The 2017–18 SDHL season was the eleventh season of the
Swedish Women's Hockey League
The Swedish Women's Hockey League ( sv, Svenska damhockeyligan), abbreviated SDHL, is the elite league for women's ice hockey in Sweden. It was established in 2007 as the by the Swedish Ice Hockey Association and was renamed prior to the 2016– ...
(Svenska damhockeyligan, or SDHL). The season began in September 2017 and ended in March 2018.
Significant events
Pre-season
After the end of the 2016–17 season, the
IF Sundsvall Hockey
IF Sundsvall Hockey is a Swedish ice hockey club based in Sundsvall. The club currently competes in Hockeyettan, the third tier of ice hockey in Sweden. Sundsvall plays their home matches at Gärdehov, with a capacity of 2,500.
History
The cl ...
organisation cut its women's side, despite having managed to save their place in the SDHL during the qualification playoffs the organisation citing a need to save money for its third-tier men's side. The club was criticised for the decision, with forward
Mathilda Gustafsson stating that "If we were a company instead of an association, you would never shut down a department which only employed women because the cost inhibits the male employees." The third-placed club in the qualification playoffs,
Damettan
DamEttan (called Division 1, 2007–2015) is the second-highest women's ice hockey league in Sweden, below the SDHL and above Damtvåan. Beginning with the first official women's ice hockey Swedish Championship in 1988, the league served as th ...
club
Göteborg HC
Göteborg Hockey Club, abbreviated as Göteborg HC or GHC, are an ice hockey club in Angered, a borough of Gothenburg ( sv, Göteborg) in southwestern Sweden. They played in the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL), the top Swedish women's hock ...
were promoted to the SDHL to take their place for the 2017–18 season.
SDE Hockey
SDE Hockey are a Swedish ice hockey club in the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL). They play in the Enebyberg area of Danderyd Municipality in Metropolitan Stockholm at Enebybergs Ishall.
History
The club was formed in 2007 from the merger ...
had finished second in the qualification playoffs, and so were able to secure their SDHL place for 2017–18.
In May 2017, Swedish national team star and former SDHL Defender of the Year
Emma Eliasson
Emma Maria Josefin Eliasson (born 12 June 1989 in Kiruna, Sweden) is a Swedish retired ice hockey player. Considered one of the greatest Swedish defenders to ever play the game and known for her offensive abilities and physical style of play, sh ...
announced her retirement, citing stress and her controversial removal from the national team. A number of high-profile North American players joined the SDHL as free agents, including
Michela Cava
Michela Cava (born March 26, 1994) is a Canadian ice hockey centre, currently playing in the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) with PWHL Minnesota.
Playing career
Along with goaltender Danika Ranger, Cava is one of only two players to ...
and
Sidney Morin
Sidney Emilie Morin (born June 6, 1995) is a Canadian-American ice hockey Defence (ice hockey), defenseman, currently playing in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) with the Minnesota Whitecaps. As a member of the United States women's national i ...
, as well as Swiss star
Lara Stalder
Lara Stalder (born 15 May 1994) is a Swiss ice hockey Forward (ice hockey), forward and member of the Switzerland women's national ice hockey team, Swiss national ice hockey team, currently playing with Brynäs IF Dam of the Swedish Women's Hock ...
, who had been playing at university in Minnesota.
In June 2017, the
Swedish Ice Hockey Association
The Swedish Ice Hockey Association ( sv, Svenska Ishockeyförbundet (SIF)) in Swedish, is an association of Swedish ice hockey clubs. It was established in Stockholm on 17 November 1922 by representatives from seven clubs. Before then, organiz ...
announced that it was ending subsidies for foreign player fees in the league, citing a desire to promote the development of Swedish players in the league. This increased the cost of having foreign players on the roster from 5500kr per player to 12 500kr per player. The move was widely condemned by league coaches, with several claiming that the Association had not consulted with the league before making the decision. Swedish national team head coach
Leif Boork
Leif Erik Boork (born 3 July 1949 in Stockholm, Sweden) is Swedish former ice hockey coach, who was the head coach for Djurgårdens IF, Brynäs IF, Almtuna IS, and Norway's national ice hockey team.
He works as a color commentator for the TV4 Gr ...
, however, voiced his support for the decision.
In July 2017, a number of
Leksands IF
Leksands Idrottsförening is a Swedish ice hockey team from the town of Leksand in the region of Dalarna. The team plays in the top-tier league, SHL, after succeeding through the 2019 SHL qualifiers and thus earning promotion to the SHL. The c ...
players publicly raised complaints about the organisation's treatment of its women's side, including the fact that the players weren't paid and that they were expected to clean the stands after men’s games.
In August 2017, the independent North American team, the
Minnesota Whitecaps
The Minnesota Whitecaps are a professional ice hockey team in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF; formerly known as the National Women's Hockey League). They play in Richfield, Minnesota, part of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, a ...
