Kvalserien (HockeyAllsvenskan)

Kvalserien (HockeyAllsvenskan)
Sport	Ice hockey
Founded	2001
No. of teams	6
Country(ies)	Sweden
Most recent champion(s)	HC Vita Hästen, IF Björklöven
Official website	Kvalserien @ HockeyAllsvenskan.se

This article is about the Kvalserien qualification for HockeyAllsvenskan. For other Kvalserien qualifications, see Kvalserien (disambiguation).

Kvalserien, also known as Kvalserien till HockeyAllsvenskan, is the name of the Swedish round-robin ice hockey tournament to qualify for play in the next season of HockeyAllsvenskan (formerly named Allsvenskan), Sweden's second highest ice hockey league for men.

Teams

Kvalserien is formed after the regular seasons of HockeyAllsvenskan and Division 1 are played. Prior to 2006, the two worst ranked teams in Allsvenskan Södra Vår and Allsvenskan Norra Vår, and the two best ranked teams in each Division 1 series, formed the leagues (one qualification league for the southern Allvenskan, and another for the northern Allsvenskan). However, since 2006, the two worst ranked teams in HockeyAllsvenskan, and the four winning teams in the Division 1 playoffs, form the league. The six teams play each other twice and the teams finishing first and second are promoted to HockeyAllsvenskan the next season. The remaining four teams play in Division 1 the next season.

The exemption was the 2009 HockeyAllsvenskan Kvalserien, when the teams ranked 14th and 15th in HockeyAllsvenskan, and the four winning teams in the Division 1 playoffs, formed the league. The worst ranked team in HockeyAllsvenskan was automatically relegated to Division 1, and only the best team in the 2009 HockeyAllsvenskan Kvalserien was promoted to HockeyAllsvenskan, to allow a change in HockeyAllsvenskan from 16 to 14 teams.

Although Allsvenskan (curretly named HockeyAllsvenskan) was formed in the 1999–2000 season, no Kvalserien was played in 2001; instead, the four worst teams in Allsvenskan were relegated to Division 1 while the four best teams in Division 1 were promoted to Allsvenskan.

Previous winners

2001 - Halmstad Hammers HC, HC Örebro 90; Huddinge IK, Almtuna IS 2002 - Nybro Vikings IF, Mörrums IK; IF Vallentuna BK, Örnsköldsviks SK 2003 - Växjö Lakers HC, IF Troja/Ljungby; Almtuna IS, Tegs SK 2004 - IF Troja/Ljungby, Skövde IK; Uppsala Hockey, Tegs SK 2005 - AIK, Nybro Vikings IF; IFK Arboga IK, IF Sundsvall Hockey 2006 - Huddinge IK, IFK Arboga IK

2007 - Huddinge IK, Borås HC 2008 - IF Troja/Ljungby, Mariestad BoIS HC 2009 - Örebro HK 2010 - IK Oskarshamn, Tingsryds AIF 2011 - IF Troja/Ljungby, Tingsryds AIF 2012 - Karlskrona HK, Borås HC (relegated due to no elite license, replaced by Asplöven HC) 2013 - IF Björklöven, Karlskrona HK 2014 - HC Vita Hästen, IF Björklöven 2015 - AIK IF, Tingsryds AIF, IK Pantern, IF Sundsvall Hockey 2016 - Södertälje SK, Västerviks IK

Previous seasons

2001 season

Halmstad Hammers HC, HC Örebro 90, Huddinge IK, and Almtuna IS were promoted to Allsvenskan. IFK Kumla, IF Mölndal Hockey, Tierps HK, and IF Vallentuna BK were relegated to Division 1.

2013 season

IF Björklöven returned to HockeyAllsvenskan after a three-year absence, and Karlskrona HK remained in the second-tier league for the 2013–14 season. Tingsryds AIF were relegated to Division 1.

References

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