One of the great things about watching NHL hockey is simply the enormous skill level of many of the players. True to the stereotype, everything really is bigger and better when it comes to North America and the world's best hockey league.

That's why my highlight for the year is the Capitals Stanley Cup victory over surprise team of the year, Vegas Golden Knights. That perhaps would have made the best story for me as a Brit with a soft spot for the underdog team. But no, this was the Capitals victory, or more specifically, Russian super forward and Washington's captain, Alex Ovechkin's Stanley Cup win. It has taken 13 seasons, but one of the best players in the NHL has finally won the top prize hockey can honour.

I suppose as I live in Sweden, I should make my focus about Niklas Bäckström, but I just want to focus on one thing - Ovechkin's scoring capability. I don't get to see the Capitals play that often but even I have learn that if Ovechkin gets the puck delivered to him in the face off circle left of the goal, he is going to one time it in the back of the net 99 times out of 100. His club is like a clock pendulum - up/ down, BANG, siren rings every time, as reliable as clockwork. I love watching a master at work in any profession, there's something very beautiful and mesmerising about seeing the best in the world be the best in the world at what they do. And that's what it is like watching Ovechkin.

Here is a clip from the game winning match. Ovechkin scores on the powerplay with a pass from Bäckström. The Russian usually takes the puck higher up , but watch how he subtly slides away from his marker #21 for Vegas, Cody Eakin as he moves from the top to the bottom of the circle. Eakin even looks over his shoulder and thinks he has Ovechkin covered, but all the time Bäckström holds up the puck, he is giving time for the Russian to get free and get ready for the perfect shot. That Ovechkin scores from such a narrow angle is quite something, this was more about the occasion that the goal itself as the Capitals went on to win 4-3 and take the series 4-1.

4. Germany's Olympic Silver

The men's hockey is often the highlight event of the Winter Games, with the final as one of the last scheduled events on the Olympic calendar.

Pre-Olympic Crisis

This build up to the year's hockey tournament was overshadowed as early as April 2017 by the NHL's refusal to release players for the Games. Then at the end of the year the Russian doping scandal broke and the entire nation was barred from competing. Six of the women's hockey team from Sochi 2014 were given lifetime bans by the Olympic committee and all the team's matches annulled. There was a rumour that the KHL would retaliate by refusing to allow its players to participate. In the end the Olympic committee created a fudge and allowed all Russian athletes who had not not been convicted of doping to appear under the name Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR) without national anthem or their own flag.

All this lead to many saying that it would be the most open hockey tournament for years and that possibly an underdog might create a shock.

The rise of Germany

But no one expected that would be the Germans. They had not qualified for the 2014 games, not won an Olympic match since 2002 and were fielding a team entirely consisting of DEL players, a league where many of the best forwards are North American from the ECHL or AHL.

Perhaps the signs should have been there- they were the team with more NHL experience on their roster than Czech Republic, Finland and Slovakia. But as one unflattering report described assistant captain Christian Ehrhoff (798 games) and captain Marcel Goc (639 games), that experience was mainly two 30 plus fourth liners who have not played in the NHL for a few years.

But nothing in the group stage could have even hinted that this was a potential medal winning side as they lost to Nordic opposition first Finland, then Sweden and only beat Norway in a penalty shootout.

But from then on the Germans developed the habit of beating teams late, taking an unexpected win against Switzerland in Sudden Death and then huge upset when they beat Sweden in overtime.

Semi final v Canada

But they went to top that with one of the biggest victories in Olympic history- the 4-3 semifinal win over reigning Olympic champions, Canada. Amazingly, the football playing nation were 4-1 up with just under half the game to go against the nation that founded the sport of ice hockey. And when Linköping HC's Derek Roy (pictured) slotted home with 10 minutes to go to make it 3-4 it seemed inevitable that the Canadians would complete the comeback and overpower the Germans.

But not so.

Despite only managing 15 shots on goal to Canada's 31 heroics from Red Bull Munich's netminder, Danny aus den Birken and blocked shots aplenty meant the Germans went through to the final.

The Final

And to think, they were only 57 seconds away from beating Pavel Datsyuk, Ilya Kovalchuk and the OA Russia team and taking Olympic Gold. But they were denied by an equalizer Nikita Gusev with 56 seconds of regulation and then the golden goal from Kirill Kaprizov in overtime.

The reward was not just a silver medal but for Dominik Kahun and Brook Macek shot to make it big in the States. Kahun is currently with Chicago Blackhawks and Macek at Vegas Knights' AHL outfit, Chicago Wolves.

Re-live some of the team's journey and note Patrick Reimer jinking his way through to the front of net game on his winning goal in Sudden Death against Sweden at 5:26.

