2004–05 UPC-ligaen season explained

2004–05 UPC-ligaen season
League:	UPC-ligaen
Sport:	Ice hockey
No Of Teams:	10
Season Champs:	Vålerenga
Season Champ Name:	Regular-season winner
League Champs:	Vålerenga
League Champ Name:	Champions
Seasonslist:	GET-ligaen#Seasons
Seasonslistnames:	GET-ligaen
Prevseason Year:	2003–04 season
Nextseason Year:	2005–06 season

The 2004–05 UPC-ligaen was the 66th season of Norway's premier ice hockey league, Eliteserien, which as of this season became known as the UPC-ligaen after UPC had acquired the naming rights for five years.^[1] Vålerenga won both the League Championship and the Norwegian Championship, completing their nineteenth "double". A total of ten teams contested the league, including newcomers Comet who competed at the highest level for the first time.

The regular season commenced on 19 September 2004 and concluded on 20 February 2005.^[2] Vålerenga clinched their twenty-fifth league title after winning 3–2 in overtime against the Sparta Warriors on 17 February.^[3] This left them with an unassailable lead of seven points over the Trondheim Black Panthers, with only one round left to play. The result also confirmed Trondheim as runners-up ahead of the Storhamar Dragons.

The playoffs to determine the 2005 Norwegian Ice Hockey Champions were contested from 22 February to 20 March 2005.^[4] Vålerenga were crowned champions for the twenty-third time after defeating Trondheim by 4 games to 1 in the best-of-seven Final.^[5]

Regular season

Final standings

	Team	GP	W	OTW	SOW	OTL	SOL	L	GF	GA	Pts
1	Vålerenga (C)	42	26	4	2	0	3	7	210	113	93
2	Trondheim Black Panthers	42	25	1	2	1	1	12	154	101	83
3	Storhamar Dragons	42	24	0	2	1	2	13	138	87	79
4	Stjernen	42	22	2	2	1	1	14	144	113	76
5	Frisk Tigers	42	20	3	3	0	4	12	143	137	76
6	Sparta Warriors	42	17	1	3	3	1	17	125	143	63
7	Stavanger Oilers	42	16	1	0	1	4	20	132	148	55
8	Lillehammer	42	11	0	4	2	1	24	116	161	44
9	Comet	42	11	0	0	2	2	27	109	174	37
10	Bergen Flyers	42	6	0	2	1	1	32	114	212	24

GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; OTW = Overtime Wins; OTL = Overtime losses; SOW = Shootout Wins; SOL = Shootout losses; PCT = Percent of possible points; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; PIM = Penalties in minutes; Pts = Points; C = Champions
Source: hockey.no

Statistics

Scoring leaders

The following players led the league in points at the conclusion of the regular season.^[6]

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	+/–	PIM
Ilya Dubkov	Trondheim Black Panthers	42	27	42	69	+32	52
Nick Smith	Trondheim Black Panthers	38	28	32	60	+32	81
Lars Erik Spets	Trondheim Black Panthers	42	29	26	55	+33	12
Tomi Pöllänen	Frisk Tigers	40	19	32	51	+18	22
Markku Takala	Sparta Warriors	41	19	31	50	−8	62
Tomáš Sršeň	Lillehammer	41	20	27	47	0	102
Teemu Kohvakka	Stavanger Oilers	42	18	24	42	+8	30
Tomi Suoniemi	Stavanger Oilers	37	16	25	41	+14	39
Ondřej Steiner	Stjernen	37	16	24	40	+9	41
Michal Kaňka	Lillehammer	42	25	14	39	+9	20
Vegar Barlie	Vålerenga	37	19	20	39	+24	22
Kenneth Larsen	Vålerenga	42	15	24	39	+30	18

GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/– = Plus–minus; PIM = Penalty minutes

Leading goaltenders

The following goaltenders led the league in goals against average at the conclusion of the regular season.^[7]

Player	Team	GP	TOI	W	L	GA	SO	Sv%	GAA
Chris Mason	Vålerenga	20	1,203:56	–	–	36	1	93.5	1.79
Jonas Norgren	Storhamar Dragons	35	2,028:03	21	14	61	6	93.4	1.80
Joakim Wiberg	Trondheim Black Panthers	31	1,847:22	–	–	73	2	91.6	2.37
Kimmo Kytölaakso	Stjernen	38	2,243:44	–	–	95	4	91.5	2.54
Arne Villy Skrøder	Sparta Warriors	18	1,018:25	–	–	48	0	90.2	2.83

GP = Games played; TOI = Time on ice (minutes); W = Wins; L = Losses; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; Sv% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average

