Plenty of Nothing

Canadian Hockey Champions Since 1993

I've griped before about how Canada is the only hockey country without an annual championship. It's now twenty years since a Canadian team won the Stanley Cup, and twenty-four since two Canadian teams faced off in the Stanley Cup final. Which clubs have been Canadian hockey champion since 1993? Who knows? In an earlier post I drew up a list based on regular season performance, or Stanley Cup win if that happened, and I awarded the St. John's Maple Leafs the championship during the lockout year, as they were the most successful Canadian pro team going that year.

Another way would be to look at who went deepest into the Stanley Cup playoffs. Starting with 1994 you get:

1994. Vancouver. (Stanley Cup final. 3 - 4.)

1995. Vancouver. (2nd round. 0 - 4.)

1996. Montreal/Winnipeg/Vancouver/Toronto. (All four were eliminated 2 - 4 in the 1st round.)

1997. Edmonton. (2nd round. 1 - 4.)

1998. Ottawa/Edmonton. (Both lost 1 - 4 in the 2nd round.)

1999. Toronto. (3rd round. 1 - 4.)

2000. Toronto. (2nd round. 2 - 4.)

2001. Toronto. (2nd round. 3 - 4.)

2002. Toronto. (3rd round. 2 - 4.)

2003. Ottawa. (3rd round. 3 - 4.)

2004. Calgary. (Stanley Cup final. 3 - 4.)

2005. ---------.

2006. Edmonton. (Stanley Cup final. 3 - 4.)

2007. Ottawa. (Stanley Cup final. 1 - 4.)

2008. Montreal. (2nd round. 1 - 4.)

2009. Vancouver. (2nd round. 2 - 4.)

2010. Montreal. (3rd round. 1 - 4.)

2011. Vancouver. (3rd round. 1 - 4.)

2012. Ottawa. (1st round. 3 - 4.)

2013. Ottawa.

Ranked: Ottawa 4.5. Toronto 4.25. Vancouver 4.25. Edmonton 2.5. Montreal 2.25. Calgary 1. Winnipeg .25.

I'm not saying break up the NHL. (Okay, well, yes, sometimes I do say that.) But what would be the harm in having a recognized method of pulling a top seed out of the stats? Would anyone object to another cup? The O'Brien Trophy perhaps?

Ottawa Senators, 1911

This Pittaway studio photo of the Stanley Cup champion 1911 Ottawa Senators is in the archives of the British Library. See more hockey pix at the British Library's Americas blog.

2013 Men's Hockey Playoff Champions

EC-KAC have won their 30th Austrian championship.

KHL: Dynamo Moscow

Finnish: Porin Ässät

Swedish: Skellefteå

Czech: Plzeň

Slovak: Zvolen

Swiss: SC Bern

German: Eisbären Berlin

Asian: Tohoku Free Blades

Austrian: EC-KAC

Belarusian: Neman Grodno

British: Nottingham Panthers

Dutch: HYS The Hague

Danish: SønderjyskE

French: Dragons de Rouen

Italian: Asiago

Norwegian: Stavanger Oilers

Polish: Cracovia

Canadian: Bentley Generals

April Wine Like to Play Table Hockey

"I Like to Rock" by April Wine.

Gold Town

Goldies.

They nicknamed Skellefteå Guldstaden, meaning Gold Town, because they gazed into the future and saw their team win the 2013 Swedish hockey championship! And also because of the mining.

This year's Swedish hockey championship came down to a finale between the two northernmost clubs in the Elitserien: Skellefteå and Luleå. It was SAIK's third straight appearance in the finals. They had lost to Brynäs in 2012 and Färjestad the year before. The only time SAIK had ever won the Swedish championship was 1978. Luleå won their only championship in 1996.

April 13th, Skellefteå took the first game 1 - 0 in overtime. The next day SAIK won 2 - 4 in Luleå. SAIK won game three 2 - 1 on Tuesday. Yesterday SAIK swept the series with a 0 - 4 win in Luleå. Victory!

Congratulations to Skellefteå AIK.

Swedish Semifinals

Linköping's lynchpin.

After sweeping Brynäs in their quarterfinal, SAIK are matched with Linköpings HC. LHC finished fifth in the regular season and advanced to the semifinals by upsetting HV71.

March 28th: Linköping won the first game 2 - 3 in Skellefteå.

March 30th: Skellefteå won 2 - 3 in Linköping.

April 1st: Skellefteå won 3 - 2 at home.

April 3rd: Skellefteå won 2 - 3 in Linköping.

Today is Game 5. SAIK can wrap up the series with a win. [Which they get, winning 3 - 1 at home.]

Leksands IF and Örebro HK have won the Kval till Elitserien, sending Timrå IK and Rögle BK down to the HockeyAllsvenskan for next year. LIF used to be a permanent fixture of the top league, but their streak of perfect attendance ended about when the century turned, and they have not been in the Elitserien at all since 2005-06. Örebro HK will be making their first appearance. (The old club Örebro IK were in the Elitserien a couple of years in the Seventies.) Timrå come to the end of a run of thirteen seasons in the top division. Rögle, who have been bouncing between the two leagues, return to the HockeyAllsvenskan after a year's absence.