Canada and the USA have been the top two nations in women's hockey since it has been an Olympic sport for the first time in 1998 and the two nations have contested the majority of Olympic and World Championships finals. So it was no surprise when the two teams met in Pyengchang on 22 February 2018.

The match was worth of the occasion with best players playing at the top of their game. Canada went into the match with the psychological advantage as they had won the team's meeting in the preliminary round, 2-1. Not only that, but Canada had won everyone of the last four Olympic final meetings.

But it was the USA who scored first at the end of the first period. Then Canada took over in the second to take the game to 2-1 after 40 minutes. But USA equalised in the third taking the game into 4 on 4 Sudden Death. But even that could not separate the two rivals, nor one round of penalties.

The match was played on the 38th anniversary to the day of the American "Miracle On Ice" so it was the perfect Hollywood ending that 28 year old double olympic medalist, Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson finally broke the deadlock to take the Gold Medal back to America for the first time in 20 years.

This match clip is by a fan in the stands at the end where Maddie Rooney saved the sixth Canadian penalty to secure the gold. I like it as it gives the feel of being at the match.

1. Elias Pettersson

The SHL was dominated by one team in 2017/8 season - Växjö Lakers. They won the regular season by 21 points and made light work of a talented Skellefteå AIK smashing them 4-0 in the best of seven series.

An outstanding team effort can only occur when all the individuals in the squad are playing at their best. And more than any other player that can be said of young forward, Elias Pettersson. Then 19 year old, he finished top of the Total Points with 56, including 24 goals and a 1.27 Points Per Game average. He was also part of the World Junior Championship team that won Silver in Buffalo and the team that won World Championship Gold in Denmark. He was already drafted in the first round in 2017 by Vancouver Canucks and his career seems to go from strength to strength as he has already established himself as a regular points scorer in the NHL.

This video clip is 6:42 long and contains all Pettersson's points from the Playoff in 2018. It is worth seeing the whole thing to see the breath of his skills set as he scores from the left and right and sets up goal for teammates from the boards or the slot. My favourites are the goal at 0.36 - how does he create such a powerful shot with such a small backlift?; the semi final winning goal at 2:19 where he rounds the Malmö keeper; and the first goal in the final championship winning match at 5:43.

As a little nod to the advent season, I thought I do a little countdown towards Christmas by posting my top 5 moments from 2018, one for each day this week. Hopefully you'll also enjoy my video clips that accompany each story.

2018 have been a great year for women's and men's hockey and I have taken highlights from the SHL, SDHL, NHL and of course, the Winter Games.

Hugo Leufvenius - Sarnia Sting (OHL)

Originally from Stockholm, the 193cm/ 6ft 3" tall forward has played junior hockey for Djurgården IF and Linköping HC. But it was at the Östergötland club then aged only 17 that he had a taste of SHL and CHL action. Having played international hockey for Sweden at every junior level, he caught the attention of Sarina Sting in the OHL where he is now playing his second season. The 19 year old is thriving and is developing a consistency of points production that he has alluded him whilst in Sweden. Last year he was the highest scoring Swede in the league and this year he is the top scoring European in 17th place on Total Points with a 0.84 PPG. Currently undrafted, his size and effectiveness mean that will surely change if he is able to maintain that position at the end of the season.

Adam Boqvist- London Knights (OHL)

Boqvist only played 15 games for Brynäs IF last season, but had already gained international attention during at U17 level where he had been assistant captain and scored 4 goals against Canadian, Russian and Finnish opposition in the WHC tournament. The points scoring back was drafted in the first round by Chicago Blackhawks this summer and is currently playing for Kane's former club, London Knights where he has more than 1 Point Per Game after 20 matches.

Tuesday night saw the second and deciding leg take place in the quarterfinals of this year's Champions Hockey League.

Gothenburg Frölunda Indians were the only team to have a decisive lead from the first game and the others had been very close fought affairs. The same pattern would show itself in the four matches on the night with two going to Overtime to see who would go through to the semi finals which start on 8 January.

Frölunda Indians (SWE) v Kometa Brno (CZE)

Kometa Brno made the choice to travel to Gothenburg without their star players and give their up and coming players a chance to overturn the 4-1 deficit from the home match. It nearly paid when when after just 2:26 16 year old Erik Meluín opened the scoring. Frölunda were relentless in attack but the Czech team had chances on the breakaway but were unable to increase their lead.

At just 39 seconds into the second period Canadian Olympic bronze medalist, Chay Genoway (pictured) got a goal for the home team and after that the result was never in doubt.

