Ice hockey in Sweden

National teams

Men's

Main article: Sweden men's national ice hockey team

Often referred to by the nickname "Tre Kronor" (English: Three Crowns), the Swedish men's national ice hockey team is amongst the most successful in the world, being considered part of the Big Six. The team is, as of 2018, ranked first in the IIHF World Ranking.

Sweden has won nine olympic medals, including gold medals in 1994 and 2006. They have also won the IIHF World Championships 11 times, most recently in 2018 in Denmark.

Women's

Main article: Sweden women's national ice hockey team

Sweden's women's national team, nicknamed Damkronorna (English: The Lady Crowns) as a play on the nickname of the men's team, played their first official match in 1989, though they had been playing on an unofficial basis since 1987. In the five Olympics that have featured women's ice hockey, the team has finished with a medal twice, bronze in 2002 and silver in 2010. They finished fourth in the 2014 Olympics.

As of the 2018 April IIHF World Ranking, Damkronorna were ranked sixth in the world.

Men's leagues

SHL

Main article: Swedish Hockey League

The SHL (Swedish Hockey League or Svenska hockeyligan), founded in 1975 as Elitserien, is the highest level of men's ice hockey in Sweden, the second-most attended (in average attendance) sports league in Sweden (after Allsvenskan), the third-most attended ice hockey league in Europe, and as of 2006 is the fourth-highest paid hockey league in the world.

Attendances

The SHL club with the highest average home league attendance per league season:

HockeyAllsvenskan

Main article: HockeyAllsvenskan

HockeyAllsvenskan is the second tier of men's ice hockey, and has by far the highest average attendance of second-tier ice hockey leagues in Europe.

Hockeyettan

Main article: Hockeyettan

In Hockeyettan, teams do not compete nationally, but rather break into four divisions/groups organized geographically. These smaller divisions play half a season together, after which the more successful teams in the four divisions join two new groups, organized geographically into "Allettan North" and "Allettan South", and play the rest of the season in the new groups. Meanwhile, the teams in the four beginning groups that did not qualify for Allettan continue playing in the original groups, with the poorest performing teams being forced to defend their spots against the winning teams from Division 2 in the qualification tournament known as Kvalserien. The two Allettan winners battle for a direct spot in the Kvalserien for HockeyAllsvenskan in a series known as Hockeyettanfinalen. The teams ranked 2–9 in each Allettan group, the loser of Hockeyettanfinalen and the winners of the continuation groups qualify for a three-round playoff where the final three remaining teams qualify for the same Kvalserien. These four teams are joined by the two worst HockeyAllsvenskan teams to battle for two spots in the following HockeyAllsvenskan season.

Tiers 4–7

All leagues in Swedish ice hockey after Hockeyettan are organized regionally. There is Hockeytvåan, the fourth tier. Most regions also have Hockeytrean. The eastern region also has Hockeyfyran. Stockholm also has a seventh division, Division 5, and has also briefly had an eighth, Division 6.

Timeline

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bar:1 color:D1 from:07/01/1921 till:05/01/1922 text:Träningsserien (1921–1922) bar:2 color:D1 from:07/01/1922 till:05/01/1927 text:Klass I (1922–1927) bar:3 color:D2 from:07/01/1922 till:05/01/1927 text:Klass II (1922–1927) bar:4 color:D1 from:07/01/1927 till:05/01/1935 text:Elitserien (1927–1935) bar:5 color:D1 from:07/01/1935 till:05/01/1944 text:Svenska Serien (1935–1944) bar:6 color:D1 from:07/01/1975 till:05/01/2013 text:Elitserien (1975–2013) bar:6 color:D1 from:07/01/2013 till:end text:Swedish Hockey League (2013–Present) bar:7 color:D2 from:07/01/1999 till:05/01/2005 text:Allsvenskan (1999–2005) bar:7 color:D2 from:07/01/2005 till:end text: HockeyAllsvenskan (2005–Present) bar:8 color:D1 from:07/01/1944 till:05/01/1975 text:Division 1 (1944–2014) bar:8 color:D2 from:07/01/1975 till:05/01/1999 text: bar:8 color:D3 from:07/01/1999 till:05/01/2014 text: bar:8 color:D3 from:07/01/2014 till:end text:Hockeyettan (2014–Present) bar:9 color:D2 from:07/01/1941 till:05/01/1975 text:Division 2 (1941–2014) bar:9 color:D3 from:07/01/1975 till:05/01/1999 text: bar:9 color:D4 from:07/01/1999 till:05/01/2014 text: bar:9 color:D4 from:07/01/2014 till:end text:Hockeytvåan (2014–Present) bar:10 color:D3 from:07/01/1941 till:05/01/1975 text:Division 3 (1941–2014) bar:10 color:D4 from:07/01/1975 till:05/01/1999 text: bar:10 color:D5 from:07/01/1999 till:05/01/2014 text: bar:10 color:D5 from:07/01/2014 till:end text:Hockeytrean (2014–Present) bar:11 color:D4 from:07/01/1951 till:05/01/1975 text:Division 4 (1951–2014) bar:11 color:D5 from:07/01/1975 till:05/01/1999 text: bar:11 color:D6 from:07/01/1999 till:05/01/2014 text: bar:11 color:D6 from:07/01/2014 till:end text:Hockeyfyran (2014–Present)

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Women's leagues

The highest women's ice hockey league is Swedish Women's Hockey League, which has eight teams. Lower leagues are Damettan and Damtvåan.

References

References

1. David Landes. (7 October 2010). "Hockey wasn't always Sweden's pride on ice - The Local".
2. Kenth Hansen. "THE BIRTH OF SWEDISH ICE HOCKEY - ANTWERP 1920".
3. "SHL: 2013–14: SHL: Attendance". Swedish Ice Hockey Association.
4. (2012-03-23). "Stark publiktrend i svensk idrott - Sport".
5. "SHL: 2013–14: SHL: Team statistics: Attendance". Swedish Ice Hockey Association.
6. (2016-05-25). "Kontaktuppgifter och tävlingar 2016 - —".
7. Gregor von Konow. (22 November 2011). "Le Mat tog ishockeyn till Sverige". SHL.
8. "2018 Men's World Ranking". International Ice Hockey Federation.
9. "Sweden defeats Switzerland, wins 2018 IIHF World Championship". NHL.com.
10. "Damkronorna". Swedish Ice Hockey Association.
11. "Team Sweden's unofficial national games since 1987". Swedish Ice Hockey Association.
12. "Team Sweden's all official games since 1989". Swedish Ice Hockey Association.
13. "2018 Women's World Ranking (after WW)". International Ice Hockey Federation.
14. "Attendance 2013-2014".
15. "Professional Hockey - NHL and Top Europeans Hockey Leagues".
16. https://www.hockeydb.com/nhl-attendance/att_graph_season.php?lid=SweHL2014&sid=2019
17. https://www.hockeydb.com/nhl-attendance/att_graph_season.php?lid=SweHL2014&sid=2018
18. https://www.hockeydb.com/nhl-attendance/att_graph_season.php?lid=SweHL2014&sid=2017
19. https://www.hockeydb.com/nhl-attendance/att_graph_season.php?lid=SweHL2014&sid=2016
20. https://www.hockeydb.com/nhl-attendance/att_graph_season.php?lid=SweHL2014&sid=2015