Agony Time!

Now the final puck has been put in the back of the net in HockeyAllsvenskan for this season. Leksand finishes top for the third time running, AIK is second for the second consecutive season and Växjö pipped Almtuna to the all important third spot. Almtuna, to the surprise of some people, chose Mora as their opponents in the first round of the play-off. I think it is, without a doubt, the right choice to make. Mora is in their worst form of the season, having only won 6 games of their last 19. In the meetings between the two opponents, scores are even with each team having won twice. Notable is that all wins have been on home ice.

That means Malmö is left to take on Bofors, where maybe a bit surprisingly Bofors has the upper hand in the meetings between the two. The Bobcats won the last encounter as recently as on  February 17 at Malmö Arena to take the aggregate score to three wins for Bofors whereas Malmö has only managed one win against their play off opponents this season. This makes it a very possible scenario to have a Almtuna v Bofors play off final.

At the other end of the table we see that Björklöven managed to avoid an embarrassing qualification to retain their status as a team in Allsvenskan as they destroyed Mora 5-1 on home ice. Sundsvall and Oskarshamn will fight against the drop to division 1.

Kvalserien to Elitserien does look like many predicted, with Rögle and Södertälje again joining from above and Leksand, AIK and Växjö + one of the play off teams fighting it out for the two promotion spots. The only difference from last year is that Västerås will be replaced - apart from that KS will look the same.

The talismanic Södertälje captain Linus Klasen is however racing to get back from injury sustained in the game against Skellefteå, A SSK without him is a much less daunting prospect for their opponents than one with him. The estimated healing time for his hand injury is 2-8 weeks. In the worst case scenario he might miss the whole of KS. It would really be a shame if a man with his talents will be out of action, but opposing goalkeepers and defenders will undoubtedly let out a sigh of relief. Watch the clip below if you do not know about his qualities.

But for fans of the already qualified clubs, two weeks of pure agony is now awaiting. Men and women around the country will only exist in this parallel reality with nothing but stats, tactic and possible line changes. I will know all opponents and their tactics - I will be able to repeat the names of the pets of the players playing in Rögle's 4-on-3 third line, and I will know what Roger Melin ate for breakfast. Youtube will stuggle to cope with the workload from KS team clips that will be loaded, reloaded and played at all hours of the day. Families will be deprived of any sensible discussion that does not regard hockey and there will be many sleepless nights and uneaten plates of food. Every player, members of staff and journey-plans by your team will be scrutinised. The logic usually applied to your thinking till become scewed and ridiculously complex. Some people will most likely come to the conclusion that the third goalkeeper is the natural player to be on the left in the checking line - and this has been reasoned with the apparent logic of a mad man. And I will not deny that it is true; I and many with me will become mad men/women for these two weeks. And that's for these two weeks running up to Kvalserien. Then it gets worse.