by Chipp Reid

Skellefteå, Luleå still on top
The top teams in the Elitserien continue to be the teams from the top of the country. Skellefteå and Luleå sit atop standings with 74 points, with SAIK holding the breaker on goal difference. Skellefteå also ahs two games in hand, riding a 24-16 record to its 74 points while Luleå is 24-18.
At the center of each team is a Canadian. Bud Halloway leads SAIK in scoring with 33 points from 14 goals and 19 assists. Frenchman Eduoard Bellemere leads Skellefteå in goals with 16. At Lulea, Simon Hjalmarsson leads the team with 28 points (15 goals, 13 assists) while Canadian Cam Abbott is third in scoring with 22. Abbott centers the line on which Hjalmarsson plays.
Luleå is coming off a 3-1 win Jan. 25 over 11th-place Linköping while SAIK played fifth-place HV 71 on Jan. 26.
Defending league champions Färjestad hold the eighth and final playoff spot, sporting a disappointing 18-22 record after 40 games. The Wolfpack have no players with more than 10 goals this season and are locked in battle for the final playoff spot with MoDo and Djurgården.

Streaking
Defending league champs Färjestad can’t buy a break. The Wolfpack are riding a season-long six-game losing streak over which they haven’t manage to score more than two goals in any one game. FBK looked to break that streak against second-place Luleå on Jan. 27. Färjestad has won its last four games against Luleå, outscoring the northern Swedish team 17-5 in those games.
HV 71 was also relishing its tilt with the top when it played Skellefteå Jan. 26. The Jönköping team has won its last seven games against the current league leaders and a win could vault the Blue Bulls into fourth place.
However, those stats don’t tell the whole story. Skellefteå is riding its own winning streak of four games, while Luleå has not allowed more than two goals in a game in its last five.

Czech mate
Needing firepower for its final push for the playoffs, Modo snatched up forward Petr Kalus from Slavia Prague in the Czech League. The 24-year-old sniper played briefly in the North America in the Western and American hockey league and also spent part of last season in the Kontinental Hockey League in Russia. Kalus started the 2011-12 season playing for Jokerit in Finland.
“Kalus has a lot of experience and has played for the Czech junior team and has a few games with the A team,” said Modo general manager Markus Näslund. “It will be interesting to see him with Modo.
Modo expected the Czech player to arrive Jan. 27 in time for its game against the Växjö Lakers.

Sexy playbook gets coached canned
A youth hockey coach could face charges after his sexually charged playbook went public.
The unnamed coach compared playing defense to chasing women and having sex. While it probably got the attention of his 14-year-old players at FBC Engleholm, it also earned him the wrath of people and media across Sweden. The club immediately fired him and reported him to local police.
The coach called his unorthodox strategies, “Petra, Jennifer and Sofia”. Sofia was clearly the most sassy of the”'girls.” Sofia is “hot and sexy” and likes to “dress provocatively” and “help herself in bed.”
”By snogging and feeling up Sofa at the right moment we will reach the optimum result. In bed, you can rip her clothes and spank her ass,” the notebook reads.
Petra's a bit more of a dominatrix. She 'scratches, bites and likes to dominate' and 'gets in the mood when you are aggressive'”
The 'Spank her ass' coaching tactics sparked outrage from everywhere. Swedish paper Feministiskt Perspektiv gave the coach a good verbal bashing after his sexual play notebook came out.