28-year-old Georgina Farman grew up in Hull on England’s east coast, an unlikely place to start an ice hockey career. In a country more well known for football and rugby and where the women’s hockey is almost non-existent, Farman had many mountains to climb before arriving in Europe’s best league.

As a child she started going to watch men’s game and liked it so much that she asked her parents if she could play – and she hasn’t stopped since then. The only option was to play in mixed teams to start with, but by the age of 14 she was already playing for the senior women’s team with Sheffield Shadows – the sister team to the men’s Elite League club, Sheffield Steelers who have competed in the Champions Hockey League. From the age of just 16 yrs. Farman has also been playing for the Great Britain team.

And it was whilst playing for the national team that Farman experienced her career highlight when Great Britain won the 2008 Division III World Championship. They took the gold medal in dramatic fashion with an overtime goal against Slovenia.

Aged 22, her friend and GB national teammate Katie Henry suggested that Farman move to Sweden and play with her at Norrköping. After a successful first season she was invited to join Linköping HC- not their SDHL team, but their Division 1 outfit.

Despite all this, the thought that she could go pro never entered her mind, the option just wasn’t there and it was just a fun hobby.

Farman remembers wanting to play for the elite squad, loving it when she got to train with them and then getting to play her first ever matches at the pro level. So, when Kim Martin Hasson invited her to join the SDHL squad as a defender for the 2015/6 season, it was like a dream come true, “I couldn’t have been more happy, but I knew there was a lot of hard work ahead of me”, the Hull born player said.

Farman was the first Brit to take this step, but would blaze a trail for others to follow such as Great Britain’s captain Leanne Ganney (SDE), forward Louisa Durnell and netminder Nicole Jackson (both Gothenburg HC).

Four seasons at Linköping HC saw Farman establish herself at the top of the sport in Sweden as a tough defender who was more likely to make the game saving poke check that than the Game Winning Goal. She would collect a gold and two silvers in the Swedish national championships at the Östergötland club.

Throughout this article I have used the phrase “pro-hockey” to talk about the elite level of the sport. But as any of you who follow women’s hockey will know, this usually means the athlete has the attitude of a pro, but must also have another job in order to pay the bills which fits into the demanding schedule of training and travelling to away matches. For Farman, working from home as an accountant has been the surprising compliment to committed hockey lifestyle.

After four years in Linköping the Great Britain defender was in the mood for a change and decided to make the move north to Brynäs IF. And in the summer of 2019 the Gävle club made a number of attention-grabbing signings showing they have only one thing in mind – to win the SDHL. The Englishwoman has been reunited with former Linköping teammates, including the Swiss pairing of the sharp shooting Lara Stalder and fellow defender, Sarah Forster as well as Swedish two ways forward, Emma Muren.

But for Farman it is the team effort that is making the difference, “things are going really well at Brynäs. The team is great,” she says,” I think we have a lot of talented players but we all work hard together as a team and that’s what is getting us the points”.

At the time of writing Farman’s Brynäs sit in third place, just two points behind Djurgården IF. And whilst HV71 are currently at the top, Brynäs beat them 7-2 at home, so don’t be surprised if this team goes all the way and wins their first ever SDHL championship in spring 2020.

The Video clip is from IIHF 2012 World Championship, with no sound on the original.

Leksand IF visited Linköping HC on Sunday afternoon, in the last SDHL match before the international break and play resumes on 20 December for both teams with a return match up in Tegera Arena.

Last season the two clubs finished third (LHC) and fourth (LIF) - but this year they both find themselves at the bottom of the table going into the break in seventh and eighth, just above the relegation zone occupied by another former top club, MODO Hockey, and perennial stragglers, Gothenburg HC.

Sunday's match was the second time the two team's had met at Stångebro Hallen this year - but for Leksand IF it was another unwanted defeat. However, one of the differences between the two matches was that the Canadian, Brooke Boquist, was in the the blue and white dress of the visitors.

The 23 year old Providence College graduate scored the team's consolation goal to leave the final score as 4-2 to the home side.

