Eliteserien, known as Fjordkraftligaen due to sponsorship, is the premier Norwegian

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

league, organised by the

Norwegian Ice Hockey Association The Norwegian Ice Hockey Association (in Norwegian, ''Norges Ishockeyforbund'' (NIHF) is the governing body of all ice hockey, sledge hockey and in-line hockey in Norway. NIHF has its office at Ullevaal Stadium in Oslo. The current president is ...

. It comprises 10 clubs and works on the premise of

promotion and relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues ...

, in which the two teams who placed last must play the top two teams from First Division (the league ranked immediately below) for the rights to play in the next Eliteserie season.

History

The

(NIHF) was founded on 16 September 1934. The same season also saw the debut of a national league for ice hockey. It was then known as 1. divisjon (''1st division''), a name it held until 1990, when the elite clubs broke away and formed a new top league, Eliteserien (''The Elite League''). In 2004, telecommunications company UPC bought the naming rights for the league. UPC Norway changed its name to GET in 2006 and hence the name of the league was also altered. On October 1, 2020, NIHF and

Fjordkraft Fjordkraft is a Norwegian power company that delivers power to end users. Overview The company took over the retailing function from BKK and Skagerak Energi, which along with Statkraft own the company. Power is bought on Nord Pool Spot. The po ...

announced that a new three years naming rights agreement for the league had been agreed, after the one with GET had expired, and from the 2020–2021 season, the league would be known as Fjordkraftligaen.

Teams

The following ten clubs will compete in the Eliteserien during the 2021–22 season.

Notable former teams

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula o ...

Comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ...

* Forward/Gamlebyen * Furuset * Hasle-Løren *

Lørenskog is a municipality in Akershus in Viken county, Norway. A suburb of Oslo, it is part of the Oslo urban area and the traditional region of Romerike. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Lørenskog. Lørenskog was separ ...

* Narvik * Rosenborg (defunct) *

Trondheim Black Panthers The Trondheim Black Panthers, founded 18 June 1986 as Trondheim Ishockeyklubb, is a defunct ice hockey club which was based in Trondheim, Norway. They played their home games in Leangen Ishall and were members of the highest ice hockey league in N ...

(defunct) * Tønsberg Vikings * Spektrum Flyers (defunct) *

Kongsvinger Knights Kongsvinger Knights is a Norwegian ice hockey team based in Kongsvinger, Norway. The senior teams play in 2. divisjon. History The beginning The club was created on 27 January 1961 by Rolf E. Johnson, John Bie-Larsen, Ola Norstrøm. Odd Sme ...

* LM-90 (defunct) * Stavanger-Viking (defunct) * Viking IK (defunct) * Lambertseter hockeyklubb (defunct)

Season structure

The Eliteserien season is divided into a

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of ...

, lasting from mid September to the first week of March, and a postseason, consisting of the Norwegian Championship playoffs, and

qualification Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

for the league in the following season. During the regular season, clubs play each other in a predefined schedule. The Norwegian Championship, which is contested in March and April, is an elimination tournament where two clubs play each other in a best-of-seven series in order to advance to the next round. The final remaining team is crowned the Norwegian champion. Teams not qualified for the playoffs must compete with the best teams from the second league level— 1. divisjon—for the right to play in next season's Eliteserien.

Regular season

The league's regular season is organized according to a quintuple

round robin Round-robin may refer to: Computing * Round-robin DNS, a technique for dealing with redundant Internet Protocol service hosts * Round-robin networks, communications networks made up of radio nodes organized in a mesh topology * Round-robin schedu ...

format implemented ahead of the 2008–09 season. Clubs play each other five times, at least twice at home and twice away, for a total of 45 games per team. The right to play the fifth game at home is awarded on a rotational basis determined by the final standings in 2007–08. The five highest ranked clubs were awarded a third home game in 2008–09; the other five clubs would then get an extra home game in 2009–10, and from then on, every other season. However, because of the bankruptcy of

in October 2009 and reduction to nine teams for that season, a sixth round robin was added to the schedule so that all teams played an equal number of home and away games, amounting to 48 in total. Points are awarded for each game, where three points are awarded for a win in regulation time, two points for win in

overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...

or a

shootout A shootout, also called a firefight or gunfight, is a fight between armed combatants using firearms. The term can be used to describe any such fight, though it is typically used to describe those that do not involve military forces or only invo ...

and one point for a loss in overtime or a shootout. No points are awarded for a loss in regulation time. Teams are ranked by total points; if two or more teams have an equal number of points, they are separated using head to head records, then goal difference head to head and goals scored head to head. If two or more teams are still ranked equally, goal difference and goals scored in all 45 games are used to break the tie. At the end of the regular season, the team that finishes with the most points is crowned league champion.

