Siluan Hockey League

Siluan Hockey League

Upcoming season or competition: 2022–23 SLRL
Formerly	Nacionalinė Lyga
Sport	Ice hockey
Founded	1915
Inaugural season	1915–16 Nacionalinė Lyga season
No. of teams	16
Country	Silua
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to	Požeminis Ledo Ritulys

The Siluan Hockey League (officially SLRL; Siluan: Siluano Ledo Ritulio Lyga) is a professional ice hockey league, and the highest division in the Siluan ice hockey systesm. The leage currently consists of 16 teams. The league was founded in 1915, and while Siluan ice hockey champions have been crowned through various formats since 1915, the title and Kraujutaitis Trophy have been awarded to the winner of the SLRL playoffs since the league's inaugral 1915-1916 season.

The SLRL has frequently been the world's most evenly matched proffesional ice hocky league. The SRLR is the number one ice hockey league in the world terms of attendance; out of all sports, its average of 46,543 fans per game during the 2011-12 season was the third highest in the world after the Acrean (insert name here), and the Tennaiite Premiere League. The SLRL is broadcast throughout Eracura. The SLRL edges out the Visa Siluano Lyga football league as the most popular sports team league within Silua which had an average attendance of 44,921 in the 2012 Season.

The league was founded in 1915 as the Nacionalinė Lyga, and initially featured 12 teams, though this expanded to 14 for the 1955-56 season. The league was renamed the SLRL in 1960, and in 1961 a number of format changes were announced, including an expansion to 16 teams to be finalized prior to the 1962-63 season, and a new format for promotion from and relegation to the Požeminis Ledo Ritulys, the second tier league.

Game

Each regular season SLRL game is composed of three 20-minute periods, with an intermission of a maximum of 18 minutes between periods. If the game is tied following the 60-minute regulation time, a five-minute three-on-three sudden death overtime period is played. If a game still is tied after the overtime period, a shootout decides the game. In a shootout, the team that scores the most penalty shots out of three attempts wins the game. If the game is still tied after the first three penalty-shot rounds, the shootout continues round by round, until one team scores while the other team fails to score.

During each period, there is one 70-second "power break" used to display commercials; each commercial is played after the first stoppage of play at least 10 minutes into the period. Power breaks do not, however, take place directly after a goal, penalty shot, icing call or during a powerplay.

Playoff games

In the event of a tied game during the playoffs, additional 20-minute overtime periods are played perpetually until one team scores. Unlike in the regular season, playoff overtime periods are played five-on-five.

SLRL games are played on an ice hockey rink, which is rectangular ice rink with rounded corners and surrounded by a wall. It measures 30 by 60 meters (98.42 by 196.85 ft), conforming to international standards.

Teams

2021-2022 season

Team	City	Arena	Capacity
Apāle LRK	Apāle	Stadium	40,909
Elenieki LRK	Elenieki	Stadium	48,094
Karliava LRA	Karliava	Stadium	52,044
Kėdorys LRA	Kėdorys	Arena	38,647
Kuršliai LRK	Kuršliai	Arena	47,650
Komanda	Ogre	Briesmonis	68,500
Iekarotāji	Pakviliškis	Arena	41,300
Husarai	Ravumo	Husarų Arena	73,000
Šakarkas LRK	Šakarkas]	Arena	45,150
Smilēna LRA	Smilēna	Arena	56,001
Meškos	Skaudninkas	Arena	46,000
Gargkija LRK	Gargkija	Arena	45,700
Utjis LRA	Utjis	Arena	45,150
Žvaigždės	Troššniai	Arena	43,275
Drusvarija LRK	Drusvarija	Arena	44,450
Jiezmune 1915	Jiezmune	Arena	39,750

Season Structure

The SHL season is divided into a regular season from late September through the beginning of March, when teams play against each other in a pre-defined schedule, and a playoffs from March to April, which is an elimination tournament where two teams play against each other to win a best-of-seven playoff in order to advance to the next round. The final remaining team is crowned the Siluan champion, or Siluanas čempionas in Siluab, and receives the Kraujutaitis Trophy.

Regular season

The regular season is a round-robin, where each team plays 52 games. Points are awarded for each game, where three points are awarded for winning in regulation time, two points for winning in overtime or shootout, one point for losing in overtime or shootout, and zero points for losing in regulation time. At the end of the regular season, the team that finishes with the most points is crowned the league champion. The eight highest-ranked teams by points qualify directly for the playoffs. The four teams ranked 9–16 play a best-of-three series and battle for the four remaining playoff spots. The two lowest-ranked teams after the regular season have to play in the relegation and promotion series Požeminis Ledo Ritulys in order to qualify for the next season of the SHL.

If two or more teams end up tied in points, the seeds are determined by the following tiebreaker format:

1. Best goal difference
2. Most goals scored
3. Head-to-head results between the tied teams

Playoffs

The SLRL playoffs are an elimination tournament consisting of multi-game series where two teams battle to win a best-of-three or best-of-seven series in order to advance to the next round. The playoffs consist of four rounds: The eighth finals, the quarterfinals, the semifinals and the finals. In the first round, the eighth finals, the 9th-ranked team from the regular season is paired against the 16th-ranked team, the 10th-ranked team is paired against the 15th-ranked team, the 11th-ranked team is paired against the 14th-ranked team, and the 12th-ranked team is paired against the 13th-ranked team. In the quarterfinals, the ten best teams from the regular season and the four winners of the eighth finals are paired seed-wise against each other, with the highest seed playing the lowest-remaining seed. In the semifinals, the teams are re-seeded, with the top remaining seed playing against the lowest remaining seed, and the other two remaining teams pairing off. In the finals, the two remaining teams face each other to determine the Siluan ice hockey champions.

The eighth finals are played as best-of-three series while the other rounds are played as best-of-seven series. In each series, the higher-ranked team of the two has home-ice advantage. Each series is played in an alternating home-away format, with the first game played at the higher seed's home venue. Any given series ends when one team has won more than half the maximum number of games needed to decide the series.

Relegation

The two lowest ranked teams after the regular season have to play in a relegation series called Kvalserien together with four teams from the second tier league HockeyAllsvenskan. The top two teams of Kvalserien qualify for the next SHL season, while the other four are demoted to HockeyAllsvenskan.