But Boquist is no stranger to the SDHL.

This is actually her second year outside of the NCAA and her second year in Sweden, where last year she was at MODO Hockey (see photo). She was one of several Canadians at the club, included Michela Cava and Kaitlyn Tougas. In fact, Boquist and these two are all from the same town, Thunder Bay, Ontario.

But, unfortunately for the young star and the Örnsköldsvik club, Boquist received concussion and did not play for the second half of the season having been one of the league's top scorers with 20 points in 17 games, including 11 goals in 2018/9.

She has now been back in Sweden for Leksand for nine games, in which she has already amassed 10 points meaning she is at almost the exactly the same average as last year with 1.17 PPG.

To give you an idea of her talent, that puts her at a similar the production rate as Luleå/ MSSK's European international players, Emma Nordin (SWE) and Noora Tulus (FIN) as well at former teammate, Tougas.

The second half of Leksand's season will be focused on staying clear of the relegation zone and then mounting a playoff campaign which could take them further than last year's disappointing loss in the quarterfinals.

And you can guarantee that Brooke Boquist will play an important part in that journey. And, despite a year's break from Swedish hockey, the Canadian is already showing the kind of form which will be keeping the opposition's backs and goaltenders very busy before the 2019/20 season ends.

HV71 have dominated the first half of the season in the SDHL winning 18 out of 21 matches.

But now they will have to complete the rest of season without their trainer, Lucas Frey, who left the club with immediate effect on 5 December citing ”personal reasons”.

Frey has been part of the Jönköping’s club set up since 2015, and took over as head coach in 2018/9, a position he held until this week.

Frey’s partner is former Swedish international and HV player, Jenni Asserholt, who retired from pro hockey in 2018/9 when the pair had their first child.

The news comes in the same week as A Brit On Thin Ice published an interview with HV71 forward, Kaitlyn Tougas. The Canadian mentioned that the quality of the coaching staff was one if the reasons she moved to the club.

https://sportbloggare.com/a-brit-on-thin-ice/sdhl-interview-tougas

But now the team will have to manage without Frey and his assistant trainer, Joakim Engström takes over for now.

When asked by Jönköping Posten newspaper the General Manager refused to drawn on whether it had to do with Frey’s training style.

The winter schedule, wIth the international break starting soon, favours the club and they have until 20 December when they play their next match home against reigning champions Luleå/ MSSK to consider their options before the season starts again.

A light dusting of snow is covering most of the country and the Advent lights are on in houses, whilst Christmas decorations fill every shop - it can mean only one thing - December is here and that means it is time for the November review here in the SHL.

And after seven (!) straight wins, Luleå Hockey have returned to the position they last occupied at the end of last season - first place in the SHL. And with a team that has not changed dramatically from last year, it is the same formula that is producing results - don't let in any goals, and just do enough to win. It is therefore no surprise that keeper, Joel Lassinantti, heads up the netminder league with an awesomely low 1.55 GAA and an incredibly high 93.28 SVS%.

So don't expect a high scoring game if you're thinking of visiting the COOP Arena this year. Their only have one player in the top 25 points scorers this season - 19 year old Nils Lundqvist - and he's only scored 4 goals. Not that the 2018 New York Rangers drafted defenseman will be upset by that - it is already his highest scoring season in the SHL where, despite his age, he has already played nearly 100 games.

Behind the Norrbotten club are four teams, in descending order; Frölunda Indians, Färjestad BK, Örebro HK and HV71 making a group of five clubs only separated by seven points.

The top three on Total Points, in fact, play for the clubs in second and third place - that is Färjestad's undrafted pairing of Marcus Nilsson (6G+18A) and Michael Lindqvist (10G+12A) and the Indians' diminutive American, Ryan Lasch (6G+16A) who also has never been drafted in the NHL.

Worthy of mention is Örebro HK, who have never been in this upper eschalon of the SHL until a recent great run of form. It is worth mentioning their trio of top scorers who no-one would have guessed would be in this position after about half the regular season has been played. They are in 8th place on Total Points, Mattias Brome (7G+12A), in 13th place Sakari Salminen (7G+11A) and 16th place, Shane Harper (8G+8A). The team only lost 3 times in November - two of which were against teams currently above them in the table.

