Djurgården won the first final match, best of seven, against AIK on Wednesday evening with 4–2. But AIK was on their way to catch up with Djurgården's 2–0 lead when they reduced in powerplay at the beginning of the second period.
Then, Dick Axelsson had been sent off for two minutes for not following the rule that the home team's players should leave the ice first during the period break, followed by the away team and finally the referees.
The rule has existed previously to avoid any kind of collision in the player tunnel between the teams and especially with the referees, says Erik Ryman.
"It was put into play"
The rule is, however, not usually followed and the teams are not penalized. But just before the important Stockholm derby, where they play for a spot in SHL, HockeyAllsvenskan thought it was time to follow the rules.
Before the final, we saw that there are some who put it into play to come last and get close to the referees. But now it's serious, we have a tight series and two strong teams. And so we try to shield the referees, for security reasons and so we get a calm and pleasant working environment for them, says Ryman.
Several referees and their families have received a lot of hate and threats, mainly in social media, before the final series, and HockeyAllsvenskan has, for security reasons, removed some referees from judging the matches at Hovet.
Sang – and were completely silent
The matches are also played in front of only the home team's supporters. The police say no to away fans since the arena Hovet does not have the necessary enclosures and fences to keep the derby teams' supporters separate.
It meant that in the first final, there were only Djurgården fans in the stands, who sang and chanted slogans throughout the match – except when AIK scored. Then it was completely silent.
Of course, in a perfect world, both teams' fans would have been here and we could have had two fan sections and all that. Now it's like it is, says Djurgården's team captain Marcus Krüger.
All hockey derbies at Hovet, which is both AIK's and Djurgården's home arena, have been played without away fans in recent years.
The winner of the final series gets a spot in SHL next season. This makes these derby matches the most important since 1984 when AIK and Djurgården met in the SM final, which AIK won.
Played in best of seven matches at Hovet in Stockholm.
16 April: Djurgården–AIK 4–2.
18 April: Djurgården–AIK, 15.00.
20 April: AIK–Djurgården, 18.00.
22 April: AIK–Djurgården, 19.00.
ev 25 April: Djurgården–AIK, 19.00.
ev 27 April: AIK–Djurgården, 18.00.
ev 30 April: Djurgården–AIK, 19.00.
