Swedish teams not allowed to play Red Bulls Salute?
29 Oct 2012 | Henrik Lundqvist
The Swedish Ice Hockey Federation may stop the four qualified Swedish clubs from participating in the European Trophy playoffs. The reason is that the national team tournament Channel One Cup is played in Moscow at the same time.
Brynäs, Färjestad, HV 71 and Luleå have qualified for Red Bulls Salute (the European Trophy playoffs) in Vienna and Bratislava December 13-16.
The Swedish Ice Hockey Federation usually don't allow clubs to play competition games during the national team breaks and none of the four clubs have yet been given clearance to play.
The chairman of the Swedish Ice Hockey Federation, Christer Englund, tells Expressen that discussions with the clubs and Hockeyligan (the organization of the Elitserien clubs) will take place.
"We'll wait a few weeks until I get a clear picture of this, says Christer Englund."
The Swedish Ice Hockey Federation recently denied the Swedish second-tier league HockeyAllsvenskan to play an All-Star game against Finnish Mestis during Karjala Tournament.