Rönnberg's men decided not to sit back but press the "annihilation" button and smashed in 6 goals in 40 minutes past the floundering Czechs. Genoway would get another but amazingly Ryan Lasch got no points on the night as the Swedes ran out 10-2 winners on aggregate. However, the 31 year old American still maintains his spot as the competition's top scorer.

HC Pilsen (CZE) v Skellefteå AIK (SWE)

In the second Sweden v Czech Republic match, 4224 spectators packed into the Arena in Pilsen to see them take on Skellefteå AIK. In contrast to the 3-3 game in Sweden, this was more a goalkeeper's affair with Gustaf Lindvall and Dominik Frodl keeping a clean sheet until the last few minutes of the game. Then it was Robin Alvarez who finally found the net for the visitors with 2:28 to go. But HC Pilsen were not done and with Frodl on the bench and just 36 seconds left on the clock former Detroit Red Wings' Jakub Kindl found the net to take the game into overtime. It was former Färjestad BK forward Milan Gulaš who scored the primary assist on Kindl's goal and as the keepers' continued to keep the puck out of the net in overtime the game went to the penalty shootout. Of course, it was none other that the Czech international, Gulaš who found the and knocked the SHL team.

The Sweden v Czech Republic rivalry will now continue into the semifinals in January when HC Pilsen meet three times finalists and two times CHL champions, Frölunda Indians.

Malmö Redhawks (SWE) v Red Bull Munich (GER)

The Germans came into this game with a one goal advantage from their home game in the first leg. This meant Malmö needed to win by two or more goals to go through. And as the Swedes had won the group fixture 6-1 at home they were favourites to go through.

The match turned into a goalfest as Malmö Redhawks took the lead and Red Bull Munich chased them down only for the Swedes to go ahead again. But the Germans were not to be deterred and by the end of the second period it was 4-4. It the competition's top scorer in the group stages, Trevor Parkes who was putting the pressure on the Swedes with 2 goals and an assist after just 40 minutes. The home team needed one goal to force overtime and two to win outright.

But the Germans had five Silver medal Olympians who know how to grind out a victory and between them gained 1 goal and 3 assists on the night. One of them was also keeper, Danny aus den Birken. He managed to keep it level up to 6:44 to go when Dane, Frederik Storm found the net for the home team.

That lead to overtime, and after 4:02 had gone Trevor Parkes took his chance and knocked home the puck to send Munich through to the semifinals, a first for a German side in CHL history.

Kärpät Oulu (FIN) v Red Bull Salzburg (AUT)

Red Bull Salzburg also took an home victory by one goal on the road with them to Kärpät Oulu in Finland. And it was the Austrians who scored first through one if their less well known players, third line Austrian, Alexander Raunchenwald, to extend their lead on aggregate to 4-2.

But Oulu lost no time and replied quickly with a goal of their own from Finnish Olympian and Oskar Osala with an assist by Aleksi Heponiemi, who will be appearing in Finland Junior World Cup team shortly.

The Finns went on a full frontal attack chasing the game registering 45 shots shots on goal by the end of regulation. But it was to no avail as keeper, 2011 Minnesota Wild drafted, Steve Michelak saved 44 of them to see Salzburg become the first side from Austria to go through to the semi finals stages.

The Battle of Red Bull will begin on 8 January when Salzburg and Munich, which are only 150km apart, will go head to head to be the first team from their country to enter the CHL final.

Rickard Hugg - Kitchener Rangers (OHL)

19 year old Hugg is an undrafted forward who has played the majority of his hockey at junior level for Leksand IF including 11 games for the senior team in the SHL when he was only 17. Like the rest of the team he has already established himself as part of the national squad at junior level and has been captain and assistant captain of the U18 team. Playing under the limelight of the international stage he caught the attention of Kitchener Rangers in the OHL. The Rangers are one of the most prestigious teams in the league and the former team of players such as Gabriel Landeskog and Derek Roy. Now in his second season for the Rangers affiliates outfit, Hugg is on track for a breakout year with 32 points in 21 games making him the team's top scorer and second highest scoring European in the league behind JWC teammate, Hugo Leufvenius.

Timothy Liljegren - Toronto Marlies (AHL)

The defenseman from Skåne was part of last year's Silver medal team but was already turning heads Stateside after 2016/7 U18 World Cup where he was assistant captain. He was drafted in 2017 by Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round and is now in his second season for their AHL affiliate team, the Marlies. Last year he was part of their Calder Cup team, but before making the transfer to Canada, Liljegren squeezed in 19 games in the SHL for Rögle BK, captained by Ted Brithén (pictured).He is a gifted puck handler and has a knack of staying out of the box. But you can be sure that at his last Junior Worlds and he will also be wanting to add to his two points from last year and impress the Maple Leafs management to give him a shot at the NHL.