Swedish Elitserie 2003/4

[DanCan]

Maybe Balder can follow up on this thread when he returns. So far, I have only followed the Swedish Elitserie by watching the tv highlights on off.

But, well, the playoffs starts on Tuesday with the following QF matchups (best of 7)

MoDo-HV71
Lulea-Farjestads
Djurgardens-Vastra Frolunda
Timra-Linkjobing

Final standings, regular season

1 HV 71 50 27 8 15 162 : 116 95
2 Färjestads BK 50 24 12 14 161 : 129 90
3 Västra Frölunda HC 50 24 10 16 160 : 116 89
4 Linköpings HC 50 25 8 17 141 : 105 86
5 Djurgårdens IF 50 23 11 16 145 : 125 86
6 Timrå IK 50 21 9 20 117 : 124 74
7 Luleå HF 50 19 8 23 119 : 132 70
8 MODO Hockey 50 16 13 21 113 : 141 68
9 Södertälje SK 50 18 8 24 132 : 161 64
10 Brynäs IF 50 18 5 27 121 : 151 61
11 MIF Redhawks 50 16 7 27 112 : 151 61
12 Leksands IF 50 11 17 22 129 : 161 56

Scoring leaders top 10

1 Kahnberg, Magnus, Västra Frolunda 50 33 16 49
2 Prestberg, Pelle, Färjestads 50 22 23 45
3 Eriksson, Joakim Sodertalje 50 15 29 44
4 Peltola, Mikko Linkobings 47 14 29 43
5 Sahlstedt, Kalle HV71 50 20 22 42
6 Lind, Mikael Brynäs 45 14 28 42
7 Kallio, Tomi VFHC LW 50 24 17 41
8 Salomonsson, Andreas MODO 47 13 26 39
9 Davidsson, Johan HV71 49 14 24 38
10 Jönsson, Jörgen FBK CE 49 16 21 37

Last year, Västra Frolunda won the Swedish championship after four sweeping victories against Farjestads

[DanCan]

Playoffs - QF[/b]

Game 1, 1 March

MoDo - HV71 5-2
Lulea - Farjestads 3-4 (OT)
Timra - Linkjobings 2-1 (OT)
Djurgardens - Vastra Frolunda 1-8

Game 2, 3 March

HV 71 - MoDo 10-1
Farjestads - Lulea 4-2
Linkjobings - Timra 2-3 (OT)
Vastra Frolunda - Djurgardens 7-1

Game 3, 5 March

MoDo- HV71 6-0
Lulea - Farjestads 0-2
Timra - Linkjobings 1-2 (OT)
Djurgardens - Vastra Frolunda 4-6

Game 4, 7 March

Farjestads - Lulea 3-5 (Farjestads leads 3-1 in games)
HV71 - MoDo 4-2 (the series is tied 2-2 in games)
Timra - Linkjobings 4-1 (Timra leads 3-1 in games)
Vastra Frolunda - Djurgardens 3-1 (Vastra Frolunda wins the series 4-0 in games)

Game 5, 9 March

HV71 - MoDo 5-3 (HV leads the series 3-2 in games)
Linkjobings- Timra 1-2 (Timra wins the series 4-1 in games)
Farjestads- Lulea 4-1 (Farjestads wins the series 4-1)

Game 6, 11 March
MoDo - HV71 1-3 (HV71 wins series 4-2)


Scoring leaders[/b]

	G..	A..	P
Johan Davidsson, HV71	2	6	8
Hannes Hyvonen, Farjestads	5	2	7
Tomi Kallio, Vastra Frolunda	2	5	7
Alexander Steen, Vastra Frolunda	1	6	7
Peter Högardh, MoDo	3	3	6

[DanCan]

After HV71's win yesterday, the Swedish playoffs are ready for the semi finals. The matchups, which were found by a draw on television, are:

Västra Frölunda - HV71
Timra - Farjestads

I anticipate a replay of last years finals between Vastra Frolunda and Farjestads.

Game 1 takes place on 16 March.

[DanCan]

The Swedish semi-finals are in full swing. So far, the teams have played four games (best of 7):

16 March:
Vastra Frolunda - HV71 2-4
Timra - Farjestads 1-2 (sudden death, 6:04)

18 March:
HV71 - Vastra Frolunda 4-2
Farjestads - Timra 4-1

20 March:
Vastra Frolunda - HV71 4-1
Timra - Farjestads 1-3

22 March:
HV71 - Vastra Frolunda 2-3 (sudden death 5:57)
Farjestads - Timra 1-3

So Farjestads leads Timra 3-1 in games, while the other semifinal - VF vs HV71 - is tied 2-2. Game 5 is on Wednesday.

