Swedish Women's Hockey League

The Swedish Women's Hockey League (Swedish: Svenska damhockeyligan), abbreviated SDHL, is the elite league for women's ice hockey in Sweden. It was established in 2007 as the Riksserien by the Swedish Ice Hockey Association and was renamed prior to the 2016–17 season.^[1][2] The league has ten teams and employs a system of promotion and relegation with the Nationella Damhockeyligan (NDHL). The unexpected withdrawal of Göteborg HC after playing only thirteen games of the 2022–23 season caused the number of teams to decrease to nine for the remainder of that season.^[3]

Swedish Women's Hockey League
Svenska damhockeyligan (Swedish)

Current season, competition or edition: 2024–25 SDHL season
Formerly	Riksserien (2007–2016)
Sport	Ice hockey
Founded	2007 (2007)
Founder	Swedish Ice Hockey Association
First season	2007–08
President	Agne Bengtsson
No. of teams	10
Country	Sweden
Most recent champion(s)	Luleå HF/MSSK (2023–24)
Most titles	Luleå HF/MSSK (7)
TV partner(s)	C More Sport, SVT
Relegation to	NDHL
Related competitions	Swedish Hockey League
Official website	www.sdhl.se

Bodychecking was allowed for the 2022–23 season ^[4] and goal cameras were introduced for the 2024–2025 season.^[5]

Format

When a game is tied after regulation, a sudden death overtime is played with only four skaters per team for maximum 10 minutes (or 20 minutes in the playoffs). If the game is still tied after overtime, the winner is decided by game winning shots.

The regular season is a double round-robin tournament, with each team playing twice at home and twice away against every other team, resulting in a 36-game regular season per team. After the regular season, the top six teams qualify for the Women's Swedish Championship playoffs (Swedish: SM-slutspel damer). The two teams with the best regular season records in the SDHL are given a bye to the semifinals, with the remaining four qualified teams starting in the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals, team 3 gets to pick their choice of opponent between teams 5 and 6, leaving the remaining club to meet team 4. In the semifinals the first ranked team chooses an opponent from the two winners of the quarterfinals. The playoffs are all best-of-three series, with the higher ranked team starting with one match away, followed by the remaining two at home.

The two teams with the worst records in the regular season are forced to play a qualifier to defend their spots in the SDHL against challengers from the NDHL.

Teams

Brynäs

Djurgården

Frölunda

HV71

Leksand

Linköping

Luleå

MoDo

SDE

Skellefteå AIK

Location of SDHL teams in Sweden

From the formation of the SDHL in 2007, Luleå HF/MSSK have been the most successful club, winning six Swedish Championships. Luleå has been the most successful regular season team, finishing on top of the league six times. MODO Hockey was the first team from outside the Stockholm area to win the championship with their victory in 2012.

2024–25 season

Team	City	Arena	Head coach	Captain
Brynäs IF	Gävle	Monitor ERP Arena	Filip Eriksson	Maja Nylén Persson
Djurgårdens IF	Stockholm	Hovet	Rickard Hårdstam	Brette Pettet
Frölunda HC	Gothenburg	Frölundaborg	Erika Holst	Hanna Olsson
HV71	Jönköping	Husqvarna Garden	Thomas Pettersen	Elin Svensson
Leksands IF	Leksand	Tegera Arena	Joakim Engström	Courtney Vorster
Linköping HC	Linköping	Saab Arena	Jan Bylesjö	Sara Hjalmarsson
Luleå HF/MSSK	Luleå	Coop Norrbotten Arena	Melinda Olsson	Jenni Hiirikoski
MoDo Hockey	Örnsköldsvik	Hägglunds Arena	Jared Cipparone	Ebba Berglund
SDE Hockey	Danderyd	Enebybergs Ishall	Peter Elander	Hanna Blomqvist
Skellefteå AIK	Skellefteå	Skellefteå Kraft Arena	Martin Lindh	Malou Berggren

Sources: ^[6][7]

Previous winners

Regular season champions

Riksserien 2008 – AIK Hockey 2009 – Segeltorps IF 2010 – Segeltorps IF 2011 – Segeltorps IF 2012 – Brynäs IF 2013 – MODO Hockey 2014 – MODO Hockey 2015 – Linköping HC

SDHL 2016 – Luleå HF/MSSK 2017 – Luleå HF/MSSK 2018 – Luleå HF/MSSK 2019 – Luleå HF/MSSK 2020 – HV71 2021 – Luleå HF/MSSK 2022 – Brynäs IF 2023 – Luleå HF/MSSK 2024 – Luleå HF/MSSK

Swedish Champions (playoff winners)

2008 – Segeltorps IF 2009 – AIK Hockey Dam 2010 – Segeltorps IF 2011 – Segeltorps IF 2012 – Modo Hockey 2013 – AIK Hockey Dam 2014 – Linköping HC 2015 – Linköping HC

2016 – Luleå HF/MSSK 2017 – Djurgårdens IF 2018 – Luleå HF/MSSK 2019 – Luleå HF/MSSK 2020 – Not held due to COVID-19 pandemic 2021 – Luleå HF/MSSK 2022 – Luleå HF/MSSK 2023 – Luleå HF/MSSK 2024 – Luleå HF/MSSK

Attendance

While average attendance in the SDHL has been significantly lower than other professional leagues in Sweden and the Premier Hockey Federation in North America, attendance has tended towards increasing as the league receives greater investment and promotion, and as women's clubs have been less neglected by their parent organisations. There exists a considerable disparity in attendance between clubs, with Luleå HF/MSSK having led the league in attendance ever single year since the club's formation, often with almost ten time greater attendance than the worst attended club. Playoff attendance has also tended to be much higher than regular season attendance, averaging almost 900 per match in 2017–18 and 2018–19.

