Denmark: Danish League 2014-15

[Justinov]

Having missed a lot of updates lately because of being busy.

So whats new - nothing much. Surprisingly Odense still leads the league and Gentofte and Herlev have been totally isolated in the bottom.

Odense: 27G 59p
Herning: 27G 55P
Frederikshavn: 27G 52P
SønderjydskE: 27G 50p [Surprisingly meagre for being them]
Esbjerg: 28G 45P
Rødovre: 27G 40P
Rungsted: 28G 35P
Aalborg: 27G 34P
Herlev: 28G 22P
Gentofte: 25G 16P

PS: Instead of going to a Danish club as I expected Simon Nielsen decided to end his goalie-unemployment and is now playing for Lørenskog in Norway.
His two first matches gave his team 3-0 & 2-1 wins, so a great start.

 

[Hammer15]

Aalborg - Herlev tonight... Aalborg can end Herlev's season for good.

 

[Bank]

Former Edmonton and Chicago D-man Theo Peckham to Rødovre. It's got that foul smell of Jeremy Stevenson all over it IMO.

 

[jka*]

Danish league just like divison one level by swedish hockey.

Scheel playing in H-A in Löven. Danish player how have played in me town.

 

[andersej]

Former Edmonton and Chicago D-man Theo Peckham to Rødovre. It's got that foul smell of Jeremy Stevenson all over it IMO.

What do you mean? Stevenson was only good for protecting the puck along the boards. Peckham at least can hit and be a steady force on the blue line. Also, Peckham brings that intimidation factor that could be quite useful in the playoffs.

Another thing to consider is that the league nowadays is nowhere near the level it was when Stevenson was in Rødovre.

 

[Justinov]

The Quarterfinals will be the following. (X) number indicates the placing in the regular season.

Herning (1) - Rungsted (7)
SønderjydskE (2) - Rødovre (6)
Frederikshavn (3) - Aalborg (8)
Odense (4) - Esbjerg (5).

Herning and SønderjydskE are big favourites and will win fairly easily in my opinion. Rødovre often do well in playoffs, but even with Dahm on fire, SønderjydskE should be to strong.

The third match is a local North Jutland derby, where anything can happen, but Frederikshavn should take it based on the regular season; yet if Mustukovs in Aalborg's net hits a streak like he started the season, then an Aalborg win wouldn't surprise me
Odense after their fantastic streak of wins, is now streaking the wrong way. Esbjerg scores tons of goals, but also let in a lot. So 50-50 there.

 

[Justinov]

Quarterfinals started with some real surprises:

Herning - Rungsted: 1-3 [Huge surprise; did really not see this coming!]

SønderjydskE - Rødovre: 5-2 [expected, but Rødovre had 2-2].

Frederikshavn - Aalborg: [4-0, expected home win]

Odense - Esbjerg: 1-2 [surprise, that this was the lowest-scoring match with Esbjerg in it!].

 

[Justinov]

Danish league just like divison one level by swedish hockey.

Scheel playing in H-A in Löven. Danish player how have played in me town.

I would say that the difference between top bottom is quite big in the Danish league (though smaller this year, because we avoided a bottom team really getting hammered all year).

Top teams SønderjydskE and Herning should do OK in Allsvenskan (lower end of it), while Gentofte maybe is more like a Swedish Division 2 (but that is to be expected as they just upgraded from amateur to semi-pro).

 

[Justinov]

Quarterfinals round 2 was not let down in further surprises.

Rungsted - Herning: 4-2 [Almost unbelievable that Herning loses the first two, and it is not only a hot goalie from Rungsted, since SOG is fairly equal]. Series 2-0 Rungsted. Huge upset getting a step closer.

Rødovre - SønderjydskE: 2-1 [Rødovre with a surprise, but then they almost always do well in playoff's no matter where they placed in the regular season]. Series 1-1

Aalborg - Frederikshavn: 2-1 OT [Important win for Aalborg in a match with impressive goaltending as shots were 42-45]

Esbjerg - Odense: 3-2 [Esbjerg not scoring as much as usual, but their defense and goaltending has improved. Odense really on a losing streak]. Series 2-0 Esbjerg.