[DanCan]

Update 24 March:

Tonight Farjestads, the most successful Swedish club team in the past 30 years qualified for the finals after beating Timra 3-1 in game #5 (I watched the 3rd period on television). It's the fourth time in a row that Farjestads have made it to the finals. (Farjestads won the Swedish championship in 2001/2, but lost to Djurgarden i 2000/1 and to Vastra Frolunda in 2002/3).

In the other semifinal, HV71 took an important step to the finals. HV71 beat last years champions, Vastra Frolunda in a tight and defensive match that went into overtime. The OT goal was scored by Anders Huusko after 2:43. Final results 2-1. HV71 now leads the series 3-2.

[Balder]

You're doing a great job without me here DanCan

I haven't been following the SEL so good, but the Champions Frölunda Indians are hanging by a thread now. It's do or die for them against HV71 tonight.

[DanCan]

Thanks Balder If it's on TV4 tonight, I will watch it.

[DanCan]

Västra Frölunda didn't make it. They lost in a tight tactical match that went scoreless to overtime. It even took a penalty to decide the game. HV71 scored the PPG about two minutes into OT. Final result 1-0. So HV71 will be playing in the finals for the first time since 1995.

[DanCan]

The finals in SEL have started. On Tuesday, HV71 beat Farjestad in Karlstad 3-0 (Karlstad is the hometown of Farjestad). Once again, Norwegain Per-Age Skroder was the big star. He produced two goals, while one HV71's other stars, Huusko also scored one.

Yesterday, Farjestad tied the series on HV71's homeground in Jönköbing, 4-1. A very tight match which I watched on tv. HV71 pulled the goalie no less than 5 minutes before buzzer, and Farjestad managed to score an empty netter from their own backline.

The 3rd game takes places tomorrow.

[Daffy]

You know it would be graet to be able to watch other hockey apart from NHL. in the UK all we can get is NHL On channel 5 and NASN! We dont even have our own leagues on TV anymore! We used to have our Superleague which is now the Elite league on Sky Sports but even thats gone! I wish there was a way!? If there is a way that we in the UK dont know about someone tell us!

[DanCan]

Daffy, I'm sorry to hear that. The Swedish playoffs are broadcasted on the Swedish TV4 and the Danish playoffs on Danish TV ZULU. Danish TV3, which actually broadcast from England, will broadcast most of the games from the World Championships. I'm not an expert, so I don't know whether you will able to get the channel if you set up a parabol.

The Swedish final series is now tied 2-2. Farjestad won 4-3 in OT on Saturday, but today HV71 roared back with a 4-0 win. The match was extremely turbulent in the end with lots of penalties and blood on the ice. At one point there were 11 men in the penalty box and a new penalty committed every 15-20 seconds or so. In the end, the referees had to call the coaches of the two teams for a meeting. HV71 had one of its star players, Huusko injured. I don't know about his status, but he sure looked worried - he will probably not play on Wednesday.

In the Danish league, the playoffs have been very tight, and the final between Esbjerg and Aalborg has now reached game 7 - the ultimate game. It will be played tomorrow.

Most of the best Danish players are also involved in the Swedish playoffs to the SEL, so it was not terribly surprising that Denmark lost 2-3 to Norway tonight. Denmark only played with 3 lines, but still managed to win the first and third period. Norway, which is further ahead in its WC preparations, is a top contender in div 1A. Div 1A takes place in Oslo, Norway and starts in one week. However, Norway will still have to overcome Belarus, and that may prove to hard. Still, Norway has impressed me this season. In their own mind, they think that they have one of the best teams for many years, and I tend to believe them.

[DanCan]

HV71 wins Swedish championship[/b]

Like Karpat, HV 71 today won their second Swedish championship ever (first one 1995) after 5-0 at home in Kinnarps Arena, Jonkobing, in the seventh and decisive final game.

Färjestad had the chance to win at home in game six when they lead the series 3-2 but they lost that game narrowly 0-1. In the game today Färjestad outshot HV 71 33-19 but HV 71 hade more luck in their finishing in the beginning of the game and got a 2-0 lead in first period. Five minutes into the second period one of HV 71's key players Johan Davidsson made it 3-0 with a shorthanded goal after a bad substitution by Färjestad. Later in the same power play Färjestad were really close to make it 3-1 but the goal camera showed that the whole puck hadn't crossed the line and a short while later Kalle Sahlstedt made it 4-0. He also finally killed the game definitely with the 5-0 goal in the third period.

HV 71's goalie Stefan Liv was one of the biggest heroes with his four shutouts in the final and a total five shutouts in the playoffs (new Elitserien record).

Veteran defenders Fredrik Olausson and Per Gustafsson also played a big part in HV's gold, when Gustafsson was injuried during the quarter finals HV 71 were in big trouble. Anders Huusko was the top goal scorer of the playoffs with his 9 goals but he missed the last three games because of an injury.

Having access to Swedish TV, I was lucky to be able to watch all seven games in the series. Exciting stuff