HockeyAllsvenskan

Second level of Swedish men's ice hockey

HockeyAllsvenskan (previously Allsvenskan and SuperAllsvenskan) is a professional ice hockey league, and the second highest league in the Swedish ice hockey system, after the SHL. Since the 2009–10 season, the league has consisted of fourteen teams.

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 the 1975–76 season of the present SHL. 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 sixteen team league Allsvenskan. When the then named 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 Allsvenskan played a best of five final for promotion to Elitserien. The teams 3–6 in the Allsvenskan 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) were 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 the previous years of Allsvenskan, but that league was named SuperAllsvenskan. In the 1999–2000 season, no Kvalserien was played for survival in Allsvenskan; instead, the four worst teams in Allsvenskan were relegated to Division 1 (now named Hockeyettan) while the four best teams in Division 1 were promoted to Allsvenskan. For the 2005–06 season, the number of teams was decreased from 2x12 to 16 (currently 14). The Norra and Södra sections were merged into a joint league named HockeyAllsvenskan, and the SuperAllsvenskan league was scrapped. HockeyAllsvenskan covers the entire regular season.

The league is played as a round robin tournament where all teams play each other four times during one season, twice at home and twice on the road, for a total of 52 games per team. After the regular season, teams 1 and 2 play the HockeyAllsvenskan Final in best of five games, and teams 3 8 play the HockeyAllsvenskan Slutspelsserie, a single meeting round robin tournament, where teams 3 5 start with 3, 2 and 1 bonus points, respectively, and play one more game at home. The winner of the HockeyAllsvenskan Final gets to challenge team 14 from the SHL in best of seven games for their spot in the league. The loser in the HockeyAllsvenskan Final faces the winner from the Slutspelsserie in best of three games, and the winner from this stage gets to challenge team 13 from the SHL in best of seven games for their spot in the league. The two last placed teams from HockeyAllsvenskan have to play in the Kvalserien qualification against four Hockeyettan (tier III, formerly Division 1) teams to avoid relegation. For the 2009–10 season, the number of teams in the league was decreased from sixteen to fourteen. In the 2008–09 season the last placed team was directly relegated, and the teams ranked fourteen and fifteen played in the qualification league, from which only the best team was qualified for the next HockeyAllsvenskan season.

HockeyAllsvenskan has seen a significant increase in average attendance per game since the first season of HockeyAllsvenskan in 2005–06. In the 2011–12 season, HockeyAllsvenskan had the highest average attendance number of any second tier league in Europe, averaging 2,606 spectators per game. The following season, 2012–13, which was strengthened by the NHL lockout, the average attendance increased to 3,227 spectators per game, a 23.8% increase over the 2011–12 season; HockeyAllsvenskan remained the European second tier league with the highest average attendance as a result. This dramatic increase can be explained by the fact that Djurgårdens IF, who replaced Rögle BK's position in the league as a result of the 2012 Kvalserien, averaged 6,184 spectators per game compared to Rögle who just averaged 2,973 spectators; as well as the fact that Karlskrona HK and Asplöven HC, who replaced IF Sundsvall Hockey and Borås HC as a result of the 2012 Kvalserien for HockeyAllsvenskan, averaged 2,161 spectators per game (combined) while Sundsvall and Borås just averaged 1,033 spectators. Also, Örebro HK increased their average attendance from 2,445 to 3,618 spectators per game. In seven years, the average attendance increased from 1,996 in the 2005–06 season to 3,227 spectators per game in the 2012–13 season, an increase of 61.7%. The following season saw a slight drop to 3,016 spectators per game, a decrease of 6.5% from the 2012–13 season.

Halmstad played in HockeyAllsvenskan this season, but due to the club's bankruptcy the team was disqualified. In Kvalserien, Malmö and Skellefteå were promoted to play in Elitserien for the 2006–07 season. Leksand and Södertälje were both relegated from Elitserien. Arboga and Hammarby had to play the relegation rounds but managed to keep their spots in the league, coming in second respectively third after Huddinge, who had been relegated one year previously, but made it back after one year in Division 1.

