The Swedish Hockey League (officially SHL; sv, Svenska Hockeyligan) is a professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...

league, and the highest division in the Swedish ice hockey system. The league currently consists of 14 teams. The league was founded in 1975, and while Swedish ice hockey champions have been crowned through various formats since 1922, the title and the Le Mat Trophy have been awarded to the winner of the SHL playoffs since the league's inaugural 1975–76 season. In the 2010–11 season, the SHL was the world's most evenly matched professional ice hockey league. During the 2011–12 season, the SHL was the most well attended ice hockey league in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

, averaging 6,385 spectators per game, however in 2013–14, the SHL was third best in Europe, with an attendance average of 5,978. The SHL was the second most popular sports team league within Sweden, after the football league

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football le ...

, which in the 2013 season had an average attendance of 7,627. The league was founded in 1975 as the Elitserien (in English the Swedish Elite League or SEL), and initially featured 10 teams, though this was expanded to 12 for the 1987–88 season. The league was renamed the SHL in 2013, and in 2014, a number of format changes were announced, including an expansion to 14 teams to be finalized prior to the 2015–16 season, and a new format for promotion from and relegation to

HockeyAllsvenskan HockeyAllsvenskan (previously Allsvenskan and SuperAllsvenskan) is a professional ice hockey league, and the second-highest league in the Swedish ice hockey system (after the SHL). Since the 2009–10 season, the league consists of fourteen teams ...

, the second tier league.

History

The Swedish Ice Hockey Championship was awarded for the first time in

1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éireann, the day after Éamon de Valera ...

, only two years after

was introduced in Sweden by the American film director Raoul Le Mat. At this point, the Swedish Championships were held as a separate tournament. It was not until the 1952–53 season that the championship was awarded to the winner of the top-tier hockey league, which at the time was Division I.

Expansion

The inaugural Elitserien season began on 5 October 1975, with the league consisting of 10 teams, each playing one another four times—two at home and two on the road—for a total of 36 games. There has been extensive discussion about the number of teams in the SHL. The league had 12 teams for over 20 years since an expansion from 10 teams in 1987, however, there was general agreement among hockey experts that the league needed to be expanded by at least two more teams. They meant that, apart from just the economic situation for some of the clubs, the competition from HockeyAllsvenskan had shown that more teams were needed in the top-tier league SHL. On 13 March 2014, the SHL and HockeyAllsvenskan announced that the SHL would be expanded to 14 teams, starting in the 2015–16 season. To make this change happen, at least two HockeyAllsvenskan teams would be promoted to the SHL in the 2014–15 season.

European-level play

In 2009, Håkan Loob, the general manager of

Färjestad BK Färjestad Bollklubb (; abbreviated as FBK) is a Swedish professional ice hockey team based in Karlstad. Färjestad has had 21 Swedish Championship final appearances, winning ten times since the Swedish Hockey League (SHL; formerly Elitserien ...

, sent a letter to

Alexander Medvedev Alexander Ivanovich Medvedev (russian: Александр Иванович Медведев, ) (born 14 August 1955 in Shakhtyorsk, Sakhalin Oblast) is the current Deputy Chairman of the Management Committee of Russian energy company Gazprom a ...

, the owner and president of the Russian

Kontinental Hockey League The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; russian: Континентальная хоккейная лига (КХЛ), Kontinental'naya khokkeynaya liga) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs b ...

, on behalf of five SHL teams – Färjestad, Frölunda,

Djurgården Djurgården ( or ) or, more officially, ''Kungliga Djurgården'' (), is an island in central Stockholm, Sweden. Djurgården is home to historical buildings and monuments, museums, galleries, the amusement park Gröna Lund, the open-air museu ...

Linköping Linköping () is a city in southern Sweden, with around 105,000 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality and the capital of Östergötland County. Linköping is also the episcopal see of the Diocese of Linköping (Chu ...

and

HV71 HV71 (), often referred to as just HV, is a Swedish professional ice hockey club based in Jönköping, playing in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), the first tier of Swedish ice hockey. The team played in the 2008–09 Champions Hockey League s ...

