SDHL Playoff Preview: Luleå vs Skellefteå
In the first round of the SDHL playoffs, which begin on Wednesday, regular season champions Luleå will face off against league newcomers Skellefteå. On paper, Skellefteå is outmatched; they dropped all four contests they played against Luleå this season, and were outscored by a combined 18-6. Luleå boasts five of the league's top 15 scorers and tallied 160 goals this season, 64 more than their eighth place opponents, Skellefteå. Petra Nieminen won the league's scoring title, with 45 points (25g, 20a). No SKE player hit the 30 point mark. Indeed, six of Luleå's players scored more than their opponent's top scorer. Luleå seems to only go from strength to strength: imports Sarah Bujold and Savannah Norcross, though added later in the season, immediately made an impact, each tallying 18 points in 14 and 13 games played respectively. The reigning SDHL champs unsurprisingly led the league in power play success rate at 29.4% and penalty killing at 94.3%. Despite Luleå's undeniable might, Skellefteå has reason to believe.
The newest SDHL team has battled hard all season, and celebrated upset wins against both Frölunda and MoDo. They secured a playoff spot despite being docked wins and points in the standings when they league determined they had dressed too many imports for games in the first half of the season. Finnish wing Ida Kuoppala and Dane Nicoline Söndergaard Jensen have been heating up, with 11 and nine points respectively in the team's last ten games. Goaltender Camryn Drever has played exceptionally all season, her first in Sweden after a standout career at the University of Saskatchewan. Finns Aino Karppinen and Sini Karjalainen have shown flashes of brilliance, while Marah Wagner, Mikayla Lantto and young Nikita Bergmann have shown no fear (and a high degree of swag) against some of the league's fiercest opponents. Skellefteå will eventually succumb, but not without putting up a fight.Fearless Prediction: Luleå wins series 3-0
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