October is already upon us and the SDHL teams have all played five or six games in the first few weeks of the 2019/20 season here in Sweden.
Since 2013/14 season five of the six finals have been won by either Luleå HF or Linköping HC. But as suggested in my pre-season preview, this supremacy could well come to an end this year. With last year’s finalist in 5th and 8th place respectively and neither team having a player in the top 20 on Total Points the shift in power is already tangible.
For Linköping the change has come as the squad has been stripped of all its best players without replacements of a similar calibre coming in. For example, as we start October the league’s top Goal and Total Points scorer is a former Linköping player Lara Stalder. The Swiss international and first European to be drafted in the NWHL has 8+3 in just 5 games with new club, Brynäs IF.
But for Luleå a more dramatic change has occurred. That is that the manager who created the dominant force that is Luleå/ MSSK women’s hockey team, Fredrik Glader, has left for MODO Hockey. Although it is only effective as of today, the news broke in the first week of the season as four years and three Swedish championships at Luleå comes to an end for Glader.
The team who are currently top of the table are HV71 who have dropped just two points in their six games so far. The Jönköping club having not lost in regulation with five wins and one Overtime loss at defending champions, Luleå. Their top two scorers are former Djurgården IF forward, Hanna Olsson (5+3) – on left in picture - and former Linköping and US Olympic Gold medallist defender, Sidney Morin (3+5).
Meanwhile in second place in the table is Stalder and Brynäs IF who are yet to lose a single match this season, although have only won three of them in regulation meaning they are 3 points behind the league leaders.
A final word must also be said about Stockholm’s SDE Hockey who have been saved in relegation in all five years they’ve been in the SDHL. Currently they are shocking the Swedish women’s hockey world by being in third place.
The team has a completely new look roster that included a number of players from last year’s CWHL champions Calgary Inferno. But it is two hitherto unknown mature international players from minor women’s hockey nations who are leading the scoring. 28-year-old Slovenian provider, Pia Pren has 1+6 whilst 30-year-old Dutch forward, Savine Wielenga has 3+3 and both sit comfortably in the top 10 on Total Points so far this year.
This squad is good enough to provide the upset of the year and I think that they have not just had a lucky run but are here to stay in the top part of the table.
@ABritOnThinIce1