– that were reportedly "interested in discussing the future of European hockey". It was believed that these five teams had intended to leave the SHL league after the 2009–10 season; they terminated their

shareholders' agreement A shareholders' agreement (sometimes referred to in the U.S. as a stockholders' agreement) (SHA) is an agreement amongst the shareholders or members of a company. In practical effect, it is analogous to a partnership agreement. It can be said th ...

s with ''Hockeyligan'', the name at that time for the SHL's interest organisation. The teams also formed an interest group to investigate the possibility of forming a continental hockey league spanning several European countries. These plans were abandoned in November 2011, however, with Frölunda's chairman expressing hopes for the future of the European Trophy (which was disbanded with the formation of the

Champions Hockey League The Champions Hockey League is a European first-level ice hockey tournament. Launched in the 2014–15 season by 26 clubs, 6 leagues and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), the tournament features top teams across Europe. Backgrou ...

in 2013).

Renaming

On 17 June 2013, the league was renamed "Svenska hockeyligan", since this would allow for an easy English translation ("Swedish Hockey League") and a common acronym in the two languages ("SHL"), all of which was considered to be a better brand identity for investment.

Game

Each regular season SHL game is composed of three 20-minute periods, with an intermission of a maximum of 18 minutes between periods. If the game is tied following the 60-minute regulation time, a five-minute three-on-three

sudden death Sudden Death or Sudden death may refer to: Medical * Cardiac arrest, also known as sudden cardiac death, natural death from cardiac causes * Sudden cardiac death of athletes * Sudden infant death syndrome * Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy * ...

overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...

period is played. If a game still is tied after the overtime period, a

shootout A shootout, also called a firefight or gunfight, is a fight between armed combatants using firearms. The term can be used to describe any such fight, though it is typically used to describe those that do not involve military forces or only in ...

decides the game. In a shootout, the team that scores the most

penalty shots The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

out of three attempts wins the game. If the game is still tied after the first three penalty-shot rounds, the shootout continues round by round, until one team scores while the other team fails to score. During each period, there is one 70-second "power break" used to display commercials; each commercial is played after the first stoppage of play at least 10 minutes into the period. Power breaks do not, however, take place directly after a goal, penalty shot, icing call or during a powerplay.

Playoff games

In the event of a tied game during the playoffs, additional 20-minute overtime periods are played perpetually until one team scores. Unlike in the regular season, playoff overtime periods are played five-on-five. Only one game in Sweden has ever surpassed four full overtime periods, and no SHL games have surpassed three full overtime periods. The longest SHL game was the first game of the 1997 Swedish Championship semifinals, played on 23 March 1997 between

Leksands IF Leksands Idrottsförening is a Swedish ice hockey team from the town of Leksand in the region of Dalarna. The team plays in the top-tier league, SHL, after succeeding through the 2019 SHL qualifiers and thus earning promotion to the SHL. The ...

and

. 6,012 spectators saw Andreas Karlsson score the game-winning goal for Leksand after 59 minutes of overtime (almost three full overtime periods). See

Longest ice hockey games in Sweden Overtime is a method of determining a winner in an ice hockey game when the score is tied after regulation. The main methods of determining a winner in a tied game are the overtime period (commonly referred to as overtime), the shootout, or a co ...

for other games. SHL games are played on an

ice hockey rink An ice hockey rink is an ice rink that is specifically designed for ice hockey, a competitive team sport. Alternatively it is used for other sports such as broomball, ringette, rinkball, and rink bandy. It is a rectangle with rounded corners an ...

, which is rectangular

ice rink An ice rink (or ice skating rink) is a frozen body of water and/or an artificial sheet of ice created using hardened chemicals where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The ...

with rounded corners and surrounded by a wall. It measures 30 by 60 meters (98.42 by 196.85 ft), conforming to international standards.

Teams

Counting from the formation of the SHL in 1975,

is the most successful team with ten Swedish Championship titles.

Brynäs IF Brynäs IF is a Swedish ice hockey team from Gävle. The club currently plays in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), the top tier of ice hockey in Sweden. The club has played in the top-tier league since 1960, longer than any other team. History ...

and

Djurgårdens IF Djurgårdens Idrottsförening, commonly known simply as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården (), and (especially locally) Djurgår'n (), Dif or DIF – is a Swedish sports association with several sections, located in Stockholm. Name The club is nam ...

are tied for the second most successful team with six championship titles. Counting from 1922, when the first Swedish championships were played, Djurgårdens IF is the most successful team with sixteen championship titles, followed by

with thirteen, as well as

with ten and

IK Göta IK Göta is a Swedish sports club, which was very successful in several sports such as track and field, handball, bowling, field hockey, ice hockey, soccer (women only) and bandy during the 20th century. Their most famous and successful sport was ...

with nine.

