J20 Nationell
J20 SuperElit is a junior ice hockey league composed of 20 teams in Sweden. It is the highest-level junior ice hockey league in Sweden. The teams are divided in two groups, or divisions, Norra (North) and Södra (South), and are usually associated with a professional team in either Elitserien or HockeyAllsvenskan in order to develop talented youth for the professional teams. The winner of the J20 SuperElit playoffs are awarded the Anton Cup.
Game format
Each J20 SuperElit game is an ice hockey game played between two teams and is 60 minutes long. The game is composed of three 20-minute periods. At the 60-minute mark, the team with the most goals wins the game. If a game is tied after regulation time, overtime ensues. During the regular season, overtime is a five-minute, four-on-four (four skaters, one goaltender) sudden death period, in which the first team to score a goal wins the game. In the playoffs, however, a 10-minute, four-on-four sudden death period (20 minutes in the final) is played to determine a winner. In the regular season as well as the playoffs, if both teams are tied after the overtime period, penalty shots ensues. Best team of three penalty shots wins; if both teams are still tied, sudden death penalty shots will ensue until a winning team has been determined.
Teams
The J20 SuperElit currently consists of 20 teams divided into two divisions, Norra (North) and Södra (South). The five best teams from each of these two divisions play in the Winter series known as Top 10, while the remaining teams from Norra and Södra have to play in a "continuation group" during winter. In the continuation group, the two worst teams have to play in a relegation-and-promotion Play Off series to stay in J20 SuperElit for the next season and avoid relegation to the second-tier league J20 Elit. Theoretically, there is therefore a possibility that two 'new' teams will play in J20 SuperElit at the beginning of each season.
2012–13 season
Season structure
As of the 2012–13 season.
The J20 SuperElit season is divided into a regular season from mid-September through the beginning of March, where teams play each other in a predefined schedule; and the playoffs starting in March and ending in the beginning of April, which is an elimination tournament where two teams play against each other in order to advance to the next round. The final remaining team wins the Anton Cup and is crowned the Swedish Junior Champions, or Svenska juniormästare in Swedish.
Regular season
In the regular season, each team plays between 45 to 50 games. Points are awarded for each game, with three points awarded for a win in regulation, one point for losing in overtime/shootout, two points for winning in overtime/shootout, and zero points for a loss in regulation. Based on geographical location, the 20 teams are divided into two groups: Norra ("North") and Södra ("South"). Each team plays all other teams in their group three times. After 27 games for each team (depending on the amount of teams in the group), the top five teams advance to the Top 10 group, where each team plays each other twice. The remaining teams from each group play in a "continuation group", facing each team three times.
The ten teams from the Top 10 group and the six highest-ranked teams from the continuation group qualify for the playoffs. The two worst-ranked teams from the continuation group have to play in a playoff-like relegation-and-promotion series against the two winners from J20 Elit in order to qualify for the next season of J20 SuperElit. The playoff-like series are played as best-of-three series where the two teams that win two games qualify for the next season of J20 SuperElit. The two J20 SuperElit teams get home-ice advantage for the second game and, if necessary, the third game; the J20 Elit teams get home-ice advantage for the first game.
Playoffs
The J20 Playoffs, also known as the Anton Cup playoffs, is an elimination tournament. In the pre-qualification games as well as the quarterfinals, two teams battle to win a best-of-three series in order to advance to the next round. The semifinals, the final as well as the bronze medal game, are all played as one-game series, at a neutral venue which is the same for all these games.
The first round of the playoffs are the pre-qualifications for quarterfinals, known as the eighth finals, which consists of all teams from the Top 10 group and the six qualified teams from the continuation group. Each of the eight highest-ranked teams from the Top 10 group choose which of the teams ranked 9–16 overall (the two worst Top 10 teams and the six continuation teams) to play, with the highest-ranked team choosing first. In the second round, known as the quarterfinals, the 1st–4th overall ranked teams of the remaining ones choose which of the teams ranked 5–8 from round one to play. In the third round, the semifinals, the top remaining seed chooses which of the two lowest remaining seeds to play. The two remaining teams are matched against each other. In the fourth round, the finals, the two remaining teams face each other. The two teams that lose in the semifinals play for the bronze medal.
In the first and second round, the higher-ranked team is said to be the team with home-ice advantage. Two of the three games are played at this team's home venue — the second, and the third game if necessary — with the first game being played at the lower-ranked team's home venue.
Trophies and awards
At the end of the J20 SuperElit playoffs, the Swedish Junior Champions are awarded the Anton Cup.
References
- "Seriebestämmelser 2011-2012" (in Swedish) (pdf). Swedish Ice Hockey Association. http://swehockey.se/ImageVaultFiles/id_17790/cf_113/SB%202011-2012%20uppdaterade%20120120.PDF. Retrieved 2012-01-28.
External links
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