Attendance

For the 2004–05 season, the league attendance totaled 292,711 spectators for an average of 1,394.^[8] This was a 9.3% increase from the previous season's total of 267,707 spectators and average of 1,275.^[9]

Team	Capacity	Total	Games	Average	% of Capacity
Storhamar Dragons	6,091	44,175	21	2,104	34.5%
Vålerenga	4,450	38,486	21	1,833	41.2%
Sparta Warriors	3,707	27,285	21	1,299	35.0%
Lillehammer	3,194	23,679	21	1,128	35.3%
Bergen Flyers	3,000	12,133	21	578	19.3%
Trondheim Black Panthers	3,000	39,076	21	1,861	62.0%
Stavanger Oilers	2,582	37,665	21	1,794	69.5%
Stjernen	2,473	31,105	21	1,481	59.9%
Frisk Tigers	2,400	23,210	21	1,105	46.0%
Comet	1,200	15,897	21	757	63.1%

Playoffs

Bracket

Source: hockey.no

Qualifying for UPC-ligaen 2005–06

Final standings

	Team	GP	W	SOW	SOL	L	GF	GA	Pts
1	Comet (Q)	6	4	1	0	1	30	9	14
2	Manglerud Star (Q)	6	2	1	1	3	13	16	9
3	Bergen Flyers	6	3	0	0	3	17	20	9
4	Furuset	6	1	0	1	4	13	28	4

GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; OTW = Overtime Wins; OTL = Overtime losses; SOW = Shootout Wins; SOL = Shootout losses; PCT = Percentage of possible points; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; PIM = Penalties in minutes; Pts = Points; Q = Qualified
Source: speaker.no

Game log

|Round 1Round 2Round 3Round 4Round 5Round 6

Awards

All-Star team

The following players were selected to the 2004–05 UPC-ligaen All-Star team:^[10]

Goaltender: Chris Mason (Vålerenga)
Defenceman: Duane Harmer (Trondheim)
Defenceman: Anders Myrvold (Vålerenga)
Center: Ilya Dubkov (Trondheim)
Winger: Lars Erik Spets (Trondheim)
Winger: Nick Smith (Trondheim)

Other

Coach of the year: Tommy Sandlin^[10] (Trondheim)

Notes and References

Web site: UPC kjøper hockey-liga . Dagens Næringsliv . 2004-09-20 . 2010-05-05 . no.
Web site: Fixtures — UPC-ligaen 04/05 . Norwegian Ice Hockey Association . 2010-05-05 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120318065127/http://www.hockey.no/Display.aspx?wci=wiSelectReport&wce=cePlayedMatches&TournamentId=251290 . 2012-03-18 . dead .
Web site: Vålerenga seriemester . Dagbladet . 2005-02-17 . 2010-05-05 . no.
Web site: Sluttspill om Norgesmesterskapet menn 2004/2005 . Norwegian Ice Hockey Association . 2005-03-20 . 2010-05-05 . no . https://web.archive.org/web/20120318065052/http://www.hockey.no/t2.asp?p=4916&x=1&a=111574 . 2012-03-18 . dead .
Web site: Vålerenga gode some gull . Dagbladet . 2005-03-20 . 2010-05-05 . no.
Web site: Scoring Leaders – UPC-ligaen 04/05 . Norwegian Ice Hockey Association . 2010-05-05 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120318064952/http://www.hockey.no/Display.aspx?wci=wiStat&wce=ceScoringLeders&TournamentId=251290 . 2012-03-18 . dead .
Web site: Leading Goaltenders – UPC-ligaen 04/05 . Norwegian Ice Hockey Association . 2010-05-05 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120318065007/http://www.hockey.no/Display.aspx?wci=wiStat&wce=ceLeedingGK&TournamentId=251290 . 2012-03-18 . dead .
Web site: Tilskuere Eliteserien 2004–2005 . Norwegian Ice Hockey Association . 2005-03-22 . 2010-05-05 . no . https://web.archive.org/web/20120511072500/http://www.hockey.no/t2.asp?p=4916&x=1&a=110202 . 2012-05-11 . dead .
Web site: Tilskuere i Eliteserien . Norwegian Ice Hockey Association . 2010-05-05 . no . https://web.archive.org/web/20120318065110/http://www.hockey.no/files/%7B254670C2-C750-4682-85CE-62F2C92FE3F8%7D.pdf . 2012-03-18 . dead .
Web site: Årets Lag 2005 . Norwegian Ice Hockey Association . 2005-03-18 . 2010-05-07 . no . https://web.archive.org/web/20120318065141/http://www.hockey.no/t2.asp?p=4768&x=1&a=128384 . 2012-03-18 . dead .