The 9 and 10 October saw Game Day 5, the penultimate round of the group stage this year's Champions Hockey League. Each team played the first of a back to back meeting with the same opponent as the group stage of reaches it's climax.

We can have a look at the state of play in each with only one game left to be played next week on 16 or 17 October.

Group A

Sweden's Frölunda Indians crushed Denmark's Aalborg Pirates 6-0 at home ensuring qualification for themselves and knocking out the Danes. 18 year old Samuel Fagermo impressed for the home side with three goals on the night.

In the other game ZSC Zurich set themselves up nicely with a 7-4 home victory over Vienna Capitals with a third period that saw six goals, three each. It sets up a dramatic final match next week where only the winner will qualify for the knockout stages.

Linköping HC

Linköping HC look unlikely to able to compete for another final this year, with only three regulation wins out of eight matches. However, they can rest content in having the league's top goal scorer and points-getter Kennedy Marchment. The 21 year old Canadian has gain 11 goals and 4 assists since moving from the American NCAA College league this summer.

Import players and the national team

The Swedish Women's Hockey League continues to impress but new developments this year may have the Swedish national selectors worried. Only five of the top 20 in Total Points are Swedish. The best placed Swede is only in tenth place, Anna Borgqvist of Leksand IF. Her teammate, Hanna Sköld, is the only one of the five Swedes who is under 25 and she currently lies in 20th place.

On the goalkeeping front things are not much better. Only five of the top 11 keepers are from Sweden, the nation that ended as disappointing seventh in the recent Pyeongchang Olympics earlier this year. Worrying times on the national front even as the domestic league prospers.

MODO Hockey

However, Luleå they do not lead the table, by virtue of the fact that MODO Hockey have played more games, eight in total. They have won six and won one in Overtime, against the team who beat them in last year's semi final, Linköping HC.

The club can thank their import players, with Czech keeper Klara Peslarova in goal and international talent on the ice when they have found the net. That includes Canadians Michelle Cava, Brooke Bobquist, Lauren Wildfang, Kaitlyn Tougas and French Marion Allemoz. All six have more than a Point Per Game so far.

Luleå/ MSSK

The Swedish Women's Hockey League is in full swing and, as suspected, Luleå/ MSSK are already showing their superiority having not lost a game yet and notching up a fearful 28 Goals to only 2 Against in just six games.

Leading the way are super Finnish duo of Jenni Hiirikoski and Michelle Karvinen with 14 and 11 in Total Points respectively. Meanwhile Swedish keeper, Sara Grahn tops out the league's netminders with a nearly perfect 98,80 SVS%.

14. Rögle BK

At the bottom of the table, the Ängelholm club are the victims of the second (SKE) and third (DIF) placed clubs' success, between them knocking 10 goals past Ville Kolppanen and Justin Pogge. That leaves these two keepers with the third and fourth worst SVS% in the league. But the club's problems are also at the other end of the ice where they have only found the net four times this season.

New signing Christopher Bengtsson (above) has made a great start as he steps up from the Allsvenskan, scoring half of the team’s goals. But they need their experienced import players, like Matt Anderson (2 NHL; 342 AHL matches) and Christian Thomas (27 NHL; 335 AHL matches), to start ringing the siren.

At the same time, the medics and rehab team need to give full attention to top Swedes, Jonas Ahnelöv and Mattias Sjögren so that they can get off the injury list to see the team climb up from the bottom step of the SHL.

2. Skellefteå AIK and 3. Djurgården IF

Skellefteå AIK and Djurgården IF, both semifinalists last year, are hot on the heels of first placed Linköping.

The club from Norrbotten have also not lost in regulation, whilst the Stockholm club have only lost one game - their opening match of the season against Frölunda Indians. However, they smashed 8 goals past Örebro HK seven days later.

That means that four of the top five places in Total Points are Djurgården players. New signings Jacob Josefson (G3 +7A, in photo) and Jakob Lilja (2G+8A) lead with 10 points each and the league's top goal scorer is the young Emil Bemström (5G+1A).

This evening I’ll take a look at the other end of the table.

October is already upon us meaning the first month of the SHL is over. Even though it has only been five rounds there's lots to talk about all ready!

1. Linköping HC

Perhaps a surprise, but Linköping HC are top of the league at this early stage. The team from Östergötland have not lost a single game in regulation and have only lost once in overtime.

One of the most unexpected things about their success is that it is not their prestigious North American signings who making the headlines. Instead, 23 year old Nick Sörensen (5G) - see photo above, 18 year old Johan Södergran (4G+1A) and 23 year old Adam Brodecki (1G + 4A) are the Swedes leading the charge, whilst keeper Jonas Gustavsson leads the whole league with a SVS of 97.82%.

