Three periods
A game is three 20-minute periods of 5-on-5 hockey, with intermissions in between. The team that scores more goals wins.
Sweden · 2026–27
SHL, explained.
Sweden. One table. One Le Mat Trophy. Here’s the quick guide.
The Swedish Hockey League is Sweden's top flight: a 14-club regular season, a playoff for the Le Mat Trophy, and a relegation path against HockeyAllsvenskan.
A short history
The SHL is the modern name for Sweden's highest league, which has run in some form since the 1920s. The championship trophy is the Le Mat Trophy.
The last-place SHL club plays a promotion/relegation series against the HockeyAllsvenskan champion.
Current teams
Open a club for that desk’s news and scores.
League
Brynäs IFBIFOfficial siteSchedule
Djurgården HockeyDIFOfficial siteSchedule
Färjestad BKFBKOfficial siteSchedule
Frölunda HCFHCOfficial siteSchedule
HV71HV71Official siteSchedule
IF BjörklövenIFBOfficial siteSchedule
Linköping HCLHCOfficial siteSchedule
Luleå HockeyLHFOfficial siteSchedule
Malmö RedhawksMIFOfficial siteSchedule
Örebro HockeyOHKOfficial siteSchedule
Rögle BKRBKOfficial siteSchedule
Skellefteå AIKSKEOfficial siteSchedule
Timrå IKTIKOfficial siteSchedule
Växjö LakersVLHOfficial siteSchedule
How the league works
Same ice, same three periods — then a points race into a national playoff.
Standings points
A regulation win is worth three points. An overtime or shootout win is two. An overtime or shootout loss is one. A regulation loss is zero.
Overtime
Most European regular-season games that are tied after 60 minutes go to a short overtime, then a shootout. Playoff overtime is usually played until someone scores.
Power play
A penalty puts the other team a skater up. That extra-man advantage is the power play; the shorthanded side is on the penalty kill.
Offside and icing
A player cannot enter the offensive zone ahead of the puck (offside). Icing is shooting the puck the length of the ice from behind centre; play stops and the faceoff comes back.
The table
Swedish Hockey League ranks clubs by points through the regular season, then seeds the playoff that awards the Le Mat Trophy.
The season
Training camp in late summer, a fall-to-spring regular season, then a spring playoff.
How the playoffs work
The champion is the club that wins the Le Mat Trophy playoff — not always the team that finished first in the regular season.
Who gets in
The top six go straight into the quarter-finals. Seeds 7–10 play a play-in. The bottom of the table faces HockeyAllsvenskan.
Knockouts
Playoff series are best-of-seven after the play-in.
The Le Mat Trophy
The playoff winner is the Swedish champion.