The Swedish ice hockey champions (Swedish: Svenska mästare i ishockey) is a title awarded annually to the winning playoff team of the top-tier ice hockey league in Sweden, which currently is the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) since 1975. It was first awarded to IK Göta in 1922, the championship's inaugural year.[1] The championship's present SHL format did not take into effect until the league was originally formed for the 1975–76 season under the name of Elitserien.[1] A team who wins the Swedish Championship is awarded the Le Mat Trophy. Djurgårdens IF holds the most titles in history with 16 titles, but Färjestad BK, who's played all 45 seasons of the current top-tier league, is the most successful SHL team with ten championship titles. The most recent Swedish Champions are Skellefteå AIK, who won their fourth title in club history in 2024.
Before 1953, the Swedish champions were determined through a standalone tournament, the Swedish Ice Hockey Championship, where teams could submit their participation. In other words, the leagues were not connected with the Swedish Championship during this period. Between 1953 and 1955, the winner was decided through matches between the winners of Division 1 Norra and Division 1 Södra.[1] From 1956 to 1965, the Swedish champions was the winner of a second round group stage following Division 1.[1] In the years of 1966 and 1967 a play-off was played between Division 1 teams and the 1968 season saw a return to second round group stage.[1] In the 1975–76 season, the Elitserien was started and from the last season with Division 1, 1974-75, playoffs for the top four teams decided the Swedish ice hockey champions. From 1987-88, eight teams have played the championships, and from 2013-14 ten teams. (The league was expanded from 10 to 12 teams in 1987-88, and from 12 to 14 teams in 2015-16.)[1]
- ^ a b c d e f "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2014-12-22.
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