The 2011–12 Färjestad BK season was Färjestad's 37th season in the top tier Swedish league Elitserien (SEL). The regular season began on September 15, 2011 at home against Skellefteå AIK and is scheduled to end on March 6, 2012 on away ice against Frölunda HC. The 2011–12 season sees Färjestad attempting to defend their Swedish championship title from the previous season.

Summary Färjestad was the only team in the league without a win in regulation time (60 minutes) after the first 11 games, having faced all teams in the league once. Färjestad were also located on the 12th and final spot with only 8 points in the standings at that time. This brought Niklas Czarnecki's head-coaching position for the club into question by many experts, although Czarnecki remained in the club at that time. In their 12th game of the season, where they met Frölunda on 15 October 2011 at Löfbergs Lila Arena, Färjestad took an inevitable 2–1 win in front of 7,566 spectators and also took their first regulation-time win of the season, advancing to the 11th spot in the standings. This began what would become a five-game winning streak, before losing 1–5 against HV71 at home ice on 29 October.

On 13 October 2011, new Färjestad forward Hannes Hyvönen received a match penalty when he illegally made a hit to the head of Per Hallin to the boards in a home game against Timrå. As a consequence, Hyvönen was suspended for three games and fined 14,000 SEK. Just two weeks later, on 29 October, Czech defenceman Martin Ševc also received a match penalty, was suspended for three games and had to pay an 18,000 SEK fine after making hate speech against HV71 defenceman Daniel Rahimi. One week later, Färjestad received their third suspension of the season when defenceman Sanny Lindström was suspended for two games and forced to pay a 20,000 SEK fine for hitting Modo player Janos Hari to the head on 5 November 2011.

After a three-game streak of losses between 7–14 January 2012, Färjestad dropped in the standings and fell closer to the line for playoff qualification. As a result, head coach Czarnecki was fired. One of the team's assistant coaches at that time, Leif Carlsson, took over. Andreas Johansson took over Carlsson's former position as one of the assistant coaches.

Färjestad finished 6th in the regular season and were facing 3rd-seeded HV71 in the quarterfinals. Färjestad came out on top in six games and advanced to the semifinals, where they are playing against 4th-seeded Brynäs IF