, played a one-week tour in Stockholm, playing a total of four matches against the three Stockholm-based SDHL teams.
Regular season
On the 18th of November,
Göteborg HC
Göteborg Hockey Club, abbreviated as Göteborg HC or GHC, are an ice hockey club in Angered, a borough of Gothenburg ( sv, Göteborg) in southwestern Sweden. They played in the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL), the top Swedish women's hock ...
picked up their first-ever SDHL win, beating
SDE Hockey
SDE Hockey are a Swedish ice hockey club in the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL). They play in the Enebyberg area of Danderyd Municipality in Metropolitan Stockholm at Enebybergs Ishall.
History
The club was formed in 2007 from the merger ...
by a score of 4–2. Later that month,
Linköping HC
Linköping Hockey Club, often known by its Acronym and initialism, initials LHC, or Colloquialism, colloquially among its fans as Cluben, is a Swedish ice hockey club from Linköping, founded in 1976. The home arena of the team is Saab Arena (fo ...
set a new regular season attendance record, with 5128 fans turning out for a match against
HV71
HV71 (), often referred to as just HV, is a Swedish professional ice hockey club based in Jönköping, playing in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), the first tier of Swedish ice hockey. The team played in the 2008–09 Champions Hockey League ...
.
At the
2018 Winter Olympics
The 2018 Winter Olympics ( ko, 2018년 동계 올림픽, Icheon sip-pal nyeon Donggye Ollimpik), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (french: Les XXIIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver; ko, 제23회 동계 올림픽, Jeisipsamhoe Donggye Ollimpi ...
, held in February in
Pyeongchang in Korea, a record number of SDHL players were selected to national team rosters, with 37 players from 5 different countries playing at the tournament.
Playoffs
Luleå HF/MSSK defeated
Linköping HC
Linköping Hockey Club, often known by its Acronym and initialism, initials LHC, or Colloquialism, colloquially among its fans as Cluben, is a Swedish ice hockey club from Linköping, founded in 1976. The home arena of the team is Saab Arena (fo ...
by two games to one in the playoff finals, winning their second championship in three years.
Post-season
In April 2018,
Leksands IF Dam
Leksands Idrottsförening Dam or Leksands IF Dam are a professional ice hockey team in the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL). They play in Leksand, a town in the western-central Swedish province of Dalarna, at the Tegera Arena. Until 2021, th ...
goaltender
Leon Reuterström publicly came out as a
transgender man
A trans man is a man who was assigned female at birth. The label of transgender man is not always interchangeable with that of transsexual man, although the two labels are often used in this way. ''Transgender'' is an umbrella term that incl ...
, and had to retire due to beginning testosterone therapy, which contravened anti-doping rules in Sweden.
Later in April, the Swedish national team players announced that they had unionised under the
Swedish Ice Hockey Player’s Central Organization (SICO), the same union that represents the players of the men's national team and of the top-flight domestic men's league, the
SHL. The union players also announced their intention to bring the SDHL players into the union in the future.
In June 2018, the SDHL and the NWHL announced that Luleå would compete in an exhibition game against the 2018
Isobel Cup
The Lady Isobel Gathorne-Hardy Cup, often shortened to Isobel Cup, is the championship trophy awarded annually to the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) playoff winner. It is named after Lady Isobel Gathorne-Hardy, one of the first known women to p ...
winners, the
Metropolitan Riveters
The Metropolitan Riveters (originally the New York Riveters) are a professional women's ice hockey team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, with home games at the American Dream Meadowlands ice rink.
They were one of the four charter franchi ...
in the first-ever Champions Cup.
Standings
Each team played 36 regular season games, with three points being awarded for winning in regulation time, two points for winning in overtime or shootout, one point for losing in overtime or shootout, and zero points for losing in regulation time. At the end of the regular season, the team that finishes with the most points is crowned the regular season champion.
The top 8 clubs at the end of the regular season then go on to compete in the playoff quarterfinals in best of three elimination series. The club that advances all the way to the finals and wins is crowned the league champion. The bottom two regular season clubs must face the top
Damettan
DamEttan (called Division 1, 2007–2015) is the second-highest women's ice hockey league in Sweden, below the SDHL and above Damtvåan. Beginning with the first official women's ice hockey Swedish Championship in 1988, the league served as th ...
teams in a qualification playoff to determine which two clubs shall compete in the SDHL the following season.
Regular season
See also
*
Women's ice hockey in Sweden
References
External links
League websiteOfficial season statistics from the Swedish Ice Hockey Association
{{DEFAULTSORT:2017-18 SDHL season
SDHL
The Swedish Women's Hockey League ( sv, Svenska damhockeyligan), abbreviated SDHL, is the elite league for women's ice hockey in Sweden. It was established in 2007 as the by the Swedish Ice Hockey Association and was renamed prior to the 2016 ...
2017–18 in European ice hockey leagues
Women's ice hockey competitions in Sweden
Swedish Women's Hockey League seasons