Today is the final round of the Kval till HockeyAllsvenskan. Björklöven lead, but they can still be knocked off by Karlskrona and Tingsryd. [Björklöven win. They and incumbent Karlskrona will be in next year's HockeyAllsvenskan. With Björklöven, Timrå and Rögle joining it, eight out of its fourteen clubs are former Elitserien members, and five of them former Swedish champions.]

Women's Hockey Champions 2013

#27 for Boston, Hilary Knight. Source.

CIS: Carabins de l'Université de Montréal

Clarkson Cup: Boston Blades

Finland: Espoo Blues Naiset

Germany: ESC Planegg/Würmtal

NCAA: Minnesota Golden Gophers

Russia: Tornado Moscow Region

Sweden: AIK

Switzerland: ZSC Lions

Gävle Goats

Each winter the citizens of Gävle illegally erect a giant straw goat in the centre of town, then illegally burn it down. The whole sordid tale.

Skellefteå AIK are playing Brynäs IF of Gävle in the SM-slutspel quarterfinals. SM-slutspel, the Swedish equivalent to the Stanley Cup playoffs, literally means Swedish Master Endgame, and lends the proceedings some of the intellectual aura of a chess championship. Brynäs are the defending Swedish champions, but they finished this regular season in eighth, earning themselves a pairing with first-place SAIK. Ottawa's Jakob Silfverberg played for Brynäs.

Each series in the SM-slutspel is best of seven, the games alternating ABAB(ABA) in contrast to the NHL's AABB(ABA). Today is the fourth game of the series, so it's in Gävle.

SAIK won the first game 5 - 0, the second game 3 - 7 in Gävle, and the third game 4 - 1. They can eliminate Brynäs today. [And they do. SAIK win 0 - 4, and sweep the series.]

The Playoff to the Kvalserien concluded March 13th. This playoff pitted the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh teams of the HockeyAllsvenskan against one another in a round robin for the final spot in the Kvalserien. Each team plays each other team twice, and the one with the most points moves on to the Kvalserien. The wrinkle is that the teams are also given points according to their position in the regular season standings. So before any games were played BIK Karlskoga had 4 points, Djurgårdens had 3, Örebro 2 and Oskarshamn 1. Örebro won.

So now the Kvalserien has begun. The six clubs Timrå, Rögle, Leksand, Södertälje, Västerås and Örebro will compete in a round robin for two spots in next season's Elitserien.

The HockeyAllsvenkan doesn't just supply rising clubs to the Elitserien, it receives them from Division 1. The Kval till HockeyAlsvenskan has begun, featuring six clubs, among them former Swedish champion Björklöven.

Skellefteå mot MODO

A world map of metal bands per capita.

Which town is the greater metal band town, Skellefteå or Örnsköldsvik? Skellefteå is the home of Andreas Hedlund, who has performed with Otyg, Vintersorg, Havayoth, Borknagar, Fission, Waterclime, and Cronian. Örnsköldsvik produced Tomas Haake and Mårten Hagström of Meshuggah. You decide.

On the last day of February SAIK visited last-place Rögle BK in Ängelholm and won 2 - 3. This win locked up first place for SAIK, and twelfth place for Rögle. On March 2nd SAIK went to Frölundaborg Isstadion and lost 2 - 1 to Frölunda in overtime. SAIK entertained MODO yesterday and beat them 3 - 2 in overtime. Bud Holloway scored the game winner. SAIK finish the season in first place with 114 points. Holloway wins the scoring race with 20 golas and 51 assists. Teammates Joakim Lindström and Oscar Lindberg finish third and eighth respectively. SAIK face Brynäs in the quarterfinals.

The HockeyAllsvenskan has finished. Leksand, Södertälje and VIK Västerås came in one, two, three. They'll meet Timrå and Rögle in the Kvalserien. But first BIK Karlskoga, Djurgården, Örebro and Oskarshamn compete for the sixth spot.

Skellefteå versus Färjestad

Craft fair at Skellefteå Kraft Arena. Source.

On Saturday Skellefteå visited local rivals Luleå HF. You can tell both clubs are from northern Sweden because their names end in "-eå". SAIK won 3 - 4 after a tie-breaking shootout. Two assists to George ("Bud") Holloway who leads the scoring race by eleven points.

Färjestad BK come to Skellefteå Kraft Arena today trailing SAIK by eight points with only four games remaining in the schedule. If SAIK beat Färjestad, and HV71 lose their game, SAIK will clinch first place in the Elitserien for the first time since 1981.

[Skellefteå win 3 - 2 in regulation time. One assist to George ("Bud") Holloway. HV71 win in overtime, so they now sit nine points back with three games to go. In order for SAIK not to finish first they have to lose their remaining three games in regulation time and HV71 have to win their remaining three in regulation time and make up a goal difference of 29.]