2009–10 GET-ligaen season

In June 2009, the Norwegian Ice Hockey Association (NIHF) denied Comet entry into the league for the 2009–10 season due to the club's poor financial situation.[6] This decision was subsequently reversed after an appeal by Comet.[7] Less than two months later and shortly before the start of the season, the tax authorities in Halden successfully filed a bankruptcy claim against the club, the result being that they went into administration on 4 September.[8] Comet had managed to pay roughly 1.1 million of the 2 million kroner they owed to the tax authorities at that point, but the district court felt that the club were unable to guarantee that the remaining debts would be paid off. Nonetheless, the administrator in charge of the bankruptcy suggested that there was a possibility of Comet being rescued, and the NIHF reaffirmed, amid protests from the other nine clubs, that Comet would be allowed to play in the top flight.[9]

The possibility of coming out of administration rested on Comet's ability to earn income from home games, but due to an ongoing redevelopment of their home arena, the municipally owned Halden Ishall, the club were forced to play all their fixtures in September as away games. When an application for use of the arena as of October was denied because the building did not yet meet the fire safety code,[10] the administrator declared on 2 October that the running of the club would have to discontinue.[11] A last-ditch attempt by a group of local investors to save the club could not remedy the fact that Halden Ishall remained unavailable, and Comet folded on 6 October.[3] This was the third bankruptcy in Norwegian top tier ice hockey in three years. All results involving Comet were annulled and a sixth round robin was introduced, bringing the total number of games per team up to 48.[12]

Two clubs were penalized over the course of the season for using ineligible players. The Frisk Tigers were found to have fielded four such players during their opening match loss to the Stavanger Oilers on 12 September.[13] For this, the NIHF issued a fine of 6,000 kroner and had the result of the game changed from 4–2 to 5–0 in favour of the Oilers. On 25 November, the Storhamar Dragons were found to have used an ineligible player during three games played that month, and were consequently handed a fine of 4,500 kroner. Again, the result of each match was set to 5–0 in favour of the opposing team.[14][15] Two of the three teams, the Frisk Tigers and Stavanger Oilers, were thus awarded an extra three and two points respectively compared to their original results against the Dragons, while Stjernen received no extra points as they had already won their match.

Scoring leaders

These are the top ten skaters based on points.[16] If the list exceeds ten skaters because of a tie in points, all of the tied skaters are shown.

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	+/–	PIM
Tomi Pöllänen	Lillehammer	48	28	41	69	+19	70
Jonas Solberg Andersen	Sparta Warriors	46	29	37	66	+19	26
Marco Charpentier	Lørenskog	47	35	29	64	+9	46
Knut Henrik Spets	Vålerenga	47	26	36	62	+23	32
Alexander Larsson	Sparta Warriors	48	22	38	60	+15	24
Anders Fredriksen	Vålerenga	45	17	41	58	+25	26
Pål Johnsen	Storhamar Dragons	48	17	41	58	0	26
Martin Hansen	Manglerud Star	47	22	31	53	+10	10
Fredrik Abrahamsson	Lillehammer	46	19	33	52	+4	18
Justin Bostrom	Manglerud Star	46	21	29	50	+17	61
Kenneth Larsen	Lørenskog	46	12	38	50	+8	36

GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/– = Plus/minus; PIM = Penalty minutes

Leading goaltenders

These are the top five goaltenders based on goals against average.[17]

Player	Team	GP	TOI	W	L	GA	SO	Sv%	GAA
Patrick DesRochers	Vålerenga	47	2,860	33	14	100	2	91.7	2.10
Antti Ore	Stavanger Oilers	41	2,417	21	18	93	4	91.5	2.31
Phil Osaer	Sparta Warriors	46	2,768	27	19	111	4	91.9	2.41
Alexander Bergh	Lillehammer	39	2,244	20	18	99	1	90.1	2.65
Ruben Smith	Storhamar Dragons	38	2,177	17	19	104	0	91.0	2.87

GP = Games Played; TOI = Time On Ice (minutes); W = Wins; L = Losses; GA = Goals Against; SO = Shutouts; Sv% = Save Percentage; GAA = Goals Against Average

