Swedish Women's Hockey League

The Swedish Women's Hockey League (Swedish: Svenska damhockeyligan (SDHL), previously Riksserien) is the elite league for women's ice hockey in Sweden. It was established in 2007 by the Swedish Ice Hockey Association and has ten teams.

Swedish Women's Hockey League
Svenska damhockeyligan  (Swedish)
Most recent season or competition:
2019-20 SDHL Season
FormerlyRiksserien (2008-2016)
SportIce hockey
Founded2007
FounderSwedish Ice Hockey Association
Inaugural season2007–08
PresidentAgne Bengtsson
Claim to fameTop tier of women's ice hockey in Sweden
No. of teams10
Country Sweden
Most recent
champion(s)		Luleå HF/MSSK (3rd title)
Most titlesSegeltorps IF & Luleå HF/MSSK (3 titles each)
TV partner(s)C More Sport, SVT
Relegation toDamettan
Related
competitions		Swedish Hockey League
Official websitesdhl.se

The league decided to change its name from Riksserien to the Swedish Women's Hockey League prior to the 2016–17 season.[1]

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 28-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 Riksserien 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 Riksserien against challengers from Damettan.

Current clubs (2020-21)
SHL team map

From the formation of the SDHL in 2007, Luleå HF/MSSK and Segletorps IF have been the most successful clubs, both winning three 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.

Team City Arena Capacity
AIK Solna, Stockholm Ulriksdals Ishall
Brynäs IF Gävle Monitor ERP Arena 7,909
Djurgårdens IF Stockholm Hovet 8,094
Göteborg HC Gothenburg Angered arena
HV71 Jönköping Kinnarps Arena 7,000
Leksands IF Leksand Tegera Arena 7,650
Linköping HC Linköping Stångebro Ishall 8,500
Luleå HF/MSSK Luleå Coop Norrbotten Arena 6,300
Modo Hockey Örnsköldsvik Fjällräven Center 7,600
SDE Hockey Danderyd, Stockholm Enebybergs Ishall


Previous Winners

Previous SDHL regular season winners

Previous SDHL playoff winners (Swedish champions)
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See also

References
  1. Lisa Edwinsson (18 March 2016). "Ny riksorganisation ska lyfta damhockeyn" (in Swedish). Dagens nyheter. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
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