Regular season

Standings

Game log 2011–12 Elitserien games log; 23–18–14 (Home: 14–4–10; Away: 9–14–4) September: 0–3–3 (Home: 0–1–3; Away: 0–2–0) Round Date Opponent Score OT Goaltender Venue Attendance Record Pts 1 September 15 Skellefteå AIK 3–2 SO Nihlstorp Löfbergs Lila Arena 6,029 0–0–1 2 2 September 17 AIK 1–2 SO Pettersson-Wentzel Löfbergs Lila Arena 6,281 0–0–2 3 3 September 22 HV71 2–6 Nihlstorp Kinnarps Arena 6,786 0–1–2 3 4 September 24 Brynäs IF 1–4 Pettersson-Wentzel Löfbergs Lila Arena 5,616 0–2–2 3 5 September 27 Luleå HF 0–2 Nihlstorp Coop Norrbotten Arena 4,469 0–3–2 3 6 September 29 Djurgårdens IF 2–3 SO Nihlstorp Löfbergs Lila Arena 5,163 0–3–3 4 October: 4–2–5 (Home: 2–1–2; Away: 2–1–3) Round Date Opponent Score OT Goaltender Venue Attendance Record Pts 7 October 1 Modo Hockey 2–3 SO Nihlstorp Fjällräven Center 5,906 0–3–4 5 8 October 4 Frölunda HC 3–2 OT Nihlstorp Scandinavium 11,296 0–3–5 7 9 October 6 Växjö Lakers HC 2–3 SO Nihlstorp Löfbergs Lila Arena 5,184 0–3–6 8 10 October 11 Linköpings HC 0–1 Nihlstorp Cloetta Center 5,884 0–4–6 8 11 October 13 Timrå IK 2–3 SO Nihlstorp Löfbergs Lila Arena 5,406 0–4–7 9 12 October 15 Frölunda HC 2–1 Nihlstorp Löfbergs Lila Arena 7,566 1–4–7 12 13 October 20 Timrå IK 2–1 Nihlstorp E.ON Arena 4,636 2–4–7 15 14 October 22 Växjö Lakers HC 4–1 Nihlstorp Vida Arena 5,287 3–4–7 18 15 October 25 Linköpings HC 3–0 Nihlstorp Löfbergs Lila Arena 6,395 4–4–7 21 16 October 27 Skellefteå AIK 3–2 SO Pettersson-Wentzel Skellefteå Kraft Arena 4,527 4–4–8 23 17 October 29 HV71 1–5 Nihlstorp Löfbergs Lila Arena 8,381 4–5–8 23 November: 5–3–1 (Home: 3–0–1; Away: 2–3–0) Round Date Opponent Score OT Goaltender Venue Attendance Record Pts 18 November 1 Luleå HF 2–1 Nihlstorp Löfbergs Lila Arena 7,342 5–5–8 26 19 November 3 AIK 2–3 Pettersson-Wentzel Hovet 4,602 5–6–8 26 20 November 5 Modo Hockey 3–1 Nihlstorp Löfbergs Lila Arena 7,889 6–6–8 29 21 November 16 Djurgårdens IF 1–5 Nihlstorp Hovet 7,125 6–7–8 29 22 November 18 Brynäs IF 1–0 Nihlstorp Läkerol Arena 7,153 7–7–8 32 30 November 21 Linköpings HC 1–2 Nihlstorp Cloetta Center 7,294 7–8–8 32 23 November 24 Växjö Lakers HC 6–4 Nihlstorp Löfbergs Lila Arena 5,440 8–8–8 35 24 November 26 Brynäs IF 2–3 SO Nihlstorp Löfbergs Lila Arena 7,268 8–8–9 36 25 November 28 Frölunda HC 4–1 Pettersson-Wentzel Scandinavium 12,044 9–8–9 39 December: 5–1–1 (Home: 2–0–1; Away: 3–1–0) Round Date Opponent Score OT Goaltender Venue Attendance Record Pts 26 December 1 Timrå IK 2–3 OT Pettersson-Wentzel Löfbergs Lila Arena 5,407 9–8–10 40 27 December 3 Modo Hockey 5–3 Nihlstorp Fjällräven Center 6,429 10–8–10 43 28 December 5 HV71 3–1 Nihlstorp Kinnarps Arena 6,602 11–8–10 46 29 December 8 AIK 6–3 Nihlstorp Löfbergs Lila Arena 7,771 12–8–10 49 32 December 26 Skellefteå AIK 3–1 Nihlstorp Löfbergs Lila Arena 8,066 13–8–10 52 33 December 28 Luleå HF 3–5 Pettersson-Wentzel Coop Norrbotten Arena 5,569 13–9–10 52 34 December 30 Timrå IK 6–3 Pettersson-Wentzel E.ON Arena 4,026 14–9–10 55 January: 2–5–3 (Home: 2–1–2; Away: 0–4–1) 35 January 5 HV71 2–1 OT Nihlstorp Löfbergs Lila Arena 7,848 14–9–11 57 36 January 7 Brynäs IF 1–4 Nihlstorp Läkerol Arena 8,050 14–10–11 57 37 January 12 Modo Hockey 1–2 Nihlstorp Löfbergs Lila Arena 6,410 14–11–11 57 38 January 14 Växjö Lakers HC 1–4 Nihlstorp Vida Arena 5,306 14–12–11 57 39 January 19 AIK 0–3 Nihlstorp Hovet 4,565 14–13–11 57 40 January 21 Linköpings HC 2–3 OT Pettersson-Wentzel Löfbergs Lila Arena 7,067 14–13–12 58 41 January 24 Djurgårdens IF 1–2 SO Nihlstorp Hovet 7,170 14–13–13 59 42 January 27 Luleå HF 3–1 Nihlstorp Löfbergs Lila Arena 5,781 15–13–13 62 31 January 29 Djurgårdens IF 1–0 Pettersson-Wentzel Löfbergs Lila Arena 6,468 16–13–13 65 43 January 31 Skellefteå AIK 0–2 Pettersson-Wentzel Skellefteå Kraft Arena 4,751 16–14–13 65 February: 6–2–1 (Home: 5–0–1; Away: 1–2–0) 44 February 2 Frölunda HC 2–3 SO Nihlstorp Löfbergs Lila Arena 6,412 16–14–14 66 45 February 4 Skellefteå AIK 3–0 Nihlstorp Löfbergs Lila Arena 7,355 17–14–14 69 46 February 14 Linköpings HC 0–1 Nihlstorp Cloetta Center 7,009 17–15–14 69 47 February 16 Brynäs IF 4–1 Nihlstorp Löfbergs Lila Arena 6,586 18–15–14 72 48 February 18 Modo Hockey 3–0 Nihlstorp Fjällräven Center 7,201 19–15–14 75 49 February 21 Djurgårdens IF 3–0 Nihlstorp Löfbergs Lila Arena 6,317 20–15–14 78 50 February 23 AIK 3–1 Nihlstorp Löfbergs Lila Arena 5,652 21–15–14 81 51 February 25 Luleå HF 1–4 Nihlstorp Coop Norrbotten Arena 5,196 21–16–14 81 52 February 28 Växjö Lakers HC 3–2 Nihlstorp Löfbergs Lila Arena 5,774 22–16–14 84 March: 1–2–0 (Home: 0–1–0; Away: 1–1–0) 53 March 1 HV71 3–6 Pettersson-Wentzel Kinnarps Arena 6,902 22–17–14 84 54 March 3 Timrå IK 2–3 Pettersson-Wentzel Löfbergs Lila Arena 7,642 22–18–14 84 55 March 6 Frölunda HC 3–2 Nihlstorp Scandinavium 11,839 23–18–14 87 Legend:

