TV-pucken

TV-pucken (English: the TV puck) is a Swedish national ice hockey tournament for district teams of boys under 15 years of age. Since 2019, girls also compete in TV-pucken i their own tournament. It was created on the initiative of Swedish ice hockey player Sven "Tumba" Johansson.

TV-pucken
Småland winning the 2008 event
Statusactive
Genresporting event
Date(s)varying
Frequencyannual
CountrySweden
Inaugurated1959 (1959)

The tournament is named "TV-pucken" because when it was first played in 1959, every game was broadcast on television, but nowadays only the playoff games are shown. It is generally considered a great merit for a Swedish ice hockey player to have played in TV-pucken.

The allowed maximum age of the players was originally 16 years, but reduced to 15 in 1979. During a meeting on Bosön in December 2002 it was decided to increase the age from 15 to 16 from the 2003 tournament, to prevent the "early exclusion" caused by young players giving up ice hockey.[1]

The tournament has also given birth to the expressions of TV-pucken crowd (Swedish: TV-puckshög) and TV-pucken joy (Swedish: TV-pucksglädje) as the entire team throws themself onto the playing surface celebrating goals and victories.

Starting in the year 2000 Stockholm became allowed to participate with two teams.,[2] following an idea of the Stockholm Ice Hockey Association on its own after claiming to have so many skilled young players.[3] and this concept has also been used later. In 2012 Småland also participated with two teams ("red" and "yellow")[4] and so also in 2013.[5] For the 2016 tournament the Swedish Ice Hockey Association decided to set up a new team, consisting of 22 players who'd been rejected from respective district association teams.[6]

The 1997 edition aired over TV 3 as "TV-cupen".[7]

A girls' tournament was added in 2019, replacing Stålbucklan.

Several "spinoff"-variations were later developed, like cross-country skiing's TV-skidan starting in 1965,[8] but never gaining the same popularity as TV-pucken. Even other team sports have similar tournaments, often not airing over TV, where Swedish youth district teams challenge each other.

Districts participating

There are 24 district teams divided in four groups participating in TV-pucken. Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, traditionally participates with two teams, which are named Vit (white) and Röd (red). In 2009, however, only one Stockholm team participated in the tournament.

Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
GotlandBohuslän/DalslandGästriklandGöteborg
BlekingeDalarnaHallandHälsingland
SmålandNorrbottenMedelpad Jämtland/Härjedalen
VärmlandSkåneÖrebro Södermanland
VästmanlandUpplandVästergötland Västerbotten
ÅngermanlandStockholm Röd Östergötland

TV-pucken winners

Boys

Winners since 1986.

YearWinnerRunner-up
1986Stockholm A
1987Skåne
1988Ångermanland
1989Skåne
1990Småland
1991Småland
1992Dalarna
1993Ångermanland
1994Ångermanland
1995Dalarna
1996Dalarna
1997Stockholm A
1998Stockholm A
1999Stockholm AGöteborg
2000VärmlandStockholm A
2001Göteborg
2002SödermanlandNorrbotten
2003Stockholm AGästrikland
2004Stockholm AVästmanland
2005VärmlandSkåne
2006GöteborgSkåne
2007SmålandStockholm
2008SmålandVästerbotten
2009StockholmSkåne
2010StockholmSmåland
2011VästerbottenDalarna
2012Stockholm NorthGästrikland
2013VästerbottenVästergötland
2014VärmlandGöteborg
2015ÅngermanlandStockholm North
2016Stockholm NorthStockholm South
2017SkåneÅngermanland
2018GöteborgSödermanland
2019Stockholm NorthÖstergötland
2020Stockholm NorthVästerbotten

Girls

Winners since 2019.

YearWinnerRunner-up
2019DalarnaSmåland
2020SmålandStockholm

Statistics
Team 1st placed 2nd placed
Stockholm A 13 11
Värmland 8 6
Dalarna 6 6
Västerbotten 6 10
Ångermanland 6 ?
Norrbotten 3 3
Småland 5 1
Södermanland 3 1
Skåne 2 7
Gästrikland 1 6
Göteborg 2 2
Västmanland 0 1

In Berts bravader, Bert states that a romance between him and his 56 years old counselor wouldn't work because talking old memories from the past would for Iris mean second world war, and Bert would talk about the TV-pucken final game of the previous year.[9]

References
  1. Emil Karlsson (15 December 2005). "Lägg ner TV-pucken" (in Swedish). Dagens Nyheter. Retrieved 15 September 2012.
  2. Mats Wennerholm (13 October 2000). "Robert, 15, svensk hockeys nya stjärna" (in Swedish). Sportbladet. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
  3. Mats Wennerholm (20 March 2000). "En fest där alla vinner" (in Swedish). Sportbladet. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  4. Hans Andersson (23 March 2012). "Två lag i TV-pucken" (in Swedish). Svenska Ishockeyförbundet. Archived from the original on 4 November 2013. Retrieved 3 November 2013.
  5. Alexander Dypbukt (28 August 2013). "Inför TV-pucken 2013" (in Swedish). Webbsporten. Archived from the original on 4 November 2013. Retrieved 3 November 2013.
  6. Ellen Hellmark (2 May 2016). "Nytt lag får chansen i TV-pucken" (in Swedish). SVT Sport. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  7. "Samtliga spelplatser i TV-pucken 1959-2013 och TV-cupen 1997" (PDF) (in Swedish). Swedish Ice Hockey Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 June 2016. Retrieved 9 September 2011.
  8. "Visuellt" (PDF) (in Swedish). Västerbotten Sport Historical Society. November 2004. Retrieved 31 August 2013.
  9. Anders Jacobsson, Sören Olsson (1991). "27 mars". Berts bravader (in Swedish). p. 37.

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