The2009–10 Elitserien season was the 35th season ofElitserien. It started on September 21, 2009, and ended on March 13, 2010. The playoffs started on March 18, 2010, and ended on April 24, 2010. HV71 won the playoffs, beatingTimrå IK 4–1 in thequarter final series,Skellefteå AIK 4–1 in the semifinal series, andDjurgårdens IF 4–2 in the final series. The season had a mid-season break that started on February 9 and ended on February 26 to allow participation of Elitserien players in the2010 Winter Olympics inVancouver.
Elitserien will bring in a number of rule changes for the start of the 2009–10 Elitserien season aimed at increasing offence. Two rule changes are to Rule 440 on faceoffs. Firstly, the first faceoff of a power play will now be in the defending zone of the team that committed the foul, regardless of where the play was stopped. Secondly, a faceoff will always be located at one of the nine faceoff spots. In previous seasons a faceoff could have been located anywhere on the rink.[1][2]
For the 2009–10 Elitserien season around 100 matches will be refereed by four referees.[3] Also, the referees uniforms will change to the classical black striped shirts with a number on the back instead of the referee's name, as in previous seasons.[2]
Each team will play each other five times during the regular season. Due to play in theChampions Hockey League and matches against twoNHL teams,Färjestads BK's andLinköpings HC's matches in round 4 are played out of the schedule.[4] After the initial season schedule have changes been made for rounds 3, 6, 13, 16 and 38.[5]
The general managers of the 12 elite league clubs in Elitserien met on June 9, 2009, and agreed on creating a jointly owned development company that will focus its work on the development of elite ice hockey in Sweden. The company's executive officer isHåkan Loob who will put is work in Färjestads BK on hold. It was also decided that the elite clubs will produce a new shareholder deal for the Swedish hockey league, Svenska Hockeyligan AB (SHL), as the current deal expires on April 30, 2010. The clubs will participate in the current league system for seasons 2009–10 and 2010–11.[6]
On December 28, 2009,Frölunda HC andFärjestads BK played their round 33 game outdoors atUllevi Stadium inGothenburg. The match organizers' goal was to break the previous outdoor game spectator record from 1962 where 23,192 spectators attended a match between Frölunda HC andDjurgårdens IF at Ullevi. In the 2009 match, the boards of the rink were completely transparent and Frölunda HC played in jerseys looking as the jerseys from 1962, void of advertisements.[7][8] 31,144 spectators watched the game.
In the first round, the highest remaining seed chooses which of the two lowest remaining seeds to be matched against. In the second round, the highest remaining seed is matched against the lowest remaining seed. In each round the higher-seeded team is awarded home ice advantage. Each best-of-seven series follows a 1–1–1–2–1–1 format: the higher-seeded team will play at home for games 2 and 4 (plus 5 and 7 if necessary), and the lower-seeded team will be at home for game 1, 3 and 6 (if necessary).
In the semifinals, the best ranked team is paired with the lowest ranked team qualified for the semifinals. The two remaining teams will play against each other.
^Birkestad, Erik (2009-03-18)."Utomhusmatchen blir av".Hockeyligan.se (in Swedish). Svenska Hockeyligan. Archived fromthe original on 2010-11-24. Retrieved2009-08-21.
Mats Zuccarello Aasen
Tony Mårtensson
Jan Hlaváč
Eero Somervuori
Media related to2009-2010 Swedish Elite League season at Wikimedia Commons