In the qualification rounds for Elitserien, Södertälje advanced to Elitserien while Malmö only finished third and was relegated to HockeyAllsvenskan. 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. This meant that Arboga joined Division 1 in the 2007–08 season. Huddinge won the qualification series and thus continued to play in HockeyAllsvenskan for yet another season, while Borås finished second and advanced to HockeyAllsvenskan.

In a closely played qualification battle for Elitserien, Rögle advanced to Elitserien at the cost of Mora who finished fourth and was relegated to HockeyAllsvenskan. Huddinge and Hammarby finished last in the league this year and had to play in the qualification series to stay up. Hammarby, however, decided not to play because of economic issues (the team later went bankrupt). Huddinge did not survive the qualification group which was won by the following season's newcomers Troja/Ljungby and Mariestad. However, in the summer, Nyköping was relegated to Division 1, not meeting the financial demands for being approved to play in the HockeyAllsvenskan (known as the elite license), and Huddinge was promoted to fill in that spot.

The 2008–09 season became the last season with sixteen teams in HockeyAllsvenskan. On May 30, 2008, the board of the SIHA decided to decrease the number of teams to fourteen, starting from the 2009–10 season. In Kvalserien, none of the four top teams from HockeyAllsvenskan succeeded in qualifying for the highest division this year. Instead, the two Elitserien teams Södertälje and Rögle managed to keep their spots. Because of the decreased number of teams for the next season, the last placed team, Mariestad, was directly relegated to the lower division instead of joining the teams placed 14th and 15th who had to play the qualification group against four teams from Division 1. With just one team qualifying for HockeyAllsvenskan this season, neither Nybro (third) nor Huddinge (fourth) succeeded in staying in the second division. Instead, Örebro took the available spot in HockeyAllsvenskan for the 2009–10 season.

In Kvalserien, AIK managed to promote to Elitserien at the expense of Rögle. Sundsvall and Oskarshamn ended up at the bottom of the league table and had to play a qualification series to requalify for HockeyAllsvenskan. There Tingsryd came in second after Oskarshamn, earning promotion at the expense of Sundsvall. However, in June the Swedish Ice Hockey Association (SIHA) decided not to grant Björklöven elite license for the upcoming season due to financial concerns and thus Björklöven was relegated to Division 1 and Sundsvall was given a spot in HockeyAllsvenskan next season. With AIK advancing to the Elitserien, and no other team from the area in the league, nor any new one promoted from Division 1, this meant that the 2010–11 season would be the first time ever with no team from the Stockholm area in the second level league of Swedish ice hockey.

In Kvalserien, Växjö managed to promote to Elitserien at the expense of Södertälje. (With Södertälje back in HockeyAllsvenskan, the Stockholm area was re established on the second level.) The qualification system for the teams 4–7 to qualify for Kvalserien was changed this season. Instead of a kind of playoff series, a "pre qualification" system was used. The 4th ranked team from HockeyAllsvenskan started with 4 points, the 5th ranked team with 3 points, the 6th ranked team with 2 points, and the 7th ranked team with 1 point. The teams met each other two times, giving a total of 6 rounds. The 7th ranked team, which was Mora, won the pre qualification and thus reached the Kvalserien. Troja/Ljungby and Tingsryd ended at 13th and 14th place respectively and thus were forced to play in the Kvalserien for HockeyAllsvenskan. Troja/Ljungby and Tingsryd ended 1st and 2nd respectively in the Kvalserien and thus stayed in HockeyAllsvenskan for the 2011–12 season. This also meant that no team from Division 1 qualified for HockeyAllsvenskan this season.

In Kvalserien, Rögle promoted to Elitserien at the expense of Djurgården. Rögle became the first HockeyAllsvenskan playoff team in history to promote to Elitserien, a feat which Örebro HK subsequently duplicated in 2013. In Kvalserien for HockeyAllsvenskan, Borås re qualified for HockeyAllsvenskan and Karlskrona promoted to HockeyAllsvenskan for the first time in the club's history, at the expense of Sundsvall. However, the SIHA did not grant Borås elite license for the 2012–13 season and Borås were therefore relegated to Division 1 while Asplöven, the 3rd ranked team from the HockeyAllsvenskan Kvalserien, took over their spot for the next HockeyAllsvenskan season.