Swedish Women's Hockey League

The Swedish Women's Hockey League (Swedish: Svenska damhockeyligan), abbreviated SDHL, is the elite league for women's ice hockey in Sweden. It was established in 2007 as the Riksserien by the Swedish Ice Hockey Association and was renamed prior to the 2016–17 season.[1] As of the 2021–22 season, there are ten teams from across Sweden in the league.

Swedish Women's Hockey League
Svenska damhockeyligan  (Swedish)
Most recent season or competition:
2021–22 SDHL season
FormerlyRiksserien (2008–2016)
SportIce hockey
Founded2007 (2007)
FounderSwedish Ice Hockey Association
Inaugural season2007–08
PresidentAgne Bengtsson
No. of teams10
Country Sweden
Most recent
champion(s)		Luleå HF/MSSK
(2021–22)
Most titlesLuleå HF/MSSK (5 titles)
TV partner(s)C More Sport, SVT
Relegation toDamettan
Related
competitions		Swedish Hockey League
Official websitewww.sdhl.se

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 36-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 the SDHL 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 the SDHL against challengers from Damettan.

Teams
Location of SDHL teams in Sweden

From the formation of the SDHL in 2007, Luleå HF/MSSK have been the most successful club, winning four 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.

2021–22 teams
Team City Arena Head coach Captain
AIK Solna Ulriksdals Ishall Jared Cipparone Sabina Küller
Brynäs IF Gävle Monitor ERP Arena Henrik Glaas Rosa Lindstedt
Djurgårdens IF Stockholm Hovet Rickard Hårdstam Josefine Holmgren
Göteborg HC Gothenburg Angered arena Henry Wilhelmsson Margot Möllersten
HV71 Jönköping Kinnarps Arena Joakim Engström Hanna Olsson
Thea Johansson
Leksands IF Leksand Tegera Arena Alexander Bröms Hanna Sköld
Linköping HC Linköping Stångebro Ishall Thomas Pettersen Madelen Haug Hansen
Luleå HF/MSSK Luleå Coop Norrbotten Arena Mikael Forsberg Jenni Hiirikoski
MoDo Hockey Örnsköldsvik Fjällräven Center Björn Edlund Olivia Carlsson
SDE Hockey Danderyd Enebybergs Ishall Johanna Ikonen Michelle Löwenhielm

Sources: [2][3]

Previous Winners

Regular season champions

Swedish Champions (playoff winners)

Attendance

While average attendance in the SDHL has been significantly lower than other professional leagues in Sweden and the National Women's Hockey League in North America, attendance has tended towards increasing as the league receives greater investment and promotion, and as women's clubs have been less neglected by their parent organisations. There exists a considerable disparity in attendance between clubs, with Luleå HF/MSSK having led the league in attendance ever single year since the club's formation, often with almost ten time greater attendance than the worst attended club. Playoff attendance has also tended to be much higher than regular season attendance, averaging almost 900 per match in 2017–18 and 2018–19.

SDHL Regular Season Attendance
SeasonAverageHighestLowest
2013–14 Riksserien season114Munksund Skuthamn SK (205)Segeltorps IF (59)
2014–15 Riksserien season102Munksund Skuthamn SK (132)IF Sundsvall Hockey (54)
2015–16 Riksserien season141Luleå HF/MSSK (468)IF Sundsvall Hockey (57)
2016–17 SDHL season179Luleå HF/MSSK (542)SDE Hockey (54)
2017–18 SDHL season192Luleå HF/MSSK (442)SDE Hockey (65)
2018–19 SDHL season234Luleå HF/MSSK (831)SDE Hockey (42)
2019–20 SDHL season178Luleå HF/MSSK (539)SDE Hockey (48)

[4]

League records
As of 8 April 2022

Individual records
  • Most goals in a season: Andrea Dalen, 47 goals (36 games, 2015–16)
  • Most assists in a season: Lara Stalder, 55 assists (33 games, 2021–22)
  • Most points in a season: Lara Stalder, 89 points (33 games, 2021–22)
  • Most points in a season, defenceman: Sidney Morin, 65 points (36 games, 2020–21)
  • Most penalty minutes in a season: Jenn Wakefield, 90 PIM (31 games, 2020–21)
  • Most shutouts in a season: Florence Schelling, 10 shutouts (31 games, 2017–18)
  • Best save percentage in a season, minimum 1/3 of games played: Kim Martin Hasson, .956 (17 games, 2014–15)
  • Beat goals against average in a season, minimum 1/3 of games played: Kim Martin Hasson, 1.06 GAA (17 games, 2014–15)

Club records
  • Most points in a season: 99, HV71 in 2019–20
  • Highest attendance in a regular season match: 6,220[5] – Luleå HF/MSSK vs. AIK Hockey, 16 November 2018
  • Highest attendance in a playoff match: 7,765[6] – Brynäs IF vs. Luleå HF/MSSK at Monitor ERP Arena, 7 April 2022 (Game 5 of the 2022 Swedish Championship finals)

All-time leading scorers

The top-ten point-scorers (goals + assists) in SDHL history.

Note: Nat = Nationality; Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game

Points
NatPlayerPosGPGAPtsP/G
Denise AltmannRW3372772865631.67
Emma NordinC3762102624721.26
Erika GrahmLW/C3851792123911.02
Line Bialik ØienLW/RW3221862003861.20
Lisa JohanssonRW/LW4252201423620.85
Andrea Schjelderup DalenLW2831991453441.22
Lara StalderC/D1591621793412.14
Anna BorgqvistC3711411973380.91
Josefine JakobsenC2771491653141.13
Michelle KarvinenRW/LW1521411733142.07

Source: [7]

See also

References
  1. Lisa Edwinsson (18 March 2016). "Ny riksorganisation ska lyfta damhockeyn". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). Retrieved 18 March 2016.
  2. Jay, Michelle; Murphy, Mike (10 September 2020). "2020-21 SDHL Preview". The Ice Garden. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
  3. "Svenska damhockeyligan (SDHL (W)) – 2021-2022 Standings". Elite Prospects. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
  4. "SDHL | stats.swehockey.se".
  5. Funqvist, Sixten (16 November 2018). "Nytt publikrekord i SDHL". HockeySverige (in Swedish). Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  6. Hägglund, Johannes (7 April 2022). "Luleå/MSSK vinner SM-guld 2022". SDHL.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  7. "All Time Regular Season Player Stats for the SDHL". Elite Prospects. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
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