an opponent from the two winners of the quarterfinals. The playoffs are all best-of-three series, with the higher ranked team starting with one match away, followed by the remaining two at home.
The two teams with the worst records in the regular season are forced to play a qualifier to defend their spots in Riksserien against challengers from Allettan.
Current clubs (2020-21)
From the formation of the SDHL in 2007, Luleå HF and Segletorps IF have been the most successful clubs, both winning three Swedish championships. Luleå has been the most successful regular season team, finishing on top of the league four times. Modo Hockey was the first team from outside the Stockholm area to win the championship with their victory in 2012.
| Team | City | Arena | Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIK | Solna, Stockholm | Ulriksdals Ishall | |
| Brynäs IF | Gävle | Monitor ERP Arena | 7,909 |
| Djurgårdens IF | Stockholm | Hovet | 8,094 |
| Göteborg HC | Gothenburg | Angered arena | |
| Färjestad BK | Karlstad | Löfbergs Arena | 8,647 |
| HV71 | Jönköping | Kinnarps Arena | 7,000 |
| Leksands IF | Leksand | Tegera Arena | 7,650 |
| Linköping HC | Linköping | Stångebro Ishall | 8,500 |
| Luleå HF/MSSK | Luleå | Coop Norrbotten Arena | 6,300 |
| Modo Hockey | Örnsköldsvik | Fjällräven Center | 7,600 |
| SDE Hockey | Danderyd, Stockholm | Enebybergs Ishall |
Previous Winners
Previous SDHL regular season winners
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Previous SDHL playoff winners (Swedish champions)
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See also
References
- Lisa Edwinsson (18 March 2016). "Ny riksorganisation ska lyfta damhockeyn" (in Swedish). Dagens nyheter. Retrieved 18 March 2016.