2014–15 SHL season

2014–15 SHL season
League Sweden Swedish Hockey League
Sport Ice hockey
Duration 10 September 2014 – 23 April 2015
Number of games 55 (330 total)
Number of teams 12
Total attendance 1,987,961[1]
Average attendance 6,024[1]
Regular season
League Champion Skellefteå AIK
Season MVP Július Hudáček (Örebro)
Top scorer Derek Ryan (Örebro)
Playoffs
Playoffs Playoffs MVP Noah Welch (Växjö)
Finals
Champions Växjö Lakers (1st title)
  Runners-up Skellefteå AIK

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 managed to win 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.[3] 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.[5][7] 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

Final Standings.[11]

Key to colours in group tables
Top six teams advance directly to the playoffs
Teams placed 7-10 advance to the play-in for the playoffs
Bottom two teams qualify for relegation series
Team GP
 W
 OTW
 OTL
 L
 GF
 GA
 GD
 Pts
Skellefteå AIK 55 32 5 5 13 169 116 +53 111
Frölunda HC 55 23 11 6 15 145 120 +25 97
Växjö Lakers 55 24 9 6 16 158 120 +38 96
Linköpings HC 55 26 4 7 18 156 125 +31 93
HV71 55 25 6 5 19 145 141 +4 92
Örebro HK 55 21 10 7 17 156 128 +28 90
Färjestad BK 55 21 6 8 20 128 135 −7 83
Luleå HF 55 21 6 4 24 127 131 −4 79
Djurgårdens IF 55 15 9 8 23 128 157 −29 71
Brynäs IF 55 19 3 5 28 132 159 −27 68
Leksands IF 55 15 3 6 31 116 179 −63 57
Modo Hockey 55 12 4 9 30 127 176 −49 53

Statistics

Scoring leaders

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

As of 5 March 2015[12]

GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/– = Plus/Minus; PIM = Penalty Minutes

Player Team GP G A Pts +/– PIM
United States Derek Ryan Örebro HK 55 15 45 60 +18 18
United States Jeff Taffe Linköpings HC 54 18 41 59 +12 43
United States Broc Little Linköpings HC 55 28 19 47 +14 38
Canada Jacob Micflikier Linköpings HC 54 24 23 47 +13 26
Sweden Martin Johansson Örebro HK 54 24 22 46 +18 10
Norway Mathis Olimb Frölunda HC 51 7 39 46 +19 65
Sweden Robert Rosén Växjö Lakers 53 23 21 44 +27 16
Canada Erik Christensen HV71 46 13 31 44 +7 14
Canada Greg Scott Brynäs IF 47 18 24 42 +4 20
United States Bill Sweatt Brynäs IF 54 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.

As of 5 March 2015[13]

GP = Games Played; TOI = Time On Ice (minutes); GA = Goals Against; SO = Shutouts; Sv% = Save Percentage; GAA = Goals Against Average

Player Team GP TOI GA SO Sv% GAA
Sweden Joel Lassinantti Luleå HF 38 2071:48 65 5 92.79 1.88
Slovakia Julius Hudacek Örebro HK 45 2640:54 84 4 92.99 1.91
Sweden Markus Svensson Skellefteå AIK 30 1789:47 57 3 91.88 1.91
Sweden Cristopher Nilstorp Växjö Lakers 38 2134:52 70 5 91.28 1.97
Sweden Linus Fernström Frölunda HC 33 1851:50 61 4 90.63 1.98
Canada Justin Pogge Färjestad BK 30 1642:59 55 4 92.60 2.01
Sweden Lars Johansson Frölunda HC 30 1492:46 50 3 91.50 2.01
Sweden David Rautio Linköpings HC 33 1851:07 63 7 92.13 2.04
Sweden Erik Hanses Skellefteå AIK 25 1415:06 48 2 91.50 2.04
Sweden Marcus Högberg Linköpings HC 27 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.[14][15]

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.[14][15]

(7) Färjestad BK vs. (10) Brynäs IF

Brynäs IF won series 2–1

(8) Luleå HF vs. (9) Djurgårdens IF

Luleå HF won series 2–0

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).[14][15]

  Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
                           
  1  Skellefteå AIK 4  
10  Brynäs IF 0  
  1  Skellefteå AIK 4  
  4  Linköpings HC 1  
2  Frölunda HC 4
  8  Luleå HF 3  
(Pairings are re-seeded after the first round)   1  Skellefteå AIK 2
  3  Växjö Lakers 4
  3  Växjö Lakers 4  
6  Örebro HK 2  
  2  Frölunda HC 2
  3  Växjö Lakers 4  
4  Linköpings HC 4
  5  HV71 2  