From 6th to 10th place are a collection of clubs separated by 8 points, whilst the bottom four teams are separated by just four. That should give some hope to Leksand IF and IK Oskarshamn, the two teams that have come up from the Allsvenskan, but now sit in the bottom two rungs of the table with 20 points each. There is still a chance to crawl up and over those other teams, including 12th place Linköping HC, who seem unable to find any kind of form, winning just 5 games all year and find themselves very close to the relegation playoff places, with just 21 points this season.

25 year old Canadian, Kaitlyn Tougas, grew up in a hockey family in Thunder Bay, Ontario - a lakeside town which is a similar size to Jönköping where she is playing for HV71 this season.

With her Dad a coach, older brother and sister playing, hockey was natural part of life and she fell in love with the sport and played from as young as just 4 or 5 years old. Whilst enjoying other sports like volleyball, they were just fun activities on the side.

Just six month younger that fellow Thunder Bay inhabitant, Michela Cava, the two of them played youth hockey together as well as being teammates in 2017/8 and 2018/9 at MODO Hockey in northern Sweden.

And it was together with Cava and older sister, Courtney, that Tougas got to take part in one of her career highlights when the Thunder Bay Queens won the 2010 Esso Cup Nationals and Tougas took home MVP of the tournament.

It was always her ambition to gain a hockey scholarship and the drive to make the sport her career took her to the States and four years in the NCAA in the autumn of 2012. In all but her first year at college she topped the scoring for Bemidji State University and was rewarded with a being drafted in the CWHL at #18 by Markham Thunder in 2016.

But after a year in the CWHL she didn't find the success she craved and took the decision to travel to Europe and hook up with Cava at MODO in Sweden.

2018/9 was her breakthrough season in Sweden as the club threatened Luleå's dominance in the SDHL. They finished second in the regular season with Cava winning the Total Points competition and assistant captain, Tougas, herself finishing in 8th with 50 points (20G+30A) in just 36 games.

But it was not to be and for the second year in a row MODO went out in the semifinals against Linköping HC.

So for her third year in Sweden, Tougas decided to swap Örnsköldsvik for Jönköping, whilst Cava and former Bemidji State teammate, Ivana Bilic, opted for Brynäs IF.

"Changing clubs was a decision I made for my own personal growth. I felt that it was time to really commit to a team that was going to have a good shot at winning the gold. HV71 has a great coach and signed a lot of talented players, it felt right to give the south of Sweden a shot", she says about the move, "So far I’m happy with the experience".

And it shows.

Tougas is the top scoring Canadian in the SDHL with 26 points (7G+19A) in 21 games and sits in 7th on Total Points, two points ahead of Cava. And the HV71 team as a whole are crushing the opposition having lost just three games all year, 12 points ahead of second placed Djurgården (at the time of writing). This team is re-writing the rules and raising the standard for the SDHL.

But perhaps more importantly for Tougas, they're in first place and few would bet against the Jönköping team taking their first ever Swedish championship in the women's team's history in the spring.

2019 has been a challenging year for women's hockey both in North America and Sweden. The women's game, "still has many steps to take to be a sustainable career", she says - and she speaks with the experience of playing in three of the top leagues in the world in America, Canada and Sweden.

But right now for the 25 year old Canadian, it's not about talk in the boardroom, but hard work out on the ice - so keep a look out for #19 in the blue and yellow of HV71, otherwise she'll have danced past you on her way to the goal and the first you'll know about it is when the siren rings.

Look on the SDHL's own website if you want to see current footage of Tougas playing for HV71 this season at https://www.sdhl.se/play .

Or if you want to see a bit of older footage check out the You Tube link below to the Bemidji State 2014-5 season review. Tougas wears #9.

You will also see her current HV71 teammate, the American blue liner, Alexis Joyce (#22), who won Rookie of the Year that season and former MODO teammate and defender, Ivana Bilic (#23) playing for the Beavers that year.