2021–22 season

Season structure

The SHL season is divided into a

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability ...

from late September through the beginning of March, when teams play against each other in a pre-defined schedule, and a

playoff The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

s from March to April, which is an elimination tournament where two teams play against each other to win a best-of-seven series in order to advance to the next round. The final remaining team is crowned the Swedish champion, or ''Svenska mästare'' in Swedish, and receives the Le Mat Trophy.

Regular season

The regular season is a round-robin, where each team plays 52 games. Points are awarded for each game, where three points are awarded for winning in regulation time, two points for winning in overtime or shootout, one point for losing in overtime or shootout, and zero points for losing in regulation time. At the end of the regular season, the team that finishes with the most points is crowned the league champion and is awarded a prize sum of 1,000,000 SEK (approx. US$150,000) as a bonus. The six highest-ranked teams by points qualify directly for the playoffs. The four teams ranked 7–10 play a

best-of-three series There are a number of formats used in various levels of competition in sports and games to determine an overall champion. Some of the most common are the ''single elimination'', the ''best-of-'' series, the ''total points series'' more commonly kn ...

and battle for the two remaining playoff spots. The two lowest-ranked teams after the regular season have to play in the

relegation and promotion In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open league ...

series

Kvalserien Kvalserien, also known as ''Kvalserien till SHL'', was the Swedish round-robin ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markin ...

in order to qualify for the next season of the SHL. Before the 2013–14 season, the eight highest-ranked teams qualified for the playoffs. If two or more teams end up tied in points, the seeds are determined by the following tiebreaker format: #Best

goal difference Goal difference, goal differential or points difference is a form of tiebreaker used to rank sport teams which finish on equal points in a league competition. Either "goal difference" or "points difference" is used, depending on whether matches a ...

#Most goals scored #Head-to-head results between the tied teams

Playoffs

The SHL

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eit ...

are an elimination tournament consisting of multi-game series where two teams battle to win a

best-of-three There are a number of formats used in various levels of competition in sports and games to determine an overall champion. Some of the most common are the ''single elimination'', the ''best-of-'' series, the ''total points series'' more commonly kn ...

or best-of-seven series in order to advance to the next round. The playoffs consist of four rounds: The eighth finals, the quarterfinals, the semifinals and the finals. In the first round, the eighth finals (known as Play In before the 2015–16 season), the 7th-ranked team from the regular season is paired against the 10th-ranked team and the 8th-ranked team is paired against the 9th-ranked teamen. In the quarterfinals, the six best teams from the regular season and the two winners of the eighth finals are paired seed-wise against each other, with the highest seed playing the lowest-remaining seed. In the semifinals, the teams are re-seeded, with the top remaining seed playing against the lowest remaining seed, and the other two remaining teams pairing off. In the finals, the two remaining teams face each other to determine the Swedish ice hockey champions. Before the 2013–14 season, the top-tier teams got to choose their opponents in the quarterfinals. The eighth finals are played as best-of-three series while the other rounds are played as best-of-seven series. In each series, the higher-ranked team of the two has

home-ice advantage In team sports, the term home advantage – also called home ground, home field, home-field advantage, home court, home-court advantage, defender's advantage or home-ice advantage – describes the benefit that the home team is said to g ...

. Each series is played in an alternating home-away format, with the first game played at the higher seed's home venue. Any given series ends when one team has won more than half the maximum number of games needed to decide the series.

Relegation

The two lowest ranked teams after the regular season have to play in a relegation series called

together with four teams from the second tier league

. The top two teams of Kvalserien qualify for the next SHL season, while the other four are demoted to HockeyAllsvenskan.

Outdoor games

Between 2009 and 2013, the league hosted an outdoor game in the regular season in December every year. The first outdoor game was played on 28 December 2009, between

Frölunda HC Frölunda Hockey Club, previously known as the Frölunda Indians, is a Swedish professional ice hockey club based in Gothenburg. They currently play in the highest Swedish league, the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), formerly the Elitserien, where ...

and

Ullevi Ullevi, sometimes known as Nya Ullevi (, ''New Ullevi''), is a multi-purpose stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden. It was built for the 1958 FIFA World Cup, but since then has also hosted the World Allround Speed Skating Championships six times; th ...

. Frölunda came out on top with a 4–1 victory. 31,144 spectators saw the game, setting a new record for the largest attendance at an ice hockey league match in Sweden. The following year, Färjestad and Frölunda met again in an outdoor game, this time in Karlstad. Färjestad won the game 5–2 in front of 15,274 spectators. The 2013 outdoor game was played on 14 December 2013, between

and Skellefteå AIK at

Gamla Ullevi Gamla Ullevi () is a football stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden, that opened on 5 April 2009. The stadium replaced the city's previous main football stadium, also called Gamla Ullevi, and is the home ground of GAIS, IFK Göteborg and Örgryte ...

