1. THE LEAVERS
Angelica Östlund (BIF)
The 27 year old, Brynäs IF captain has decided to quit after playing in every single one of ten years of the league's existence. As well as playing 38 Swedish international matches, she holds the record for the most regular season games in the history of the league - 310. From those games she scored 116 goals and an impressive 0.80 PPG.
Denise Altmann (LHC)
The person who lies in second place in overall games played, with 306, is Austrian, Denise Altmann. However, the former Linköping HC player was a points scoring machine leading the way in Most Points, Most Goals and Most Assists in the history of the league. Now 30, she has amassed an unbelievable 539 points including 269 goals in ten years. That gives her a 1.77 PPG putting her on a par with players of the calibre of Wayne Gretzky in NHL history. She has set the records others have to break and can truly be thought of as one of greats of SDHL history.
Florence Schelling (LHC)
Linköping HC have also lost Swiss international goalkeeper, Florence Schelling, who retires at the age of 29. A disciple of former Linköping and Swedish bronze medal winning keeper, Kim Martin Hansson, Schelling has been at the club three years. In that time she has twice won Keeper of the Year and holds the best Save Percentage in the history of league with a .939 SVS% in 2017/8.
Not only that, she has played in four Olympic Games and 44 World Cup matches for her country so the Östergötland club is losing one of it's, and the league's, best players in Schelling.
For me the loss of both Altmann and Schelling is one of the reasons I believe Linköping will not be the dominant force they have been in the last few years. They will miss the enormous and irreplaceable expertise that these two players bring to both defense and attack.
@ABritOnThinIce1
