The Swedish title race...

[david in sweden]

is almost over.You notice that as soon as the first Ice Hockey games start up, and barring a disasterous finish for Helsingborg ...they will take the title this year.

 

Until a week ago, Helsingborg had only lost 1 game from 23 starts, they looked impregnable and were comfortably ahead of (Anders Svensson's) Elfsborg and third place Stockholm side AIK.

 

When AIK beat Elfsborg last week it looked all over, and Helsingborg had bought the silver polish to brighten up the League trophy. However, a sell-out game in Borås at the weekend saw Elfsborg beat the league leaders 3-2 in a great revival(Anders scored their second goal) and pegged back the West Coast side's lead at the top..but with barely 4 games left, it looks like too little..too late...for Elfsborg to make up the 7 point gap and overtake Helsingborg.

 

At the other end of the table, Michael Svensson's Halmstad are already doomed having won only 3 games and are firmly fixed at the bottom. A dramatic experiment that went terribly wrong was Halmstad's Springtime decision to bring in an unknown Spanish coach ..and six of his countrymen... who just didn't measure up to the task. By Midsummer they had all gone, and 36 year old former coach Michael Svensson was drafted back into the defence in a desperate attempt to stem the goal flood, but to no avail. A sad fate for what.. had been ..a very consistant club side for more than a decade.

 

Stockholmers are holding their breath as they wait to see if Djurgården (once known as the Pride of Stockholm) can avoid relegation after one of their worst ever seasons. If Djurgården go down there will only be ONE Stockholm side in the Premier League (Allsvenskan).

 

Whilst down in Div.2 ..football isn't much fun these days especially as last season's relegated Stockholm duo (Brommapojkarna and Hammarby) both suffered the inevitable problems of a relegated side. BP may survive but Hammarby are dangerously close to the drop zone and may have to be in play-off games to avoid yet another relegation. (Saints fans remember what that's like !) Now only four weeks left ...keep in touch.

 

 

The info. above about Helsingborg is now purely academic.

They won their Sunday game v. GAIS 3-1 whilst AIK could only draw.

Helsingborg are now so far ahead on points they cannot be caught.

Champions for the first time since 1999.

Edited 25 September, 2011 by david in sweden
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