. The game was promoted as "Julmatchen" (English: ''The Christmas game'') and was won by Skellefteå 4–1 in front of 13,452 spectators.

Notable players

Three players in SHL history have been awarded the Golden Puck, as ice hockey player of the year in Sweden, more than once; Anders Andersson,

Leif Holmqvist Leif Erik "Honken" Holmqvist (born November 12, 1942) is a retired Swedish ice hockey goaltender. He is one of only three players to win the Golden Puck award twice, which he did while playing for AIK. Holmqvist played a season in England for ...

and

Peter Forsberg Peter Mattias Forsberg (; born 20 July 1973) is a Swedish former professional ice hockey player and former assistant general manager of Modo Hockey. Nicknamed "Peter the Great" and "Foppa", Forsberg was known for his on-ice vision and physical pl ...

have all won it twice. The top five career scorers in the SHL are Johan Davidsson (561 points), Fredrik Bremberg (501), Håkan Loob (500), Stefan Nilsson (489) and Ove Molin (484). The top three career goal scorers are Håkan Loob (263 goals),

Magnus Wernblom Magnus Wernblom (born February 3, 1973) is a Swedish former professional ice hockey forward who spent most of his active career playing for Modo Hockey in the Swedish Elitserien league, where he holds the franchise scoring record for most all-tim ...

(241) and

Peter Gradin Peter Olof Gradin (born December 9, 1958) is an ice hockey player who played for the Swedish national team. He won a bronze medal at the 1984 Winter Olympics The 1984 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIV Olympic Winter Games ( ...

(214). Joel Lundqvist, Jan Sandström and Johan Davidsson are the leaders in the number of SHL regular season games played, with Lundqvist having played 812 games, Sandström 800 and Davidsson 776.All-time player statistics at Eliteprospects.com
Retrieved 2014-06-13. The top three point-scoring forwards for the 2021–22 season were Ryan Lasch (66 points), Max Véronneau (60) and Linus Omark (58). Véronneau was the top goal-scorers and thus the

Håkan Loob Trophy The Håkan Loob Trophy is the annual award for the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) player who scores the most goals during the regular season. It was created by Svenska Hockeyligan and Canal+ in honour of Håkan Loob, who holds the SHL record for mos ...

winner, with 34 goals. The top three point-scorers on

defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indust ...

were

Jonathan Pudas Jonathan Pudas (born 26 April 1993) is a Swedish professional ice hockey player. He is currently playing with Skellefteå AIK of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). Early life Pudas was born in Kiruna, Sweden, to Finnish-speaking parents from Pa ...

(44 points),

Joel Persson Joel Persson (born 4 March 1994) is a Swedish professional ice hockey defenceman who plays under contract for the Växjö Lakers of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). Playing career Persson previously played with his hometown club, Kristianstads ...

(39) and

Joey LaLeggia Joseph LaLeggia (born June 24, 1992) is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who is currently playing for HV71 in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). LaLeggia was drafted 123rd overall in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft by the Edmonton Oilers ...

(38). The top three goaltenders by

save percentage Save percentage (often known by such symbols as SV%, SVS%, SVP, PCT) is a statistic in various goal-scoring sports that track saves as a statistic. In ice hockey and lacrosse, it is a statistic that represents the percentage of shots on goal ...

among those who played more than 40% of their team's minutes were

Jhonas Enroth Jhonas Erik Enroth (born 25 June 1988), a Swedish professional ice hockey goaltender, who is currently playing with Örebro HK of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). He played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Buffalo Sabres, Dallas Stars ...

(.923), Christoffer Rifalk (.921) and

Gustaf Lindvall Gustaf Lindvall (born January 8, 1991) is a Swedish professional ice hockey goaltender who is currently playing with Skellefteå AIK in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). He previously played with Timrå IK in the Elitserien during the 2010–11 El ...

(.920).

Trophies and awards

The winning team of the SHL playoffs is named Swedish Champions and awarded the Le Mat Trophy. There is only one trophy that is awarded to players based on their statistics during the regular season; the

for the goal-scoring leader. One of the most prestigious individual awards is

Guldhjälmen Guldhjälmen (''The Gold Helmet'') is a Swedish ice hockey award, which is awarded annually to the's most valuable player of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) and of the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL) as decided by a vote of each league’s p ...

