Linköping (U20), Rögle (U18) and Djurgården (U16) win Swedish championships

01 Apr 2012 | Henrik Lundqvist

Three Swedish youth championships were decided this weekend. Linköping wins the most prestigious title (U20) after beating HV 71 in overtime in the final.

Today's U20 final between Linköping and HV 71 was played in Frölundaborg Isstadion in Gothenburg and so was yesterday's U18 final where Rögle beat Skellefteå 4-3. The U16 final was played today in Läkerol Arena in Gävle and there Djurgården beat Frölunda 3-1.

For the second time in history Linköping won the Swedish junior (U20) championship. Last time was in 2006 when they beat Frölunda in the finals. This year the opponent in the final was HV 71 and the one and only final game was played on neutral soil in Gothenburg.

HV 71 gained a 2-0 lead with goals in the second half of the opening period. Sebastian Dyk opened the scoring at 16:32 and 37 seconds later Anton Bengtsson made it 2-0. In the middle of the game Fredrik Falk scored Linköping's first goal assisted by WJC gold medalist Mattias Bäckman. Linköping outshot HV 71 47-28 and chased the equalizer for a long time. Finally, at 57:10, Linus Hultström tied the game on a powerplay. After only 51 seconds of the sudden death overtime Markus Modigs decided the game for Linköping on an individual effort.

In the semi final against Modo Linköping also was in big trouble but tied the game with a few minutes to go (Victor Jigmalm). Five minutes into the overtime Christopher Fish got the winner.

Christopher Fish was the top scorer of the playoffs with 6 goals and 4 assists in 6 games.

The senior team of Linköping had a disappointing season in Elitserien and failed to qualify for the playoffs, but 8 players of today's U20 rosters have also played games in Elitserien this season: Mattias Bäckman (42 games), Joachim Nermark (17), Sebastian Ottosson (15), Claes Nordén (8), Linus Hultström (5), Christopher Fish (4), Victor Jigmalm (2), Jonatan Nielsen (1).

In the U18 final Rögle beat Skellefteå 4-3. Skellefteå had the lead in the third period but Amil Krupic tied it for Rögle at 58:17 and Andreas Wingren scored the championship winning goal at 59:17.

Djurgården's senior team was relegated from Elitserien this season but the U16 team won the Swedish Championship. Frölunda was beaten 3-1 in the final. Dmytro Timashov, Andreas Englund and Lukas A Löfquist scored the goals.