2014–15 SHL season explained

2014–15 SHL season
League:Swedish Hockey League
Sport:Ice hockey
Duration:10 September 2014 – 23 April 2015
No Of Games:55 (330 total)
No Of Teams:12
Attendance:1,987,961[1]
Average Attendance:6,024
Season:Regular season
Season Champ Name:League Champion
Season Champs:Skellefteå AIK
Mvp:Július Hudáček (Örebro HK)
Mvp Link:Guldpucken
Top Scorer:Derek Ryan (Örebro HK)
Playoffs:Playoffs
Playoffs Link:
  1. Playoffs
Finals:Finals
Finals Link:
  1. Finals
Finals Champ:Växjö Lakers
Finals Runner-Up:Skellefteå AIK
Playoffs Mvp:Noah Welch (Växjö Lakers)
Playoffs Mvp Link:Stefan Liv Memorial Trophy
Nextseason Year:2015–16
Prevseason Year:2013–14
Seasonslistnames:SHL

The 2014–15 SHL season was the 40th season of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). The regular season began on 10 September 2014 and ended on 5 March 2015. The following playoffs began on 12 March and ended on 23 April 2015.

Skellefteå AIK won the regular season for the third consecutive season. Växjö Lakers won the Swedish Championship title by defeating Skellefteå in six games in a series where none of the two teams won at home until Växjö in game six. The title was Växjö's first in only their second play-off appearance.

Modo Hockey and Leksands IF were forced to play in the Direktkval till SHL to defend their SHL status. Modo swept the series against HC Vita Hästen while Leksand lost to Malmö Redhawks over seven games. Therefore Malmö were promoted to the SHL on the expense of Leksand.

Pre-season

On 29 April 2014, the Swedish Sports Confederation (RF) informed that Modo Hockey player Edwin Hedberg had tested positive for the banned substance sibutramine in February.[2] [3] Hedberg voluntarily suspended himself for the duration of the investigation. On 9 July 2014, the RF handed Hedberg a six-month suspension from all organised sporting activity; the suspension ended on 24 October 2014.[4]

On 7 July 2014, the RF suspended Luleå HF goaltender Mark Owuya from all sporting activity for one year.[5] [6] [7] [8] The verdict came due to an incident in February, in which Owuya disappeared without supervision during out-of-competition testing for doping. Owuya would have missed the entire 2014–15 season as a result, but appealed the decision to the top instance of the RF on 28 July 2014.[9] On 4 September 2014, the instance decided to lift the suspension.[10]

Regular season

Standings

Statistics

Scoring leaders

List shows the ten best skaters based on the number of points during the regular season. If two or more skaters are tied (i.e. same number of points, goals and played games), all of the tied skaters are shown.

[11]
GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/– = Plus/minus; PIM = Penalty minutes

PlayerTeam
Ryan, Derek55 15 45 60 +18 18
Taffe, Jeff54 18 41 59 +12 43
Little, Broc55 28 19 47 +14 38
Micflikier, Jacob54 24 23 47 +13 26
Johansson, Martin54 24 22 46 +18 10
Olimb, Mathis51 7 39 46 +19 65
Rosen, Robert53 23 21 44 +27 16
Christensen, Erik46 13 31 44 +7 14
Scott, Greg47 18 24 42 +4 20
Sweatt, Bill54 19 22 41 +3 36

Leading goaltenders

These are the leaders in GAA among goaltenders who played at least 40% of the team's minutes. The table is sorted by GAA, and the criteria for inclusion are bolded.

[12]

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

PlayerTeam
Lassinantti, Joel38 2071:48 65 5 92.79 1.88
Hudacek, Julius45 2640:54 84 4 92.99 1.91
Svensson, Markus30 1789:47 57 3 91.88 1.91
Nilstorp, Cristopher38 2134:52 70 5 91.28 1.97
Fernström, Linus33 1851:50 61 4 90.63 1.98
Pogge, Justin30 1642:59 55 4 92.60 2.01
Johansson, Lars30 1492:46 50 3 91.50 2.01
Rautio, David33 1851:07 63 7 92.13 2.04
Hanses, Erik25 1415:06 48 2 91.50 2.04
Högberg, Marcus27 1462:55 56 3 91.72 2.30

Playoffs

The top six teams will qualify directly for the playoffs, while the four teams ranked 7–10 will play a best-of-three series and battle for the two remaining playoff spots.[13] [14]

Play-in

The teams ranked 7 and 10, and the teams ranked 8 and 9, respectively, will face each other in a best-of-three series in order to qualify for the playoffs. The better-ranked teams in the two series will receive home advantage, i.e. two home games, if necessary. The two winners will take the two remaining playoff spots.[13] [14]

(8) Luleå HF vs. (9) Djurgårdens IF

Playoff bracket

In the first round, the top-ranked team will face the lowest-ranked winner of the two best-of-three series, the 2nd-ranked team will face the other winner of the two best-of-three series, the 3rd-ranked team will face the 6th-ranked team, and the 4th-ranked team will face the 5th-ranked team. In the second round, the highest remaining seed is matched against the lowest remaining seed. In each round the higher-seeded team is awarded home advantage. Each series is a best-of-seven series that follows an alternating home team format: the higher-seeded team will play at home for games 1 and 3 (plus 5 and 7 if necessary), and the lower-seeded team will be at home for game 2 and 4 (plus 6 if necessary).[13] [14]

Quarterfinals

(4) Linköpings HC vs. (5) HV71

Semifinals

(2) Frölunda HC vs. (3) Växjö Lakers

Statistics

Playoff scoring leaders

List shows the ten best skaters based on the number of points during the playoffs. If two or more skaters are tied (i.e. same number of points, goals and played games), all of the tied skaters are shown.