, which is awarded annually to the

Most Valuable Player In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

. The voting is conducted by the players in the SHL.

Guldpucken Guldpucken (''The Golden Puck'') is awarded annually to the ice hockey player of the year in Sweden. It is similar to the NHL's Hart Memorial Trophy. Normally it goes to a player in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), the top-level ice hockey leag ...

is awarded annually to the ice hockey player of the year in Sweden. It is not necessarily awarded to a player in the SHL; for the 2005–06 season the award was given to

Kenny Jönsson Kenny Per Anders Jönsson (born October 6, 1974) is a Swedish former professional ice hockey player. Playing career Jönsson was drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1st round as the 12th overall selection in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft. Aft ...

in the Swedish second-tier ice hockey league

. The award Årets Rookie (Rookie of the Year) is awarded annually by ''

Svenska Spel Svenska Spel ("Swedish Bets") is a state-owned company operating in the regulated gambling market in Sweden. For many years, state-owned Svenska Spel was the only company permitted to offer online gambling to people in Sweden, whether it be casin ...

'' and ''Svenska Hockeyligan'' to the best rookie player in the SHL. Starting in 2010, an annual playoff MVP was acknowledged. The playoff MVP award was later renamed the

Stefan Liv Memorial Trophy Stefan Liv Memorial Trophy is awarded annually to the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) playoffs' most valuable player (MVP), as decided by SICO (Sweden's Ice hockey players Central Organisation). It was installed in 2010 and resembles the Conn Smythe T ...

in honour of Swedish goalkeeper Stefan Liv after his death in the

2011 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash On 7 September 2011, YAK-Service Flight 9633, a Yakovlev Yak-42 charter flight operated by YAK-Service carrying players and coaching staff of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl professional ice hockey team, crashed on take-off near Yaroslavl, Yaroslavl Ob ...

Television and radio

SHL games are aired nationally in Sweden,

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bo ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establishe ...

, and

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, by C More. One game from each round is selected and shown on C More Sport, and simulcasted in 1080i

high definition High definition or HD may refer to: Visual technologies *HD DVD, discontinued optical disc format *HD Photo, former name for the JPEG XR image file format *HDV, format for recording high-definition video onto magnetic tape * HiDef, 24 frames-pe ...

on C More Sport HD. The selected game is also aired on Mobile TV, available to

Telenor Telenor ASA ( or ) is a Norway, Norwegian majority State-owned enterprise, state-owned multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications company headquartered at Fornebu in Bærum, close to Oslo. It is one of the List of mobile network ...

customers in Sweden with 3G phones. All 330 regular season games are available on

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program g ...

, via cable and satellite for C More customers, and also available via C More's streaming Internet TV. During the

2004–05 NHL lockout The 2004–05 NHL lockout was a labor lockout that resulted in the cancellation of the National Hockey League (NHL) season, which would have been its 88th season of play. The main dispute was the league's desire to implement a salary cap to ...

, SHL games were being broadcast in Canada by

Rogers Sportsnet Sportsnet is a Canadian English-language sports specialty channel owned by Rogers Sports & Media. It was established in 1998 as CTV Sportsnet, a joint venture between CTV, Liberty Media, and Rogers Media. CTV parent Bell Globemedia then wa ...

. Starting in 2017, SHL is broadcast in the United States by

Eleven Sports Network Next Level Sports is an American sports-oriented cable and satellite television channel. The network also operates an online presence under the alternate brand For the Fans (FTF). History In March 2017, the U.S. international sports channe ...

. Sveriges Radio (SR) is the official radio broadcaster of the SHL. Each round is covered by ''Sportextra'' in SR P4 with reports from all arenas; all games are available in their entirety on SR's

internet radio Online radio (also web radio, net radio, streaming radio, e-radio, IP radio, Internet radio) is a digital audio service transmitted via the Internet. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not transmitte ...

and to mobile phones via 3G.

Previous winners

Previous SHL regular season winners

*1976 –

*1977 –

*1978 –

*1979 –

Modo AIK Modo Hockey (or MoDo with uppercase letters) is a professional ice hockey club in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. The team plays in Sweden's second-tier league HockeyAllsvenskan. The club was founded in 1987 and has won one SHL championships; in 2007 ...