December has finally come, with a flurry of snow as people start to get ready for Christmas celebrations, whether they are commercial - Black Friday, or the religious - First of Advent. And for the SDHL it also marks the halfway point of regular season with most teams having played 20 matches.

Followers of women's hockey in Sweden over the last few years may not be surprised to here that one team is far ahead of the others - but the surprise is that it is no longer Luleå/ MSSK that are dominating - but instead it is Jönköping's HV71 who can do no wrong this year.

They have lost only three matches all season - just one a month - against Luleå HF in September, Djurgården IF and now Brynäs IF in their last game of November. Otherwise, they are on a mission beating anyone, anytime, anywhere.

Just as Luleå have done before in the last four years, HV71 has risen the bar beyond what people thought was possible, blazing a trail that others just have to try and follow.

Nearly 100 goals in 21 matches, that is an average of 4.62 goals per game (!) and a plus/ minus of +61 gives you an idea of the quality you can see in the Kinnarps Arena this year. And it is an internationally diverse set of players - Kennedy Marchment (USA), Sidney Morin (USA), Hanna Olsson (SWE), Kaitlyn Tougas (CAN) and Sanni Hakala (FIN) - who are packing out the top 10 on Total Points. Meanwhile Alba Gonzalo (SPA) is in second on goaltending with 1.55 GAA (pictured, above).

Look out on Tuesday afternoon for an exclusive interview with one of HV71's import players here on Sportbloggare.

Even with half the season to go - anything other than a gold medal in the spring will be a huge disappointment for this team.

Behind them a tight battle for second place is taking place between Djurgården IF, Brynäs IF and Luleå HF. And not surprisingly, these the only teams who have actually been the leading club so far this year.

In fourth at the beginning of December, Luleå HF continue to rely on their core of Finnish internationals, with 20 year old Petra Nieminen leading the way in the absence of Michelle Karvinen. Nieminen at only 20 years old is still young, but is finally stepping into the central role she showed she could take as far back at the 2018 Olympic Games, netting 14 goals in 18 games this season as well as contributing with another 14 assists.

Meanwhile third placed, Brynäs IF, just like the league leaders, have their new cohort of high quality new players to thank for keeping the siren buzzing, led by Swiss international, Lara Stalder. The first European drafted in the NWHL back in 2016, she remains at the top of the Total Points leaderboard with more than 2 Points Per Game average - 41 points (26G+15A) in just 20 games.

Second placed Djurgården IF might not play with as much fireworks in front of net as these other teams, but they're getting the job done, with a more steady goal count and grinding out wins, so that they have the lowest goal difference of this group of four. Their goalscoring is led by none other than one of the SDHL most decorated forwards, Canadian Olympic Gold medalist, Jennifer Wakefield. The former Toronto Furies player is new to the club this year, although she is now 30 years old and has two Swedish championship winning medals to her name.

These four teams, are the new elite of the SDHL - they are the only teams with a positive plus/ minus, the only teams with more wins than losses and are dominate all the other statistics that you can think of.

With HV71 as favourites, it is almost certain that one of these other three teams will face them in the playoff final. The only thing that could change that, I believe, is if one of the clubs in 5th-10th decides to buy in a line of players who are taking a break in North America following the #ForTheGame strike. Linköping HC, for example, brought in a couple of good players in the playoffs last year, in Susanna Tapani (FIN) and Brooke Stacey (CAN) to try to topple Luleå, even if in the end it was unsuccessful.

Only one team with have 2 x 60 minutes to steal the gold from HV71 - they've got circa 20 matches and the playoffs to work out how to shutdown this hugely talented squad from Jönköping.

As November rolls in, the players in the SHL will take a two week break to make space for the international Karjala Cup in Finland. That gives us a chance to look at what has happened over the last month in Sweden's top division.