Quarterfinals

(1) Skellefteå AIK vs. (10) Brynäs IF

Skellefteå AIK won series 4–0

(2) Frölunda HC vs. (8) Luleå HF

Frölunda HC won series 4–3

(3) Växjö Lakers vs. (6) Örebro HK

Växjö Lakers won series 4–2

(4) Linköpings HC vs. (5) HV71

Linköpings HC won series 4–2

Semifinals

(1) Skellefteå AIK vs. (4) Linköpings HC

Skellefteå AIK won series 4–1

(2) Frölunda HC vs. (3) Växjö Lakers

Växjö Lakers won series 4–2

Finals

Växjö Lakers won series 4–2

Statistics

Playoff scoring leaders

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

As of 23 April 2015[16]

GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/– = Plus/Minus; PIM = Penalty Minutes

Player Team GP G A Pts +/– PIM
Sweden Axel Holmström Skellefteå AIK 15 7 11 18 +4 0
United States Broc Little Linköpings HC 11 5 9 14 +3 8
Canada Jeff Tambellini Växjö Lakers 18 5 8 13 +8 2
Sweden Patrik Zackrisson Skellefteå AIK 15 4 9 13 +4 4
Finland Tuomas Kiiskinen Växjö Lakers 18 4 9 13 +4 2
United States Rhett Rakhshani Växjö Lakers 18 8 4 12 +9 8
Sweden Robert Rosén Växjö Lakers 18 5 7 12 +5 6
Finland Jani Lajunen Växjö Lakers 18 6 5 11 +6 8
United States Andrew Calof Skellefteå AIK 15 4 7 11 +3 2
Sweden Tim Heed Skellefteå AIK 15 2 9 11 –2 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.

As of 23 April 2015[17]

GP = Games Played; TOI = Time On Ice (minutes); GA = Goals Against; SO = Shutouts; Sv% = Save Percentage; GAA = Goals Against Average

Player Team GP TOI GA SO Sv% GAA
Sweden Cristopher Nihlstorp Växjö Lakers 16 1012:57 29 3 92.12 1.72
Sweden Joel Lassinantti Luleå HF 7 417:06 13 0 92.74 1.87
Sweden Markus Svensson Skellefteå AIK 15 932:20 29 1 91.92 1.87
Sweden Lars Johansson Frölunda HC 13 815:16 27 2 92.11 1.99
Sweden Gustaf Wesslau HV71 6 357:35 16 0 90.86 2.68

SHL awards

Guldhjälmen: Derek Ryan, Örebro HK[18]
Guldpucken: Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning
Honken Trophy: Joel Lassinantti, Luleå HF[19]
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

References

  1. 1 2 "Team attendance rates for the 2014–15 SHL regular season". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  2. ↑ Ek, Mattias (29 April 2014). "Modos Edwin Hedberg har åkt fast för doping". Expressen (in Swedish). Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  3. 1 2 "Edwin Hedberg utreds för användande av otillåtet preparat" (in Swedish). Modo Hockey. 29 April 2014. Archived from the original on 2 May 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  4. ↑ Wahlberg, Malin (9 July 2014). "Hedberg stängs av sex månader". Sportbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  5. 1 2 "Beslut från Dopingnämnden" (PDF). Swedish Sports Confederation (in Swedish). 7 July 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 July 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  6. ↑ Mattsson, Sebastian; Yesil, Sarp; Landén, Petter (10 July 2014). "Luleås Mark Owuya blir avstängd i ett år". Expressen (in Swedish). Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  7. 1 2 Wahlberg, Malin (10 July 2014). "När han gick in på toa tänkte jag att han manipulerade testet". Sportbladet (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 10 July 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  8. ↑ Hedlund, Robert (10 July 2014). "Avstängningen av Owuya" (in Swedish). Luleå HF. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  9. ↑ Winblad, Johan (28 July 2014). "Owuya överklagar dopingavstänging" (in Swedish). Sveriges Television. Retrieved 4 September 2014.
  10. ↑ Wahlberg, Malin (4 September 2014). "Owuyas nya bakslag – beslutet kan överklagas". Sportbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 4 September 2014.
  11. ↑ "Statistik - SHL.se". SHL. Retrieved 29 November 2014.
  12. ↑ "Statistik - SHL.se". SHL. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
  13. ↑ "Start - SHL.se". SHL. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
  14. 1 2 3 "Datum och speldagar för Play In och Slutspel 2015". shl.se. 4 September 2014. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  15. 1 2 3 "Datum och speldagar för Play In och SM-slutspel 2015". shl.se. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  16. ↑ "Statistik - SHL.se". SHL. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  17. ↑ "Start - SHL.se". SHL. Retrieved 13 March 2014.
  18. ↑ http://www.hockeysverige.se/2015/03/16/guldhjalmen-till-derek-ryan/
  19. ↑ http://www.hockeysverige.se/2015/03/19/honken-trophy-gar-till-rookiesensationen/

External links

Media related to 2014-2015 Swedish Hockey League season at Wikimedia Commons

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