Sweden: Final regular season weekend features three games with huge playoff implications

AFI | AIK | 06/05/2024

Graphic: Igor Lazarevic

The Swedish Superserien heads into the final regular season weekend of the year with plenty at stake as playoff berths and positions are still up for grabs.

Six teams will qualify for the playoffs in the eight team league with the quarterfinal round involving teams who finished third to sixth in the standings. The third place team will face number six while the team that finishes fourth takes on the fifth place team. The top two teams automatically advance to the semifinals and await the winners of the wild card games.

The Carlstad Crusaders have finished undefeated and in first and are the only team to have qualified for the semifinal round.

Entering the weekend, the defending champion Stockholm Mean Machines (5-1) find themselves in third behind the second place Tyresö Royal Crowns (5-1). Both teams’ only loss was to the Crusaders. They face each other to decide the one semifinal berth.

In the other two matchups, the Oslo Vikings (2-4) will host AIK from Stockholm (1-5) and the Kristianstad Predators (1-5) host the Limhamn Griffins (1-5). The winner of the Oslo-AIK game moves on. However, if Oslo loses, and Kristianstad beats Limhamn, AIK, Oslo and Kristianstad all finish with a record of 2-5, or four points. Then it’s the points for and against between the three that determines which two of the three advances. In that case, Oslo is +7, AIK -1 and Kristianstad -6 before the game between Oslo and AIK. If AIK wins by a margin of one to three points over Oslo then both teams advanct but Oslo finishes one spot ahead of AIK in the standings. If AIK wins by four points, both teams finish with the same number of points and Oslo still finishes ahead based on the total points difference. If AIK wins by between five and 13 points, AIK finishes fifth and Oslo sixth. If AIK wins by 14 points or more, Oslo misses the playoffs and Kristianstad grabs the final playoff berth provided they have beaten Limhamn. Now if Limhamn beats Kristianstad and Oslo defeats AIK, Limhamn moves on. In the event that AIK and Limhamn win their games, AIK, Oslo and Limhamn are all tied with four points eachand then again, the points differential between the three teams is the determining factor. AIK is +4 in the games between the three and Oslo +2 while Limhamn is 0 which means that AIK would leapfrog Oslo in the standings and Limhamn would miss the playoffs.