Later on today I’ll be looking at some of the other teams start to the season.

This weekend sees the start of the SHL, but who will will win the Le Mat Trophy? Here's your preview of the up and coming season.

It's always a safe bet to go for Frölunda Indians and Skellefteå AIK in the top places in the SHL. My reasoning for that this year is that they both have very stable teams and managers. Of course, they've lost a few players to the NHL, not least number one draft choice, Rasmus Dahlin, from Frölunda to Buffalo Sabres. But both are able to retain and recruit such talented players that means, for me, they are the strongest teams this year.

Djurgarden IF, Växjö Lakers, Brynäs IF, Farjestad BK, Malmö Redhawks and Timrå IK have all dropped significant players and I can't see any of them doing as well as last year. But I placed Djurgarden top of this group as they signed the talented Dick Axelsson from Farjestad and Jakob Lilja from Linköping HC, who are game changing goal scorers.

HV71 and Örebro HK are my 'dark horses' for the championship. HV71 have a totally new squad compared to last year. That includes the return to Sweden of 30 year old Andreas Thuresson (above, in Malmö Redhawks colours). He has a c. 0.5 Points Per Game from more than 650 games in an 11 year career in the SHL, KHL and the AHL. By my reckoning one of the best signings of the pre-season.

At the same time someone on the board at Örebro HK has decided that they no longer want to be a team that only just manages to survive in the top division each year. The cheque book has come out for a number of high scoring talents, not least former Brynäs forward, American Aaron Palushaj. Both these teams have the potential to pull off amazing success or completely implode - only time will tell.

At the bottom I think the teams that have come up from the Hockey Allsvenskan in recent years will struggle. For example, both Rögle BK and Mora IF have lost their top scorers from last year. But my biggest concern is for newly promoted Timrå IK. They have lost their top three points scorers as well as their goalkeeper from last year's successful team.

PLACES 1-6

1. Frölunda Indians

2. Skellefteå AIK

3. HV71

4. Djurgården IF

5. Växjö Lakers

6. Örebro HK

PLACES 7-10

7. Linköping HC

8. Brynäs IF

9. Farjestad BK

10. Malmö Redhawks

PLACES 11-14

11. Rögle BK

12. Luleå HF

13. Mora IF

14. Timrå IK

Markus Svensson (FBK)

Of the 28 keepers in the SHL all but four are Swedish and, indeed, Swedish netminders also have made inroads into the NHL and KHL. Just look at the Swedish World Championship 2018 Gold medalist keepers Anders Nilsson of Vancouver Canucks and Marcus Hellberg, then of Red Star Kunlun.

Svensson himself returns to Sweden and Färjestad BK after two years in the KHL. Now 34 and has worked his way up through the Swedish leagues so that by 2011/2 he played his first games in the SHL. But it was the move to Skellefteå AIK the following year that he began to show his true class. In the four years he was at the club they won the regulation series every year, were in the playoff final every year and won the Championship twice. Talking of consistency- in those years he had a Save Percentage of between .919 to .922! He also got to play his three games for Sweden in The Euro Hockey Tour.

All this is to say that Färjestad have made a great signing of a player who knows how to play his part in a winning team. Whilst I'm not convinced of the team's credentials on offense, they have one if the best Swedes available between the posts and it may be enough for the team to finish in the top six again this year.

Daniel Rahimi (VLA)

It would be almost impossible to pick a team of Swedes without someone from Växjö's championship winning team being in it, so I have gone for defenseman Daniel Rahimi. The 31 year old had undoubtedly his best season by almost any count - most goals in a season, equal highest Total Points, highest Points Per Game and, perhaps most remarkably, he came second in the whole SHL for plus/ minus behind teammate and wonder kid, Elias Pettersson.

Drafted in 2006 by the Vancouver Canucks, Rahimi then played two years in the AHL, but did not get a chance to play a NHL game and he returned to Sweden for the 2009/10 where he has played all but one year as well as gaining experience in the national team. He played for Linköping HC for four years from 2012/3 and he also gained experience by being part of the national team for Sweden all season that time. For the club he had a more traditional back role, dishing out the big tackles and rough stuff whilst others found the net. But at Växjö he has found different role as the team plays a more mobile form of hockey and the defense is required to play the puck out of trouble. This partly explains the Björklöven trained player's rise up in terms of points and plus/ minus as he moves from destroyer to creator. Whilst I believe this season has seen a more disciplined Rahimi compared to his Linköping days, it is still his main area of weakness. He received a match penalty for two games in a row in November.