Playoffs

The Norwegian Ice Hockey Championship, or

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eit ...

, is contested by the eight best teams in the league following the conclusion of the regular season. There are three rounds, each played as a best-of-seven series; the winner advances to the next round, while the loser is eliminated from the tournament. In the first round, or quarter-finals, the highest

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

chooses which of the two lowest seeds to be matched against. The highest remaining seed then chooses between the two lowest remaining seeds until all teams have an opponent. In the second round, or semi-finals, the teams are re-seeded, with the highest remaining seed again being allowed to choose which of the two lowest remaining seeds to play against. The remaining teams pair off in the other semi-final, and the winner of each series advances to the finals. In each round the higher-ranked team is said to be the team with the home ice advantage. Four of the seven games are played at this team's home venue—the first and third, and, when necessary, the fifth and seventh games—with the other games played at the lower-ranked team's home venue. In the finals, the team with the most points during the regular season is given home-ice advantage.

Relegation

The two lowest ranked teams after the regular season are in danger of being

relegated In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

and will have to play in a qualification tournament along with the two highest ranked teams from the 1. divisjon. All four teams must agree to play in the Eliteserien (if promoted) before they are allowed to participate in qualifying. If a team is unable, for whatever reason, to make such a commitment, the position is offered to another team in the 1. divisjon. The tournament is played in March and is organized according to a double round robin format: each club plays the others twice, home and away, for a total of six games. The points system and ranking method used are the same as in the Eliteserien. At the end of the tournament, the winner and runner-up qualify for next season, while the other two are demoted to (or remain in) the 1. divisjon.

Trophies and awards

The winning team of the playoffs is awarded the

Kongepokal Kongepokalen (officially: Hans Majestet Kongens Pokal) is a Norwegian trophy awarded during Norwegian championships in a number of sports. In addition to Norwegian championships, it is also awarded in the World Cup-race in Nordic combined in Holm ...

, commonly known as "Bøtta". The Norwegian Ice Hockey Federation and the teams' organization ( NTH) also announce a number of awards, among others Gullpucken (the best Norwegian player of the season, regardless of league) and the Most Valuable Player from the playoffs.

Television and media

The league is broadcast by

TV2 Norway TV 2 (''TV to'') is a Norwegian terrestrial television channel. Its headquarters are located in Bergen. TV 2 began test broadcasting on 13 November 1991, and a year later, it was officially launched on 5 September 1992, becoming Norway's first com ...

. The games are also aired on the online platform TV2 Sumo.

List of champions

*1935 : Trygg *1936 : Grane *1937 : Grane *1938 : Trygg *1939 : Grane *1940 : Grane *1941–1945 : Not played *1946 : Forward *1947 : Stabæk *1948 : Strong *1949 : Furuset *1950 : Gamlebyen *1951 : Furuset *1952 : Furuset *1953 : Gamlebyen *1954 : Furuset *1955 : Gamlebyen *1956 : Gamlebyen *1957 : Tigrene *1958 : Gamlebyen *1959 : Gamlebyen *1960 : Vålerengen *1961 : Tigrene *1962 : Vålerengen *1963 : Vålerengen *1964 : Gamlebyen *1965 : Vålerengen *1966 : Vålerengen *1967 : Vålerengen *1968 : Vålerengen *1969 : Vålerengen *1970 : Vålerengen *1971 : Vålerengen *1972 : Hasle/Løren *1973 : Vålerengen *1974 : Hasle/Løren *1975 : Frisk *1976 : Hasle/Løren *1977 : Manglerud/Star *1978 : Manglerud/Star *1979 : Frisk *1980 : Furuset *1981 : Stjernen *1982 : Vålerengen *1983 : Furuset *1984 :

Sparta Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referre ...

*1985 : Vålerengen *1986 : Stjernen *1987 : Vålerengen *1988 : Vålerengen *1989 :

*1990 : Furuset *1991 : Vålerenga *1992 : Vålerenga *1993 : Vålerenga *1994 : Lillehammer *1995 : Storhamar *1996 : Storhamar *1997 : Storhamar *1998 : Vålerenga *1999 : Vålerenga *2000 : Storhamar *2001 : Vålerenga *2002 : Frisk Asker *2003 : Vålerenga * 2004 : Storhamar * 2005 : Vålerenga * 2006 : Vålerenga * 2007 : Vålerenga *

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

: Storhamar * 2009 : Vålerenga * 2010 : Stavanger Oilers * 2011 :

Sparta Warriors Ishockeyklubben Sparta Sarpsborg, commonly referred to as the Sparta Warriors, is a Norwegian ice hockey team based in Sarpsborg, Norway. They currently play in the GET League. They play their home games in the Sparta Amfi arena and is Norway's ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

