HockeyAllsvenskan

The Allsvenskan (HockeyAllsvenskan since 2005-06) is the second highest hockey league of Sweden. There are 16 teams participating, each playing thrice against each other in the regular season calendar. The top three teams at the end of the season advance directly to the Kvalserien; teams ranked fourth through seventh meet in two playoffs rounds; the winner of which grabbing the last place available for the Kvalserien. The last two teams of the league play in a similar tournament against the four best Swedish Division 1 teams to determine who will promote and get relegated. Previous leagues called Allsvenskan

During seasons 1948–49 through 1974–75 Allsvenskan was the semi-official name of the first-level league, the official name being Division 1 norra (north) and södra (south), comprising six teams each until 1955–56 and eight teams each from 1956–57 to 1973–74. In 1974–75 it was played as one Division 1 league with sixteen teams, leading up to the start in 1975–76 season of the present Elitserien.

The second highest-level league had been called Division 2 since 1941–42, and was divided into eight groups from 1957–58 on. The winners of these groups played in two qualification leagues, a northern and a southern one, from which two teams each were promoted. In the 1974–75 season the grouping was changed to have six groups. Each qualification league contained the winners of three groups and one each of the teams on places nine and ten in the sixteen team Allsvenska.

When Elitserien started in 1975–76 as the top level with ten teams, the new second highest-level league was called Division 1, in four groups. After a couple of years, it was settled into ten teams each in these. Until the 1981–82 season the Division 1 leagues were played over the entire season and followed by play-offs and Kvalserien, the qualification league for the Elitserien.

In 1982–83, however, the name Allsvenskan came back, for a league starting after the Christmas and New Year's break of the season. The top two teams of each Division 1 league were promoted to the new Allsvenskan. The top two teams in the Allsvenska played a best of five final for promotion to Elitserien. The teams 3–6 in the Allsvenska continued with play-offs and possibly Kvalserien for the second open spot in the Elitserien.

For the 1987–88 season the Elitserien was expanded from ten to twelve teams, and now also the two last teams in Elitserien by the end of the year were moved down for play in the Allsvenskan together with the top eight Division 1 teams. Still with a best of five final between the top two teams, and play-offs for teams 3–8.

From the 1996–97 season, the Elitserien changed and played with all twelve teams for the entire season. The Allsvenskan changed back to the eight top teams from Division 1 only. The best of five final was also abandoned. From here on, the top two teams were promoted directly to Kvalserien, while the teams finishing 3-6 played play-offs for two more spots in Kvalserien.

In the 1999–2000 season, Allsvenskan Norra (north) and Södra (south) was inaugurated as a completely new second-level league, consisting of twelve teams each. The top four teams from each of them were promoted for the later half of the season to the same kind of league as recent years Allsvenska, but the name of that league was changed to SuperAllsvenskan.

For the 2005–06 season the number of teams was decreased from 2x12 to 16, and the present HockeyAllsvenskan was born.

Present HockeyAllsvenskan
The league is played as a round-robin tournament where all teams play each other four times during one season.

After the regular season, four teams from the league play along with the two last placed teams from Elitserien in a series called Kvalserien, where the two winning teams are promoted to Elitserien for the next season, while the bottom four teams are relegated to HockeyAllsvenskan.

The finishing top three teams of the league advance to this Kvalserien directly, the teams ranked 4 through 7 battle for the fourth spot. Up until season 2009-10 they have met in two play off rounds, but from the 2010-11 season they will play a pre-qualification round robin league in six rounds, facing at home and away.

The two last placed teams from HockeyAllsvenskan have to play against four Division 1 (tier III) teams to avoid relegation.

For the 2009–10 season, the number of teams in the league were decreased from sixteen to fourteen. In the 2008–09 season the last placed team was directly relegated, and the teams ranked fourteen and fifteen played the qualification league, from which only one team was qualified for the next season.

2005–06 season
Halmstad Hammers played in HockeyAllsvenskan this season, but due to the club's bankruptcy the team was disqualified. During Kvalserien IF Malmö Redhawks and Skellefteå AIK were promoted to play in Elitserien for season 2006–07. Leksands IF and Södertälje SK were both relegated from Elitserien.

IFK Arboga IK and Hammarby IF had to play the relegation rounds and kept their spots in the league, coming in second and third after Huddinge IK, who had been relegated one year previously, but made it back after one year in Division 1.

2006–07 season
This season Huddinge and Arboga had to play in the qualification series to stay in the league, but Arboga decided not to play because of their bad economic state of affairs, so they joined Division 1 in the 2007–08 season. Huddinge won the group and continued to play in HockeyAllsvenskan for yet another season, while Borås finished second and advanced to HockeyAllsvenskan.

In the qualification rounds for Elitserien, Södertälje advanced to Elitserien while Malmö only finished third and went to play in HockeyAllsvenskan the next season.

2007–08 season
Huddinge and Hammarby finished last in league this year and had to play in the qualification series to stay up. Hammarby however decided not to play because of economic issues. Also, Huddinge did not survive the qualification group which was won by the following season's newcomers IF Troja/Ljungby and Mariestad BoIS HC. However, in the summer Nyköpings Hockey was relegated to division 1, not meeting the financial demands for being approved to play in the HockeyAllsvenskan, and Huddinge was promoted to fill in that spot.

In a closely played qualification battle for Elitserien, Rögle advanced to Elitserien at the cost of Mora who finished fourth and went to play in HockeyAllsvenskan next season.

2008–09 season
The 2008–09 season became the last season with sixteen teams in HockeyAllsvenskan. On May 30, 2008 the board of SIHA decided to decrease the number of teams to fourteen, starting from the 2009–10 season.[1] Therefore, the last placed team, Mariestad BoIS HC, was directly relegated to the lower division, instead of joining the teams placed 14th and 15th who had to play the qualification group against four teams from lower Division 1.

With just one team qualifying for HockeyAllsvenskan instead of the usual two, neither Huddinge IK (fourth) or Nybro Vikings IF (third) succeeded staying in the second division. Instead, Örebro HK took the available place in HockeyAllsvenskan for the 2009–10 season. GP = Games played, W = Wins, T = Ties, L = Losses, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, Pts = Total points.

Meanwhile, in Kvalserien, none of the four top teams from HockeyAllsvenskan succeeded qualifying for the highest division this year. Instead, the two Elitserien teams Södertälje SK and Rögle BK managed to keep their spots. Leksands IF, AIK, Västerås and Växjö Lakers returned for another season.

2009–10 season
Sundsvall and Oskarshamn ended up at the bottom of the league table and had to play a qualification series to requalify for HockeyAllsvenskan. There Tingsryd came in second after Oskarshamn earning promotion at the expense of Sundsvall. However, in June SIHA decided not to grant Björklöven an elite license for the upcoming season and they were relegated to Division 1 and Sundsvall was offered a place in HockeyAllsvenskan.

In Kvalserien, AIK managed to promote to Elitserien at the expense of Rögle.