Playoff season looms in innebandy, basketball and hockey

Floorball is a derivation of floor hockey and bandy. Six-player teams compete on a rink slightly larger than a basketball court. A goalie protects the net while five field players try to score using the field hockey-like stick bandy uses, and the ball looks like a whiffle ball with 26 holes in it. The sport is one of the fastest growing winter activities in Scandinavia and has rapidly spread to Europe and North America.  

  • Färjestad goalie Justin Pogge stops a shot by Brynäs winger Nick Johnson during the Wolfpack's 2-1 win March 3 in Karlstad. Bildbyrån photo/Andreas L. Eriksson
  • Floorball quarterfinals set to begin
    The Super League playoff picture came into focus March 5 with the final round of the regular season.
    Pixbo Wallenstam pipped defending champions Falun for the regular season title, finishing with 60 points, one better than Falun. Storveta finished third with 52 points while Växsjö was fourth with 46 points.
    Pixbo, as the top seed, faces No. 7 seed Linköping, which finished with 41 points. Falun, the three-time defending champions, faces the No. 8 seed, Hide-A-Lite Mullsjö, which finished with 39 points. Number 3 seed takes on sixth seed Helsingborg while Växsjö faces Dalen in a battle of fourth and fifth place finishers.

  • Oskar Henricksson of Pixbo chases down a loose ball during the March 5 match against AIK. Bildbyrån photo/Per Wiklund
  • LF tops Sodertalje in basketball showdown
    In what could be a precursor of the 2016 finals, second-place LF Basket ran its winning streak to 12 games with a 90-78 win over the first-place Södertälje Kings March 5 in Södertälje. For the Kings, the loss was just its third in 29 games while LF improved to 21-9. Against the Kings, however, LF looked much more like it was the first-place team.
    Bahamas-born forward Jaraun Burrows, who played at Purdue University in Fort Wayne, Indiana, led LF to the win as he poured in 26 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished seven assists. Croatian forward Toni Prostran chipped in 12 points and nine assists. American guard Skyler Bowlin led Södertälje with 22 points, six boards and six assists. Bowling played college ball at Missouri Southern University.
    The loss snapped the Kings’ 16-game winning streak but did nothing to slow down high-flying Södertälje. With just one round remaining in the season, Södertälje has already locked in the top seed in the playoffs. LF Basket, 21-9, and Norrköping, 20-9, are fighting for the No. 2 spot, while Borås 17-12 and Nassjö, 16-13, are battling for the fourth spot.
    The final round of the season is March 8.

  • SHL playoff spots remain up for grabs
    With just one round left in the regular season, only first and second place are set in the Swedish Hockey League.
    Skellefteå holds an unassailable spot at the top of the standings with 111 points. The Frölunda Chiefs, with 101 points, hold second place. After that, many of the spots are a toss up as just three points separate third and fifth place. Sixth-place Växsjö Lakers, the defending league champions, face a last-day battle for the final automatic playoff spot against seventh-place Djurgården, Växsjö currently holds sixth place with 84 points while DIF has 83.
    Färjestad locked up at least the No. 5 seed after it knocked off Brynäs 2-1 March 5 at the Löfbergs Lila Arena in Karlstad. The Wolfpack now have 91 points, one behind fourth-place Linköping. Linköping, meanwhile, knocked off tenth-place HV 71 5-1 on March 5, keeping pace with both Färjestad and third-place Luleå, which defeated Djurgården 4-1. Luleå has 92 points.
    The top six teams automatically qualify for the quarterfinals. Teams finishing seventh to tenth play a home-and-home series to round out the eight-team quarters.
    On the final day of the regular season on March 8, Färjestad is away to Djurgården, Frölunda travels to Gävle to play Brynäs, Växjö is home to Luleå and Linköping takes on the Malmö Redhawks at home.