: Stavanger Oilers *

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

: Stavanger Oilers *

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

: Stavanger Oilers * 2015 : Stavanger Oilers *

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

: Stavanger Oilers *

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

: Stavanger Oilers *

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

: Storhamar *

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

: Frisk Asker *2020 : Playoff cancelled due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

*2021 : Playoff cancelled due to

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

: Stavanger Oilers

Titles by team

Team in bold currently competes in the top league. ;Notes

Seasons

2003–04 Eliteserien season The 2003–04 Eliteserien season ended with Storhamar Dragons claiming their fifth Norwegian title after defeating Vålerenga in double overtime in game 7. Michael Smithurst scored the game winner nearly two minutes into the second extra period ...

2004–05 UPC-ligaen season The 2004–05 UPC-ligaen was the 66th season of Norway's premier ice hockey league, Eliteserien, which as of this season became known as the UPC-ligaen after UPC had acquired the naming rights for five years. Vålerenga won both the League Cham ...

2005–06 UPC-ligaen season The 2005–06 UPC-ligaen season began on 22 September 2005 and ended 19 February 2006. Regular season Final standings ''GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; OTW = Overtime Wins; OTL = Overtime losses; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals aga ...

2006–07 GET-ligaen season The 2006–07 GET-ligaen season began on 7 September 2006 and ended 22 February 2007. Regular season Final standings ''GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; OTW = Overtime Wins; OTL = Overtime losses; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals agai ...

2007–08 GET-ligaen season The 2007–08 GET-ligaen season began on 13 September 2007 and was scheduled to end 21 February 2008. The Storhamar Dragons won the championships for the sixth time. The win also marked the fourth championship in as many leap years for the Dragon ...

2008–09 GET-ligaen season The 2008–09 GET-ligaen season began on 18 September 2008 and ended 22 February 2009. Regular season Final standings ''GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; OTW = Overtime Wins; OTL = Overtime losses; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals aga ...

2009–10 GET-ligaen season The 2009–10 GET-ligaen was the 71st season of Norway's premier ice hockey league, Eliteserien (known as GET-ligaen for sponsorship reasons). The regular season began play on 12 September 2009 and concluded on 2 March 2010, with Vålerenga claim ...

2010–11 GET-ligaen season The 2010–11 GET-ligaen is the 72nd season of Norway's premier ice hockey league, Eliteserien (known as GET-ligaen for sponsorship reasons). The regular season began on 18 September 2010 and is scheduled to end on 27 February 2011. Regular seaso ...

2011–12 GET-ligaen season The 2011–12 GET-ligaen was the 73rd season of Norway's premier ice hockey league, Eliteserien (known as GET-ligaen for sponsorship reasons). The season began on 10 September 2011 with the final round of the regular season played on 1 March 2012 ...

2012–13 GET-ligaen season The 2012–13 GET-ligaen was the 74th season of Norway's premier ice hockey league, Eliteserien (known as GET-ligaen for sponsorship reasons). Regular season Final standings ''GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; OTW = Overtime Wins; OTL = O ...

2013–14 GET-ligaen season The 2013–14 GET-ligaen is the 75th and current season of Norway's premier ice hockey league, Eliteserien (known as GET-ligaen for sponsorship reasons). The regular season began play on September 14, 2013 and concluded on March 4, 2014, with V� ...

2014–15 GET-ligaen season The 2014–15 GET-ligaen is the 76th and current season of Norway's premier ice hockey league, Eliteserien (known as GET-ligaen for sponsorship reasons). The regular season began play on September 11, 2014, and was concluded on March 3, 2015,. T ...

2015–16 GET-ligaen season The 2015–16 GET-ligaen was the 77th and season of Norway's premier ice hockey league, Eliteserien (known as GET-ligaen for sponsorship reasons). The regular season began play on September 12, 2015, and was concluded on March 8, 2016,. The play ...

* 2016–17 GET-ligaen season * 2017–18 GET-ligaen season * 2018–19 GET-ligaen season * 2019–20 GET-ligaen season * 2020–21 Fjordkraftligaen season * 2021–22 Fjordkraftligaen season

References

External links

GET-ligaen
at NIHF (in Norwegian)
GET-ligaen at GetLive.no
(in Norwegian) {{DEFAULTSORT:Get-Ligaen Professional ice hockey leagues in Norway Top tier ice hockey leagues in Europe

History

Teams

Notable former teams

Season structure

Regular season

Playoffs

Relegation

Trophies and awards

Television and media

List of champions

Titles by team

Seasons

See also

References

External links