AIK grabs the last straw

After a very turbulent season, almost an understatement considering all that has happened, AIK grabbed the opportunity presented to them by promotion contenders Leksand and Rögle to take the second qualification spot to Elitserien. They 'only' had to beat Växjö in the last game to secure their advancement, but as always in Kvalserien, the 'onlys' quickly becomes knuckle-biting 'possiblys'. 

AIK managed to secure the win (2-0) in a tightly fought contest, with both goals scored in the dying minutes of the game in a packed out Johanneshov, thereby securing vital income to the beleaguered club. This was arguably the last chance for survival for the club with the economy being in tatters. And they took it! Puckin' Hell wants to congratulate AIK and their prominent blogger Black Boris for a job well done.

The rock is rolling!

With two games remaining of the 2010 edition of Kvalserien, the outcome is - as predicted - unpredictable to say the least. Södertälje SK somewhat unsurprisingly leads the way with 19 points and will require one more to secure their participation in next year's Elitserien. They are hosting AIK (4th) tomorrow and on Sunday there will be the show-down with Rögle BK (2nd). The game with AIK is a derby-type affair and the outcome is by no means certain. If they would lose, the one point they require will be hard fought to get at the final away game. They should qualify, but in KS, there is a long history of teams choking when one foot is on the finishing line.

Rögle finds themselves in second place on 14 points with Almtuna (5th) to visit tomorrow before taking on Södertälje. Again, none of these teams are easy to play. Almtuna IS has rattled most teams and are notoriously difficult to play in their rink, and with Rögle only just beating AIS on penalties in the previous game, they will not be taking any points for granted. Two wins are of course possible, but they might as well not get any.

Leksands IF is just one point behind in 3rd place and is said to have the easiest run-in. On paper this is true as they are facing bottom of the table Växjö Lakers away on Tursday and finishes with a visit by Almtuna. Växjö has only managed to get three points, all of them did however come while playing in their Lakerdome home and the hosts won both home games 3-1 during the regular season, so to say these are three easy points would be a mistake. Almtuna on the other hand has been defeated every time this season in Ejendals Arena, albeit the affairs have been tightly fought. Underestimation would however be the biggest risk and you would expect Leksand to bring home at least four points from these games.

AIK equals Leksand's 13 points but is behind by a single goal on goal difference and is in 4th position. If the team can get a win from the derby against top of the table Södertälje, the final game will be at home against Växjö, who might be without their three North American players due to a money saving excercise by the club (they will however feature in the previous game versus Leksand). This might have a decisive influence if the final table is decided on goal difference. The big one is however played tomorrow, and both teams will know the result of this game will decide how their seasons are judged, not to mention the SEK 30.000.000 in money from TV rights and another SEK 20.000.000 in extra ticket sales, sponsorship etc. In short, No Pressure!

First Round

Almtuna took out one of the pre season favourites as they knocked out Malmö in the decisive play off game yesterday. The home team took a comfortable victory leaving the Redhawks facing yet another season in Allsvenskan. The first round in Kvalserien therefore looks like this.

Almtuna IS -  Leksands IF

Leksand has had problems with Almtuna throughout the season and has only managed to score once in Gränbyhallen. The games has all been home wins with Almtuna's victories being 5-0 and 3-1. Leksand will have to be on their toes and look to cancel out the attacking threat posed by quick players like Robert Kimby and Jimmie Kraft as Almtuna are lethal on the break. AIS does not spend many minutes in the sin bin and will have to be ground down in 5-on-5 play. Letting the hosts take the lead is usually not recommended as they are incredibly good at keeping hold of the puck and frustrating their opponents. Leksand on the other hand are good at containing teams and will not be exposing themselves in the same way Malmö did. This might not suit AIS and they will be forced to play a different type of hockey than what they have done in the play offs, and as far as I know, Almtuna only knows how to play hockey one way. In this game the first goal will be incredibly important. AIS seem to be in form and should be held as favourites to win on home ice. Leksand with two weeks without competitive games will have to get up to speed quickly. However, Almtuna has played three games in the last week and might their stamina will be tested.

Tip: 3-4 after penalties

Great defending!

