- HockeyAllsvenskan
Infobox sports league
title = HockeyAllsvenskan
pixels = 230px
caption = The HockeyAllsvenskan logo
sport =Ice hockey
founded = 2005
fame =
motto =
teams = 16
country = SWE
champion =Leksands IF
folded =
website = [http://www.hockeyallsvenskan.se/ HockeyAllsvenskan.se]
singles =HockeyAllsvenskan, prior to the 2005–06 season called Allsvenskan, is the name of the second highest-level Swedish
ice hockey league (afterElitserien ), which consists of 16 teams.Previous leagues called Allsvenskan
During seasons 1948–49 through 1974–75 "Allsvenskan" was the semi-official name of the first-level league, the official name being "Division 1 norra" (north) and "södra" (south), comprising six teams each until 1955–56 and eight teams each from 1956–57 to 1973–74. In 1974–75 it was played as one Division 1 league with sixteen teams, leading up to the start in 1975–76 season of the present
Elitserien .The second highest-level league had been called Division 2 since 1941–42, and was divided into eight groups from 1957–58 on. The winners of these groups played in two qualification leagues, a northern and a southern one, from which two teams each were promoted. In the 1974–75 season the grouping was changed to have six groups. Each qualification league contained the winners of three groups and one each of the teams on places nine and ten in the sixtenn team Allsvenska.
When Elitserien started in 1975–76 as the top level with ten teams, the new second highest-level league was called Division 1, in four groups. After a couple of years, it was settled into ten teams each in these. Until the 1981–82 season the Division 1 leagues were played over the entire season and followed by play-offs and
Kvalserien , the qualification league for the Elitserien.In 1982–83, however, the name Allsvenskan came back, for a league starting after the Christmas and New Year´s break of the season. The top two teams of each Division 1 league were promoted to the new "Allsvenskan". The top two teams in the Allsvenska played a best of five final for promotion to Elitserien. The teams 3–6 in the Allsvenska continued with play-offs and possibly Kvalserien for the second open spot in the Elitserien.
For the 1987–88 season the Elitserien was expanded from ten to twelve teams, and now also the two last teams in Elitserien by the end of the year were moved down for play in the Allsvenskan together with the top eight Division 1 teams. Still with a best of five final between the top two teams, and play-offs for teams 3–8.
From the 1996–97 season, the Elitserien changed and played with all twelve teams for the entire season. The Allsvenskan changed back to the eight top teams from Division 1 only. The best of five final was also abandoned. From here on, the top two teams were promoted directly to Kvalserien, while the teams finishing 3-6 played play-offs for two more spots in Kvalserien.
In the 1999–2000 season, Allsvenskan Norra (north) and Södra (south) was inaugurated as a completely new second-level league, consisting of twelve teams each. The top four teams from each of them were promoted for the later half of the season to the same kind of league as recent years Allsvenska, but the name of that league was changed to SuperAllsvenskan.
For the 2005–06 season the number of teams was decreased from 2x12 to 16, and the present HockeyAllsvenskan was born.
Present HockeyAllsvenskan
The league is played as a
round-robin tournament where all teams play each other three times during one season.After the regular season, four teams from the league play along with the two last placed teams from
Elitserien in a series calledKvalserien , where the two winning teams are promoted to Elitserien for the next season, while the bottom four teams are relegated to HockeyAllsvenskan.The finishing top three teams of the league advance to this Kvalserien directly, the teams ranked 4 through 7 meet in two play off rounds for the fourth spot.
The two last placed teams from HockeyAllsvenskan have to play against four Division 1 (tier III) teams to avoid
relegation .For the 2009–10 season the number of teams in the league will be decreased to 14. In the 2008–09 season the last placed team will be instantly relegated, and the teams ranked 14 through 15 will play the relegation league, and only one team will be promoted from that league this season.
Participating teams 2008–09
* AIK
*Almtuna IS
*IF Björklöven
*Bofors IK
*Borås HC
*Huddinge IK
*Leksands IF
* IF Malmö Redhawks
*Mariestad BoIS HC
*Mora IK
*Nybro Vikings IF
*IK Oskarshamn
*IF Sundsvall Hockey
*IF Troja/Ljungby
*VIK Västerås HK
* Växjö Lakers HCTelevision
TV4 Sport air about 70 HockeyAllsvenskan games per season nationally in Sweden. They´re a cable network, reaching about 75% of the population.s24.se (about 45 games) andsverigewebben.se (up to ten games) air games online on streaming Internet TV.Previous seasons
2005–06 season
Halmstad Hammers played in HockeyAllsvenskan this season, but due to the club's bankruptcy the team was disqualified. During Kvalserien IF Malmö Redhawks and
Skellefteå AIK were promoted to play in Elitserien for season 2006–07. Leksands IF andSödertälje SK were both relegated from Elitserien.IFK Arboga IK and Hammarby IF had to play the relegation rounds and kept their spots in the league, coming in second and third afterHuddinge IK , who had been relegated one year previously, but made it back after one year in Division 1.2006–07 season
This season Huddinge and Arboga had to play in the qualification series to stay in the league, but Arboga decided not to play because of their bad economic state of affairs, so they joined Division 1 in the 2007–08 season. Huddinge won the group and continued to play in HockeyAllsvenskan for yet another season, while Borås finished second and advanced to HockeyAllsvenskan.
In the qualification rounds for Elitserien, Södertälje advanced to Elitserien while Malmö only finished third and went to play in HockeyAllsvenskan the next season.
2007–08 season
Huddinge and Hammarby finished last in league this year and had to play in the qualification series to stay up. Hammarby however decided not to play because of economic issues. Also, Huddinge did not survive the qualification group which was won by the following season's newcomers
IF Troja/Ljungby andMariestad BoIS HC . However, in the summerNyköpings Hockey was relegated to division 1, not meeting the financial demands for being approved to play in the HockeyAllsvenskan, and Huddinge was promoted to fill in that spot.In a closely played qualification battle for Elitserien, Rögle advanced to Elitserien at the cost of Mora who finished fourth and went to play in HockeyAllsvenskan next season.
External links
* [http://www.hockeyallsvenskan.se/ Official homepage]
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