Ice Hockey in Sweden
Swedish club hockey-Men
The Hockey culture in Sweden is one of the best in the world.
Ther are many leagues in Sweden. The top league in Sweden is the SHL. Directly under it is the Hockey Allsvenskan. These two leagues are professional leagues where players get paid well. Under this you have HockeyEttan which is a league played all over Sweden. Here some players are paid while others are not, so a semi-professional league. Under this we have HockeyTvåan where a few players are compensated and most play to get prepared for next level. Below this we have Division 3-5 hockey as well.
The junior system has quite a number of leagues as well where the J20 Nationell is the highest level and J20 Regional is second highest. Below this we have J20 Div 1, J18 Nationell, J18 Region, J18 Div 1, etc.
Swedish University Hockey League
SUHL is a national university league operated and organized by SUHF.
SUHL ambition is to offer an attractive platform where players are given the opportunity to combine higher education and ice hockey to promote long-term success and well-being, both on and off the ice.
There are 9 teams in the league and they play for a National Championship after regulation season and playoffs. A player can also play for a club team while playing for the university team giving plenty of opportunity to play a lot of hockey and get plenty of exposure.
The league has its own competition regulations but also adheres to regulations and rulebooks developed by the respective confederation SAIF and SIF, as well as the Swedish Sports Confederation, RF.
Swedish club hockey-Women
The highest league in Sweden is the SDHL where most of the players are paid to play. This is comparable to NCAA Division 1. The level below this is NDHL which is comparable to NCAA Division 3 where some players are compensated but not all. Below this level there is Division 1 where a lot of Junior players play and where they are not compensated to play.
There is no university league for women in Sweden so the women we help study at a university and plays for a local club team.
Universities in Sweden
Are there any specific universities or can I apply to all universities?
Bluechip focuses on helping our clients to the universities that play in the SUHL (Swedish University Hockey League). These cities also have a large number of club hockey teams in different divisons (Hockey Allsvenskan, Division 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5). The cities and universities that have teams in the SUHL are: Gothenburg (Chalmers) , Karlstad, Jönköping, Lund, Växjö, Linköping, Örebro, Stockholm (KTH), and Uppsala so it will be these universities you can choose from if you want to play both college and club hockey while in Sweden.
Does Bluechip help both men and women?
Yes, we help both men and women hockey players come to Sweden to study and play hockey.
Hockey levels in Sweden?
The highest league SHL is professional and players there are at NHL-level.
The second highest level is HockeyAllsvenskan and the players there are very high level of players and to compare a very good NCAA D1 player could play here and then move on to SHL.
HockeyEttan is a league where a NCAA D1 as well as top level NCAA D3 players could play in. Hockeytvåan (Div2) in Sweden is where a good NCAA D3 level player as well as a very good ACHA D1 player can play in. Swedish Div 3-6 is where ACHA and NCAA players can play in. Many times in Sweden you have to start at a lower level, prove yourself and then move up.