SDHL Regular Season Attendance

Season	Average	Highest	Lowest
2013–14 Riksserien season	114	Munksund Skuthamn SK (205)	Segeltorps IF (59)
2014–15 Riksserien season	102	Munksund Skuthamn SK (132)	IF Sundsvall Hockey (54)
2015–16 Riksserien season	141	Luleå HF/MSSK (468)	IF Sundsvall Hockey (57)
2016–17 SDHL season	179	Luleå HF/MSSK (542)	SDE Hockey (54)
2017–18 SDHL season	192	Luleå HF/MSSK (442)	SDE Hockey (65)
2018–19 SDHL season	234	Luleå HF/MSSK (831)	SDE Hockey (42)
2019–20 SDHL season	178	Luleå HF/MSSK (539)	SDE Hockey (48)

League records

As of 21 March 2023

Individual records

• Most goals in a season: Andrea Dalen, 47 goals (36 games, 2015–16)
• Most assists in a season: Lara Stalder, 55 assists (33 games, 2021–22)
• Most points in a season: Lara Stalder, 89 points (33 games, 2021–22)
• Most points in a season, defenceman: Sidney Morin, 65 points (36 games, 2020–21)
• Most penalty minutes in a season: Jenn Wakefield, 90 PIM (31 games, 2020–21)
• Most shutouts in a season: Florence Schelling, 10 shutouts (31 games, 2017–18)
• Best save percentage in a season, minimum 1/3 of games played: Kim Martin Hasson, .956 (17 games, 2014–15)
• Beat goals against average in a season, minimum 1/3 of games played: Frida Axell, 1.00 GAA (14 games, 2022–23)

Club records

• Most points in a season: 99, HV71 in 2019–20^[8]
• Highest attendance in a regular season match: 6,220^[9] – Luleå HF/MSSK vs. AIK Hockey, 16 November 2018
• Highest attendance in a playoff match: 7,765^[10] – Brynäs IF vs. Luleå HF/MSSK at Monitor ERP Arena, 7 April 2022 (Game 5 of the 2022 Swedish Championship finals)

All-time leading scorers

The top-ten point-scorers (goals + assists) in SDHL history.

Note: Nat = Nationality; Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game

Points

Nat	Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	P/G
	Denise Altmann	RW	337	277	286	563	1.67
	Emma Nordin	C	406	227	281	508	1.25
	Lara Stalder	C	191	180	222	402	2.10
	Erika Grahm	LW/C	385	179	212	391	1.02
	Lisa Johansson	RW/LW	456	232	157	389	0.85
	Line Bialik Øien	LW/RW	322	186	200	386	1.20
	Andrea Schjelderup Dalen	LW	283	199	145	344	1.22
	Josefine Jakobsen	C	307	158	185	343	1.12
	Anna Borgqvist	C/LW	371	141	197	338	0.91
	Fanny Rask	LW	397	142	192	334	0.84

Source: ^[11]

See also

• Women's ice hockey in Sweden
• List of SDHL seasons
• Sweden women's national ice hockey team
• Swedish Ice Hockey Association

References

1. Edwinsson, Lisa (18 March 2016). "Ny riksorganisation ska lyfta damhockeyn". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). Retrieved 18 March 2016.
2. Otlu, Diljen (18 March 2016). "Så ska svensk damhockey lyfta". SVT Sport (in Swedish). Retrieved 5 November 2022.
3. Karlsson, Mattias (2 November 2022). "Drar sig ur SDHL – mitt under säsongen". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 10 November 2022.
4. Kennedy, Ian (21 May 2022). "Swedish Women's Hockey League to introduce Bodychecking". The Hockey News. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
5. Sebastian Vognsen (20 June 2024). "SDHL inför målkamera inför nästa säsong" (in Swedish). SVT Sport. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
6. Jay, Michelle; Murphy, Mike (10 September 2020). "2020-21 SDHL Preview". The Ice Garden. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
7. "Svenska damhockeyligan (SDHL (W)) 2024-2025 Standings". Elite Prospects. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
8. "SDHL | stats.swehockey.se".
9. Funqvist, Sixten (16 November 2018). "Nytt publikrekord i SDHL". HockeySverige (in Swedish). Retrieved 8 April 2022.
10. Hägglund, Johannes (7 April 2022). "Luleå/MSSK vinner SM-guld 2022". SDHL.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 8 April 2022.
11. "SDHL (W) - All-time Totals Regular Season Player Stats". Elite Prospects. Retrieved 21 March 2023.

External links

• Official website (in Swedish)
• Swedish Women's Hockey League on Facebook
• Swedish Women's Hockey League on Instagram
• Swedish Women's Hockey League on Twitter
• Swedish Women's Hockey League's channel on YouTube