 

[andersej]

I would say that the difference between top bottom is quite big in the Danish league (though smaller this year, because we avoided a bottom team really getting hammered all year).

Top teams SønderjydskE and Herning should do OK in Allsvenskan (lower end of it), while Gentofte maybe is more like a Swedish Division 2 (but that is to be expected as they just upgraded from amateur to semi-pro).

Interesting article with Gunnar Svensson in the latest issue of 'Faceoff'. He says that no Danish team would survive in Allsvenskan over an entire season. Herning's Swede Henrik Eriksson adds that 'Herning is on par with Troja-Ljungby offensively, but Allsvenskan teams are better defensively and have more depth in their squads.' I would have to agree with him, the lack of depth would really hurt a Danish team playing in that league.

 

[Justinov]

Interesting article with Gunnar Svensson in the latest issue of 'Faceoff'. He says that no Danish team would survive in Allsvenskan over an entire season. Herning's Swede Henrik Eriksson adds that 'Herning is on par with Troja-Ljungby offensively, but Allsvenskan teams are better defensively and have more depth in their squads.' I would have to agree with him, the lack of depth would really hurt a Danish team playing in that league.

I agree as well. I was thinking about a full roster and if the leading players are injured it will hurt a Danish team much more than an Allsvenskan team.
I think though that both Herning and SønderjydskE would avoid being isolated in the bottom and without injuries to key players might even avoid relegation.
It is off course all speculation and I might be wrong if it was ever tested.

 

[Justinov]

Report on the third quarterfinal round:

Herning - Rungsted: 2-1 [Herning avoids another upsetting defeat after a 45-17 shots effort ]
Series: 1-2

SønderjydskE - Rødovre: 5-2 [again Rødovre had 2-2, but SønderjydskE pulled of the win]
Series: 2-1

Frederikshavn - Aalborg: 3-1 [Hattrick Adam Miller]
Series: 2-1

Odense - Esbjerg: 1-3 [Shots 16-36; Odense seems to have lost “it's game“ totally]
Series: 0-3

 

[Justinov]

Fourth quarterfinal round:

Rungsted - Herning: 2-0 [Rungsted keeps surprising and even shutout Herning !!]
Series: 3-1

Rødovre - SønderjydskE: 1-5 [Cory Quirk hat trick, Seems like this game secures it as SønderjydskE can end it at home ice next]
Series: 1-3

Aalborg - Frederikshavn: 1-5 [Frederikshavn can also end it on home ice next]
Series: 1-3

Esbjerg - Odense: 4-3 OT [Odense is out never getting close to the fantastic streak of the regular season, Esbjerg has upped it's defense and that became decisive]
Series 4-0 (ended).

 

[admire]

Christian Nordentoft from Aalborg has announced his retirement at age 23 due to medical advice after his fourth concussion of his career :-( pretty scary

 

[Justinov]

Missed some updates, but Herning managed to turn the quarterfinal series around winning it over Rungsted with 4-3.

In the semis we have

Herning - Esbjerg:
First match in Herning 4-2, second match in Esbjerg 2-4.
Series: 1-1

SønderjydskE - Frederikshavn:
First match in Vojens 3-1, second match in Frederikshavn 4-3.
Series: 2-0

So unless Esbjerg can surprise a Herning very much up and down, it will likely end with the expected Herning - SønderjydskE final.

 

[The Imp]

http://sporten.tv2.dk/ishockey/2015-04-03-voldsomme-billeder-slaaet-til-blods-af-brutal-tackling

Yowza. The Shannaban would be upwards of five games methinks. Clearly targetting the head.

Anyway, SE handily won game 1.

 

[Justinov]

Yeah that was a nasty hit.
4-2 to SønderjydskE over Esbjerg in the first match of the final series.

 

[Justinov]

SønderjydskE won the second game 3-1, but Esbjerg came back strongly in game 3 with a 6-4 win.
Game 4 is tonight.

