Four games into the 2023-24 Swedish Hockey League season and it is Örebro HK who sit at the top of the tree.
Saturday’s 3-1 victory over Skellefteå AIK meant that they remain the only team yet to taste defeat so far this season.
The taste of victory would have been all the sweeter bearing in mind the identity of their recent opponents. Skellefteå ended Örebro’s 2022-23 season with a 4-2 series win in the Semi-Finals. Having finished fourth in the regular-season standings, Örebro are determined to take the next step.
Doing so looked like being a challenge as they lost several key contributors over the off-season.
Rodrigo Abols, their captain and top points-scorer in 2022-23, left to join SHL rivals Rögle BK and they also saw five-year stalwart defenseman Kristian Näkyvä move on to HC Davos of the Swiss NL.
Örebro also benefitted handsomely from having the outstanding youngster Leo Carlsson putting up 25 points in 44 games prior to being taken second overall by the Anaheim Ducks in the 2023 NHL draft.
They do still have some young NHL talent on their books for this season, including Chicago’s Milton Oscarson and Vancouver’s Elias Pettersson. The latter is joined on loan by fellow Canuck Jonathan Lekkerimäki and the right-winger has made a positive first impression, leading the team with three goals from the first four games.
He wasn’t on the scoresheet on Saturday, though. Örebro’s 3-1 victory over Skellefteå started with a Philip Holm strike from deep on the powerplay. They then doubled their lead thanks to a free-flowing goal started by Holm speeding from his own zone into the final-third, laying off the puck to Christopher Mastomäki who then fed the puck on to William Wikman to tuck home.
Skellefteå were able to make it interesting with a powerplay goal by Axel Sandin Pellikka, before Mathias Bromé shot into an empty net to wrap up a 3-1 win in what became quite a heated affair. Skellefteå’s Oscar Lindberg got a 5-minute penalty for interference on a hit on Hannes Björninen, who left the ice immediately afterwards, and there were various other moments where tensions started to boil over.
Örebro kept their composure and came away with the victory to make it 11 points from their first four games, just falling short of a maximum points haul due to needing a shoot-out to get past Rögle BK on 16 September. Their good start is all the more impressive for including three victories on the road.
They’ll get to enjoy a home-stand this week with games against Malmö Redhawks (Thursday) and IK Oskarshamn (Saturday), the latter currently at the bottom of the league and having conceded 17 goals across their first four games.
Malmö’s solid start
As for the Malmö Redhawks, they got the better of the previously unbeaten Färjestad BK on Saturday 3-1.
Goaltender Adam Werner made a series of saves to keep Färjestad at bay and then an Kim Rosdahl empty-netter late on made it 3-1. Malmö’s Janne Kuokkanen has four goals and two assists to lead the SHL in the early going with 6 points.
The Redhawks have struggled in recent seasons, finishing bottom of the regular-season pile in 2022-23 and narrowly avoiding relegation to the HockeyAllsvenskan by winning the “Play-out” series 4-1 over Brynäs IF, condemning their opponents to relegation for the first time in 64 years.
Two wins (one via Overtime) and two losses is a steady start for Tomas Koller’s team; however, they will need to raise their performance levels to halt Örebro’s quest to start their season with five wins on the spin.
Växjö Lakers not quite firing
Reigning champions Växjö Lakers are also 2-and-2 through their first four games after suffering a 3-1 loss to Rögle BK on Saturday.
The video highlights included Laker’s Goaltender Emil Larmi getting thoroughly annoyed in the Third Period by his net coming off its moorings on several occasions. Rögle fans were about as sympathetic to his complaints as you would expect!
Växjö were a perfect four wins from four games in the Champions Hockey League prior to the SHL starting, so they may be a touch frustrated that they’ve dropped a couple of games in their domestic league.
They’ll look to back on track with two home games coming up against Frölunda HC and Timrå IK.