[15]
GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/– = Plus/minus; PIM = Penalty minutes

PlayerTeam
Holmström, Axel15 7 11 18 0
Little, Broc11 5 9 14 8
Tambellini, Jeff18 5 8 13 2
Zackrisson, Patrik15 4 9 13 4
Kiiskinen, Tuomas18 4 9 13 2
Rakhshani, Rhett18 8 4 12 8
Rosen, Robert18 5 7 12 6
Lajunen, Jani18 6 5 11 8
Calof, Andrew15 4 7 11 2
Heed, Tim15 2 9 11 0

Playoff leading goaltenders

These are the leaders in GAA and save percentage among goaltenders who played at least 40% of the team's minutes. The table is sorted by GAA, and the criteria for inclusion are bolded.

[16]

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

PlayerTeam
Nihlstorp, Cristopher16 1012:57 29 3 92.12 1.72
Lassinantti, Joel7 417:06 13 0 92.74 1.87
Svensson, Markus15 932:20 29 1 91.92 1.87
Johansson, Lars13 815:16 27 2 92.11 1.99
Wesslau, Gustaf6 357:35 16 0 90.86 2.68

SHL awards

Guldhjälmen

Derek Ryan, Örebro HK[17]

Guldpucken

Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning

Honken Trophy

Joel Lassinantti, Luleå HF[18]

Håkan Loob Trophy

Broc Little, Linköpings HC

Rookie of the Year

Marcus Sörensen, Djurgårdens IF

Salming Trophy

Tim Heed, Skellefteå AIK

Stefan Liv Memorial Trophy

Noah Welch, Växjö Lakers

Guldpipan

Mikael Nord

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Team attendance rates for the 2014–15 SHL regular season . . 6 March 2015.
  2. News: Modos Edwin Hedberg har åkt fast för doping . . Ek . Mattias . sv . 29 April 2014 . 9 July 2014.
  3. Web site: Edwin Hedberg utreds för användande av otillåtet preparat . . sv . 29 April 2014 . 10 July 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140502053004/http://www.modohockey.se/artikel/55120/ . 2 May 2014.
  4. News: Hedberg stängs av sex månader . . Wahlberg . Malin . sv . 9 July 2014 . 9 July 2014.
  5. Web site: Beslut från Dopingnämnden . . sv . 7 July 2014 . 10 July 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140710181854/http://cdn.shl.se/files/LHF/sport/140710Owuya.pdf . 10 July 2014.
  6. News: Luleås Mark Owuya blir avstängd i ett år . . Mattsson . Yesil . Landén . Sebastian . Sarp . Petter . sv . 10 July 2014 . 10 July 2014.
  7. News: När han gick in på toa tänkte jag att han manipulerade testet . . Wahlberg . Malin . sv . 10 July 2014 . 10 July 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140710211818/http://www.aftonbladet.se/sportbladet/hockey/sverige/shl/lulea/article19205056.ab . 10 July 2014.
  8. Web site: Avstängningen av Owuya . . sv . Hedlund . Robert . 10 July 2014 . 10 July 2014.
  9. Web site: Owuya överklagar dopingavstänging . . Winblad . Johan . sv . 28 July 2014 . 4 September 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140904225342/http://www.svt.se/nyheter/regionalt/nordnytt/owuya-overklagar-dopingavstanging . 4 September 2014 .
  10. News: Owuyas nya bakslag – beslutet kan överklagas . . Wahlberg . Malin . sv . 4 September 2014 . 4 September 2014.
  11. Web site: Statistik - SHL.se . SHL . 14 September 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140914134550/http://shl.se/statistics/players/summary/TP/2014/SHL/All/All/All/All/All/All/dec?lang=sv . 14 September 2014 . dmy-all .
  12. Web site: Start - SHL.se . SHL . 14 September 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140924233610/http://www.shl.se/statistics/goalkeepers/stats/GAA/2014/SHL/All/All/All/All/All/dec?lang=sv . 24 September 2014 . dmy-all .
  13. Web site: Datum och speldagar för Play In och Slutspel 2015 . shl.se . 4 September 2014 . 28 February 2015.
  14. Web site: Datum och speldagar för Play In och SM-slutspel 2015 . shl.se . 28 February 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150223091121/http://www.shl.se/matcher/play-in-slutspel-2015 . 23 February 2015 . dmy-all .
  15. Web site: Statistik - SHL.se . SHL . 13 March 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150316150854/http://shl.se/statistics/players/summary/TP/2014/SMSlutspel/All/All/All/All/All/All/dec?lang=sv . 16 March 2015 . dmy-all .
  16. Web site: Start - SHL.se . SHL . 13 March 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150320074453/http://shl.se/statistics/goalkeepers/stats/GAA/2014/SMSlutspel/All/All/All/All/All/dec?lang=sv . 20 March 2015 . dmy-all .
  17. Web site: Guldhjälmen till Derek Ryan - Hockeysverige – Mer av sporten du älskar.
  18. Web site: Honken Trophy går till rookiesensationen - Hockeysverige – Mer av sporten du älskar.