 

[Justinov]

Final series ended with two easy wins for SønderjydskE (4-1 & 6-1) over Esbjerg.
So 4-1 in matches and SønderjydskE as most expected became champions, though the playoff had a lot of exciting upsets.
Thomas Spelling had a massive playoff with 13G 17A in 15 games (2 PPG).

 

[andersej]

Final series ended with two easy wins for SønderjydskE (4-1 & 6-1) over Esbjerg.
So 4-1 in matches and SønderjydskE as most expected became champions, though the playoff had a lot of exciting upsets.
Thomas Spelling had a massive playoff with 13G 17A in 15 games (2 PPG).

Spelling is probably the one who stands out as being 'better' than playing in the Danish league. If anyone can tell me exactly what went wrong during his time with Rögle, I'd love to hear it. From anything I can see, he seems to have a level where he should be able to play in Allsvenskan at least. Maybe IK Pantern should give his agent a call?

 

[Bagge]

Spelling is probably the one who stands out as being 'better' than playing in the Danish league. If anyone can tell me exactly what went wrong during his time with Rögle, I'd love to hear it. From anything I can see, he seems to have a level where he should be able to play in Allsvenskan at least. Maybe IK Pantern should give his agent a call?

He was supposed to play for them when they promoted for SHL, but it turned out he was no where ready for SHL. I think it was in his draft year and I just think that there was way to high expectations for the young lad. In the end he played like 3 games in SHL or something like that. Allsvenskan would have suited him better I think and maybe there is a team interested in him for the upcoming season. Also, he played with the Bjorkstrand brothers in Herning the season prior to the mentioned. Maybe he was carried a bit by the talent those two has?

 

[andersej]

He was supposed to play for them when they promoted for SHL, but it turned out he was no where ready for SHL. I think it was in his draft year and I just think that there was way to high expectations for the young lad. In the end he played like 3 games in SHL or something like that. Allsvenskan would have suited him better I think and maybe there is a team interested in him for the upcoming season. Also, he played with the Bjorkstrand brothers in Herning the season prior to the mentioned. Maybe he was carried a bit by the talent those two has?

I forgot it was a year that Rögle was in the SHL. Yeah, Allsvenskan would have suited him better. Also, as far as I can remember, there were some rumours that he wasn't mentally prepared for spending most of the season in the U20, maybe thinking he was ready for the SHL and not coping so well with the fact that the team didn't think so. You'd have to think he'd be more mature/realistic if he got a second chance.

With Galbraith being possibly the best goalie in the Allsvenskan this season and Dahm showing recently just how close he is to Galbraith's level, maybe Dahm could hold his own in the Allsvenskan as well? That being said, I'd hate for him to leave Rødovre...

 

[Justinov]

I forgot it was a year that Rögle was in the SHL. Yeah, Allsvenskan would have suited him better. Also, as far as I can remember, there were some rumours that he wasn't mentally prepared for spending most of the season in the U20, maybe thinking he was ready for the SHL and not coping so well with the fact that the team didn't think so. You'd have to think he'd be more mature/realistic if he got a second chance.

With Galbraith being possibly the best goalie in the Allsvenskan this season and Dahm showing recently just how close he is to Galbraith's level, maybe Dahm could hold his own in the Allsvenskan as well? That being said, I'd hate for him to leave Rødovre...

If Spelling and Dahm wants to develop further they simply have to go to Allsvenskan in my opinion and then if they perform really well, then they can upgrade to SEL or DEL. Playing time is better than being benched as Spelling did in the first attempt in SEL.
Dahm will always be behind in the NT rankings when he “only“ plays in Denmark compared to Galbraith and Simon Nielsen, so if he has more ambition he has to go.
I would also be very surprised if these two didn't get any feelers from Allsvenskan clubs.

 

[Bagge]

According to several Danish newspapers Dahm will not return to Rødovre after the WC, so Lets hope for at least a team in Allsvenskan has made a bid.