Rögle BK - Södertälje SK

The two teams from Elitserien battle it out immediately. Rögle is arguably the weaker side of the two and, according to the experts, the side that could possibly be replaced in the top flight by one of the former AS teams. The home advantage is important and Rögle is renowned for being difficult to beat in Ängelholm - however, the pressure will be on to make it count. Södertälje has welcomed back captain and top scorer Linus Klasen from injury and will be going into this game with nothing to lose. A point would be a bonus and the team can play without pressure.

Tip: 2-3


Växjö Lakers - AIK

Växjö has beaten AIK three out of four times this season and being undefeated by AIK at home, they will be hoping the trend will continue. Key man in AIK will be Cristopher Heino-Lindberg - if he has a good day, he can stop any team on his own. AIK is notoriously difficult to figure out and they are renowned for blowing hot and cold, especially on their trips. However, if I were to be a betting man, I'd go for a home win as I think the consistency of Växjö will prevail. Also, it promises to be an interesting post-game match up between coaches Janne Karlsson (VL) and Roger Melin (AIK). Janne Karlsson is certain to be the winner in this one.

Tip: 4-2

Nordström Out. Malmö to Follow?

Leksand's Peter Nordström has been ruled out of participation in Kvalserien due to a ligament problem. The 35 year old was taken off the ice in the last game of the season and after tests the Swedish champion of yesteryear has been told he most likely won't be able to play for the rest of the campaign. 'I'm unable to skate in one direction, and when I fall over it feels as if my foot is breaking off. I have torn a ligament and I'm not entirely sure how long it takes to heal. There won't be any games in the near future, but I hope to be lucky enough to make it back in the later stages of the competition.' he tells Aftonbladet.

 Broken

In the play off for the last spot in KS, Almtuna has levelled the series to one game each. The Uppsala outfit lost a hard fought battle in Malmö with the odd goal after Malmö's Robin Weihager scored the decider in the last period while short handed. Ouch! Yesterday, on home ice, Almtuna won with a more comfortable margin of 4-1. All is however still to play for as the two teams battle it out in the decider tonight at 7PM CET in what promises to be an exciting game. If anyone want's to see it for free, contact me and I might be able to provide a link.

Kvalserien - Now at a Computer Near You

For once the Gods are smiling at me. Visasatondemand is running an offer on all packages (films, entertainment, documentaries and most importantly sports). The package concerns their web broadcasts and will include the live matches from Kvalserien. The official schedule is yet to be released so it is impossible to say what games will be included, but it will be at least two or possibly all games in every round available on their web service. For SEK99 you can now get this for a period of one month, and as KS only runs until April 10, all rounds are now covered.  Considering one game retails at SEK79, this is quite a bargain. You can cancel the service at any time during the first month and not be charged for a second month.

Of course, the service is geographically limited to Sweden due to broadcasting rights. If anyone abroad would be interested in this service I can give a few pointers in how to go about circumventing the geographical IP block. Note that I am in no way endorsing breaching the terms and conditions, merely presenting a technical weakness in their system. But why they are so protective about second tier Swedish ice hockey could be anyone's guess. We only export IKEA, Abba and Volvo - the interesting stuff we keep for ourselves! It sounds like a both likely and valid reason...

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.

Cameras to be introduced in Kvalserien

As expected, goalmouth cameras will be installed and used by the referees in the upcoming Kvalserien. In Allsvenskan this is not the case and although voices are raised for cameras to be used throughout the season, I have concerns about this. Of course it would be preferred to be able to use them, a lot of people however seem to forget there is a considerable cost to do so. Installation of the equipment is by no means done for free and with several clubs stuggling to stay alive this will not help them. Then you have the running cost of extra referees. This again will not be too popular with some clubs having an attendance counted in the hundreds rather than thousands.

 Brought to you by Bauer

Some clubs would certainly not want to be promoted to Allsvenskan if they know it might mean the death of the club, due to this imposed investment. In Kvalserien however, I agree they should be used. One incorrectly allowed/disallowed goal could mean SEK 30 million in difference. Considering that any team who would be promoted would have to make the investment in a camera system anyway, this was an obvious decision.

They are also discussing to possibility of using the four referee system. The trial in the LIF-AIK game worked out in favour of it. But again, there is the cost of around SEK 30k-50k for the extra man on the ice. It sounds a lot, but apparently that is the cost of the extra zebra. The clubs are currently consulted about this.