*1980 –

*1981 – Skellefteå AIK *1982 –

*1983 –

*1984 – AIK *1985 –

*1986 –

*1987 –

*1988 –

*1989 –

*1990 –

*1991 –

*1992 –

*1993 –

VIK Västerås HK Vik (Old Norse: vík) means wick or bay in Norwegian and Swedish (''vig'' in Danish), and it may refer to the following: Places Iceland * Vík í Mýrdal, a village in southern Iceland Iran *Vik, Iran, a village in Zanjan Province, Iran Norway * ...

*1994 –

*1995 –

*1996 –

Luleå HF Luleå Hockeyförening is an ice hockey club from Luleå, Sweden. The club has been playing in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), the top tier of ice hockey in Sweden, since the 1984–85 season. They are the northernmost team in the league an ...

*1997 –

*1998 –

*1999 –

Modo Hockey Modo Hockey (or MoDo with uppercase letters) is a professional ice hockey club in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. The team plays in Sweden's second-tier league HockeyAllsvenskan. The club was founded in 1987 and has won one SHL championships; in 2007. ...

*2000 –

*2001 –

*2002 –

*2003 –

*2004 –

*2005 –

*2006 –

*2007 –

*2008 –

*2009 –

*2010 –

*2011 –

*2012 –

*2013 – Skellefteå AIK *2014 – Skellefteå AIK *2015 – Skellefteå AIK *2016 – Skellefteå AIK *2017 –

Växjö Lakers Växjö Lakers Hockey Club (often referred to as the Växjö Lakers or VLH) is a Swedish ice hockey club from Växjö in Sweden. The club plays in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL; formerly Elitserien), the top-level league of Swedish ice hockey, a ...

*2018 –

*2019 –

*2020 –

*2021 –

*2022 –

Rögle BK Rögle BK (Rögle Bandyklubb) is a Swedish professional ice hockey club from Ängelholm that has been playing in the SHL since the 2015–16 season. Rögle has previously played in the SHL (previously named Elitserien) in 1992–1996, 2008–201 ...

Previous SHL playoff winners (Swedish champions)

*1976 –

*1977 –

*1978 – Skellefteå AIK *1979 –

*1980 –

*1981 –

*1982 – AIK *1983 –

*1984 – AIK *1985 –

Södertälje SK Södertälje Sportklubb, also known as Södertälje SK and often referred to as SSK, is a Swedish professional ice hockey club playing in HockeyAllsvenskan, the second highest level of pro hockey in Sweden. Södertälje were charter members of El ...

*1986 –

*1987 –

IF Björklöven IF Björklöven (often simply referred to as Björklöven or Löven) is a Swedish professional ice hockey club in Umeå, Västerbotten, in northern Sweden. The club is currently playing in the second-tier league HockeyAllsvenskan as of the 2014– ...

*1988 –

*1989 –

*1990 –

*1991 –

*1992 –

Malmö IF Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal popula ...

*1993 –

*1994 –

*1995 –

*1996 –

*1997 –

*1998 –

*1999 –

*2000 –

*2001 –

*2002 –

*2003 –

*2004 –

*2005 –

*2006 –

*2007 –

*2008 –

*2009 –

*2010 –

*2011 –

*2012 –

*2013 – Skellefteå AIK *2014 – Skellefteå AIK *2015 –

*2016 –

*2017 –

*2018 –

*2019 –

*2020 – ''Not held due to COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden'' *2021 –

*2022 –

Video games

Teams from the league are playable in the video games '' Elitserien 95'' for

Sega Mega Drive The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Syst ...

, '' Elitserien 96'' for Sega Mega Drive and '' Elitserien 2001'' for PC. They also appear in

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network ...

NHL series ''NHL'' (colloquially referred to as Chel) is a series of professional ice hockey simulation video games developed by EA Vancouver and published yearly by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports brand. The game is developed under license from the Nat ...

since NHL 2004.

References

External links

Official website (in Swedish)SHL in English
- Official English language news from SHL.se
Official statistics
– Official standings and statistics from the Swedish Ice Hockey Association
Eliteprospects
– Swedish Hockey League news in English

– SHL info in English {{Ice Hockey Leagues 1975 establishments in Sweden Sports leagues established in 1975 Professional ice hockey leagues in Sweden Top tier ice hockey leagues in Europe Organizations based in Stockholm

History

Expansion

European-level play

Renaming

Game

Playoff games

Teams

2021–22 season

Season structure

Regular season

Playoffs

Relegation

Outdoor games

Notable players

Trophies and awards

Television and radio

Previous winners

Previous SHL regular season winners

Previous SHL playoff winners (Swedish champions)

Video games

See also

References

External links