Playoffs

Game log 2011–12 Elitserien playoffs log; 5–5 (Home: 2–3; Away: 3–2) Quarterfinals vs. (3) HV71; 4–2 (Home: 2–1; Away: 2–1) Round Date Score Goaltender Venue Attendance Series 1 March 11 4–1 Nihlstorp Kinnarps Arena 6,774 1–0 2 March 13 3–1 Nihlstorp Löfbergs Lila Arena 6,276 2–0 3 March 15 3–4 OT Pettersson-Wentzel Kinnarps Arena 7,000 2–1 4 March 17 3–5 Pettersson-Wentzel Löfbergs Lila Arena 8,605 2–2 5 March 19 5–3 Nihlstorp Kinnarps Arena 7,000 3–2 6 March 21 2–0 Nihlstorp Löfbergs Lila Arena 7,549 4–2 Semifinals vs. (4) Brynäs IF; 1–3 (Home: 0–2; Away: 1–1) Round Date Score Goaltender Venue Attendance Series 1 March 26 3–2 OT Pettersson-Wentzel Läkerol Arena 6,670 1–0 2 March 28 2–4 Pettersson-Wentzel Löfbergs Lila Arena 7,238 1–1 3 March 30 2–4 Pettersson-Wentzel Läkerol Arena 8,407 1–2 4 April 1 0–3 Pettersson-Wentzel Löfbergs Lila Arena 8,550 1–3 5 April 3 – Läkerol Arena 6* April 5 – Löfbergs Lila Arena 7* April 7 – Läkerol Arena Legend:

Asterisks (*) indicate games that are only played if needed.

Transactions Acquired Player Former team Notes Niklas Czarnecki Brynäs IF Coach Fredrik Pettersson-Wentzel Almtuna IS Luca Boltshauser ZSC Lions Also joining under-20 team Johan Larsson Bofors IK Joakim Hillding Växjö Lakers HC Peter Wennerström Bofors IK Hannes Hyvönen Ak Bars Kazan Stefan Meyer Abbotsford Heat Leaving Player New team Notes Tommy Samuelsson Vienna Capitals Coach Alexander Salak Chicago Blackhawks Andro Michel Örebro HK Jonas Junland Barys Astana Markus Karlsson Borås HC Dick Axelsson Modo Hockey Emil Kåberg Örebro HK Pelle Prestberg Leksands IF

Roster Updated February 14, 2012.

References

External links Farjestadsbk.se — Official team website Hockeyligan.se — Official league website Swehockey.se — Official statistics website