Luleå HF (5th)

The last of these top teams in Luleå HF who continue where they left off at the end of last year as the team that lets in the least goals in the league and grinds our low scoring wins. Keeper Joel Lassinantti is key to this strategy and his in an form, leading the league with a GAA of just 1.69. Goals are rare and precious for the Norrbotten club and their top scorer is a new name for many. It is 19 year old Swedish defenseman, Nils Lindqvist (above). Drafted in 2018 by the New York Rangers, he is only in his second full season in the SHL and his 10 points (2G+8A) already equals his tally from 2018/9. But the team's low scoring approach means that top scorer Lindqvist is way down the the list at number 40 on the Total Points table.

As November rolls in, the players in the SHL will take a two week break to make space for the international Karjala Cup in Finland. That gives us a chance to look at what has happened over the last month in Sweden's top division.

Färjestad BK (4th)

Just as few expected Örebro to lead the league, so another surprise awaits as we look at the Total Points table. It is lead by undrafted Färjestad player, Marcus Nilsson. The 28 year old Swede has matured slowly earning his place in the Karlstad club after five years grinding out a pro career, primarily in the Allsvenskan with BIK Karlskroga.

For three years at Färjestad he has put up figures of just 0.50 PPG, but this year the magic in starting to happen and he is now leading the league in Total Points with 20 points (5G+15A) in 16 games - that is 1.25 PPG!

(In the photo, above, Nilsson in on the left and the league#s top goal scorer, Michael Lindqvist on the right).

As November rolls in, the players in the SHL will take a two week break to make space for the international Karjala Cup in Finland. That gives us a chance to look at what has happened over the last month in Sweden's top division.

Örebro HK (1st)

Örebro HK who are at the top of the table- an unexpected position for the club that usually finishes outside the playoff places.

In an exceptional run of form, they have only lost once in 10 matches since 26 September. That coupled with their two wins at the beginning of the season gives them a league leading 11 wins this year.

Whilst they have not managed a shut out so far, in five of their wins they have kept their opponents down to just one goal. By contrast, in the opposite third of the ice they have repeatedly found the net and come to the international break with a plus/minus of +17.

Their chief weapon is 2005 Colorado Avalanche drafted, Ryan Stoa (#94, above). He was 2018 US Olympic teammates with current SHL rivals Broc Little (Linköping HC) and Jonathon Blum (Färjestad BK). The 32 year old has more than adequately filled the hole left by temperamental Canadian Aaron Paulshaj who moved to the KHL after an unhappy year in Närke.

However, it is former Mora player, Mathias Bromé who leads the team with 15 points (6G+9A). That puts him in sixth on Total Points, whilst Stoa is in second on Goals scored behind Farjestad’s Michael Lindqvist. And these two players early season form has not gone unnoticed as both Bromé and Lindqvist have been rewarded with an international place for Sweden in the up and coming Karjala tournament.

As November rolls in, the players in the SHL will take a two week break to make space for the international Karjala Cup in Finland. That gives us a chance to look at what has happened over the last month in Sweden's top division.

The table has split into three groups: - teams 1-5 separated by just 6 points; teams 6-9 who are only 4 points apart; and finally a cluster of teams at in the bottom four places who are just 3 points from each.

This week we're going to look at the top five clubs in the SHL starting with the second and third placed clubs.

Frölunda Indians (3rd)

Frölunda Indians and Rögle BK continue the strong start they had in September, but will probably be glad for a break as they both took two defeats in a row before the pause denying either club the top spot.

The teams owe their early season success to two different approaches. The third placed team from Gothenburg have smashed in goals with Californians Rhett Rakhskani (7G+11A, in photo) and Ryan Lasch (5G+10A) leading, as usual, with support from 2007 St Louis Blues drafted, Simon Hjälmarsson (7G+7A). The team has amassed the largest goal difference of 21 points.

Rögle BK (2nd)

Rögle are in second place having eked out wins with a conservative strategy by keeping it tight at both ends of the ice. Captain and Canadian Kodie Curran, tops the scoring in the league from the blue line with 3G+11A, the same amount of points as Swedish teammate, Leon Bristedt who has 7G+7A, equalling west coast rival Hjälmarsson.