Hockeyettan

Hockeyettan

Current season, competition or edition: 2014–15 Hockeyettan season
Logo of Hockeyettan, an interest group formed by clubs competing in Hockeyettan.
Formerly	Division 1 (until 2014)
Sport	Ice hockey
Founded	1975
No. of teams	47 in 4 groups
Country	Sweden
Promotion to	HockeyAllsvenskan
Relegation to	Division 2
Official website	www.hockeyettan.com

Not to be confused with Swedish Division I, which was the top-tier league in Sweden from 1944 to 1975.

Hockeyettan, formerly named Division 1 between 1975–2014, is the third-tier league of ice hockey in Sweden. From 1944 to 1975, Division I was the name of the highest league in the Swedish ice hockey system, but prior to the 1975–76 season, Division I was scrapped and replaced by the Elitserien (now known as the SHL), and Division 1 was created as the new second-tier league. Prior to the 1999–2000 season, Allsvenskan (now named HockeyAllsvenskan) was created as the new second-tier league, making Division 1 the third-tier league. The league was renamed "Hockeyettan" in April 2014.^[1] Today, the league consists of 47 teams divided geographically into four groups (Hockeyettan North, East, West, and South). The teams play half a season in the four groups, after which the highest ranked teams in each group form two new groups (named Allettan), organized more broadly into Norra ("North") and Södra ("South"). In the meantime, the teams which failed to make it out of their groups from the first half-season continue playing with the remaining teams in their group.

On 19 September 2012, the clubs in the league at that time formed an interest group called Hockeyettan, which aims to promote the league in Sweden, and is also responsible for running the Hockeyettan.com website.^[2][3][4] In April 2014, the league was renamed "Hockeyettan". The name is a Swedish play on words with the league's original name "Division 1"; "ettan" means "one" in English, referring to the number 1 in the original league name.^[1]

Hockeyettan is organized by the Swedish Ice Hockey Association (SIHA).

Promotion and relegation playoff format

At the end of the season, the lowest ranked teams from the continuation groups are forced to defend their spots against four challengers from Division 2 in the Hockeyettan qualifier (Swedish: Kvalserien till Hockeyettan) for their region, a double round-robin tournament. The Allettan winners go directly to the HockeyAllsvenskan qualifier (Swedish: Kvalserien till HockeyAllsvenskan), which determines promotion to the second-tier league HockeyAllsvenskan. The Allettan teams ranked 2–5, as well as the top two teams from the continuation groups, play a playoff to determine which teams will also join the HockeyAllsvenskan qualifier. The playoffs consists of three rounds—PlayOff 1, 2, and 3—with each playoff team starting in PlayOff 1. In PlayOff 1, teams are matched up based on their ranking in their spring section, but in subsequent rounds, match-ups are determined by random draw.^[5]

Each playoff series is a best-of-three, with the better-ranked team receiving home-ice advantage, i.e. two home games, if necessary to determine a winner of the series. The two surviving teams after Round 3 play the two Allettan winners and the two lowest-ranked teams from that season of HockeyAllsvenskan in the HockeyAllsvenskan qualifier, a double round-robin tournament, with the top four teams in that tournament qualifying for the following season of HockeyAllsvenskan.^[5]

Participating teams

2014–15

The 2014–15 season will feature 47 teams divided into four geographical groups: Norra ("North"), Östra ("East"), Västra ("West"), and Södra ("South").^[5] At the conclusion of the four initial groups in December, the top teams from each group qualify for Allettan, which consists of Allettan Norra ("North") and Allettan ("Södra") with 8 teams each, depending on the teams' geographical locations. The remaining teams in the starting groups have to continue in their starting groups ("continuation groups") after Christmas. The Allettan winners go directly to the HockeyAllsvenskan qualifier. The teams ranked 2–5 in the Allettan groups, and the top two teams in the four continuation groups, play in a three-round playoff—consisting of PlayOff 1, 2, and 3—and battle for two spots in the HockeyAllsvenskan. Unlike previous seasons where group rankings affected whether a certain team started in PlayOff 1, 2 or 3, all playoff teams now start in PlayOff 1. The two teams that survive PlayOff 3 join the two Allettan winners and the two worst-ranked teams from HockeyAllsvenskan in the HockeyAllsvenskan qualifier, the double round-robin tournament where the teams battle for four spots in HockeyAllsvenskan for the following season. The remaining teams from the continuation groups have to play against challengers from Division 2 in the Hockeyettan qualifiers, the double round-robin tournaments where the best teams qualify for the following season of Hockeyettan.^[5]

2013–14

The Swedish Ice Hockey Association released a schedule for the 2013–14 Division 1 season which merged Divisions 1A and 1B into a larger Division 1 Norra ("North"). That group consisted of 12 teams playing a double home-and-away series against each team in the group, for a total of 44 games per team. Unlike the traditional system used by the smaller groups which in January reorganized themselves into new groups based on their position in their group, the new Division 1 Norra continued playing into the spring, with relegation and playoff spots being decided directly from the new group. Reactions to this set-up were mixed, with Sollefteå HK for example suggesting that playing that many games would be strenuous for the clubs' finances, and that playing each opponent three times instead of four might have been more appropriate.^[6][7] In total, the 2013–14 Division 1 season consisted of 53 teams.

Note that Botkyrka HC merged with IFK Tumba Hockey during the off-season.

2012–13

See also

• List of ice hockey leagues in Sweden
• Ice hockey in Sweden

References

External links

• Hockeyettan - Official website for Hockeyettan