“Djurgården’s Road to the Hockey Allsvenskan Final: From Struggle to Redemption”

When Djurgården trained at Hovet on Friday morning, it appeared to be a completely normal phenomenon. Warm-up and skating to start, followed by power play and box play, nothing overly complicated. Rather, it would have been more worrying if coach Johan Garpenlöv judged his team to be in need of more detailed training given the stage of the season Djurgården is in.

On Sunday, the puck is dropped in the first game of the hockey Allsvenskan final’s best-of-seven series between Djurgården and Modo. Since Garpenlöv took over the post as head coach for Djurgården in November, the Stockholm team has received a lift, even though it initially looked tough.

The loss against just the final opponents Modo on January 18 was then Djurgården’s sixth straight and then and there a final place looked like a dream rather than something that could become reality. But since then the results have reversed. After the regular season’s 52 rounds were played, the team landed in fourth place in the table, enough to avoid the round of 16 and go directly to the quarterfinals.

Once in the playoffs, Djurgården has found perhaps its best form this season. In the quarter-finals, table six Karlskoga was cleaned out quite easily after only four games before being put to the test against last year’s finalists Björklöven. The semi-final against Umeålaget was tough, but after six games, Djurgården was able to decide on home ice and now, after all, they are only four wins away from a return to the SHL.

During the playoffs have In addition to the shape of the ice, the team found a new ritual in the locker room. After each victory, a game puck has been placed in a board shaped like the club badge but with compartments for 12 pucks, one for each victory required for a spot in the SHL.

– It was the team leaders who put it together. I don’t know how, but it has been a good thing to have, says Emil Berglund.

– I don’t know if it actually had such a big effect on team cohesion, it’s more of a ritual. During the regular season we had other things and before the playoffs the shield was added. But it’s a fun thing, a good idea.

Emil Berglund, who after accounting for two goals and two assists in the decider against Björklöven on Wednesday, had the honor of adding the eighth puck to the board.

About the painting and the ritual after the victories added something to the team’s form, veteran Linus Klasen is also doubtful.

– It is clear that the board is a fun thing, but we could have just as easily piled the pucks up as well. It’s probably nothing that we attach any greater importance to until it’s time to put that last one at the top, he says.

The last one at the top, marked with a star above the shield, is now four wins away. But when it comes time to place a puck in that slot, who does it is no longer as important, says Berglund.

– Then I actually think I don’t care who does it, if I’m being completely honest. I’ll have full focus on other things, he says with a laugh.

Read more:

Djurgården to the hockey Allsvenskan final – beat Björklöven at Hovet