After the regular season, the standard of eight teams qualified for the playoffs. In the first and second rounds, the highest remaining seed chose which of the two lowest remaining seeds to be matched against. In each round the higher-seeded team was awarded home ice advantage. Each best-of-seven series followed a 1–1–1–1–1–1–1 format: the higher-seeded team played at home for games 1 and 3 (plus 5 and 7 if necessary), and the lower-seeded team at home for games 2, 4 and 6 (if necessary).[4]

The Final was contested between Vålerenga and the Stavanger Oilers. Vålerenga defeated Manglerud Star and the Storhamar Dragons to advance to the Final; Stavanger defeated Lørenskog and the Sparta Warriors. This was the second time the two teams had met in a final, the first being in 2006 when Vålerenga won their twenty-fourth Norwegian Championship, sweeping the Oilers 4–0 in the best-of-seven series. On this occasion, however, the Oilers defeated Vålerenga 4–2 to claim their first ever title, in the process also becoming the first club outside the traditional hockey powerhouse of Eastern Norway to win the championship.[5]

Vålerenga, as league champions, were seeded first and enjoyed home ice advantage.[4] They took a 1–0 lead in the series by winning the opening match at Jordal Amfi 5–4 in overtime.[21] The hosts held the lead three times, before Stavanger staged a turnaround to 4–3 in the third period. With the score eventually tied at 4–4, the game went into overtime and was decided when Vålerenga and Mathias Trygg got the upper hand in a power play. Despite calls for interference, the goal was allowed.[22] Stavanger responded by winning 4–3 at home in game 2,[23] before being soundly beaten 0–5 in game 3.[24]

The fourth game was the most closely contested in the series, being tied at 1–1 in regulation and won by the Oilers in double overtime. Nearly halfway into the first period of overtime, a breakaway goal by Stavanger's Juha Kaunismäki was controversially disallowed because none of the officials, including the goal judge, saw the puck go in.[25] Footage provided by the broadcaster TV 2 showed the puck deflecting off the right post, the net inside the goal and finally the left post before being blocked by the goaltender. Since video refereeing is not allowed in Norwegian ice hockey, the footage could not be used and the game continued until Snorre Hallem scored 4 minutes and 38 seconds into the second overtime period to tie the series at 2–2. Following this incident, the NIHF decided to allow limited use of video replays for the remainder of the series, and will also consider the possibility of implementing video refereeing on a broader scale in the next season.[26]

Game 5 became a turning point as Stavanger, needing to win at least once in Oslo, came back from a 0–2 deficit to tie the game with 23 seconds remaining on the clock, and then claim victory in overtime.[27] Yet again, there were allegations of foul play, this time coming from Vålerenga, as Christian Dahl Andersen had scored the equalizer with his skate. However, the match officials agreed with Dahl Andersen that the skate was not actively used to score the goal. The result put the Oilers ahead 3–2 in the series, setting the stage for a possible championship deciding win at home in Stavanger. Indeed, in front of a packed audience in the Siddishallen, they defeated Vålerenga 4–0 to clinch the title.[5]

Scoring leaders

These are the top ten skaters in the playoffs based on points.[28] If the list exceeds ten skaters because of a tie in points, all of the tied skaters are shown.

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	+/–	PIM
Martin Strandfeldt	Stavanger Oilers	18	13	8	21	+7	24
Robert Bina	Stavanger Oilers	18	4	16	20	+6	4
Anders Fredriksen	Vålerenga	16	6	11	17	+10	4
Juha-Pekka Loikas	Stavanger Oilers	18	3	14	17	+5	22
Christian Dahl Andersen	Stavanger Oilers	18	10	5	15	+5	2
Jonas Solberg Andersen	Sparta Warriors	12	7	8	15	+3	8
Knut Henrik Spets	Vålerenga	13	4	11	15	+6	37
Alexander Larsson	Sparta Warriors	12	4	11	15	0	8
Lars Erik Spets	Vålerenga	15	7	6	13	+4	16
Lars Erik Lund	Vålerenga	16	5	8	13	+8	6

GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/– = Plus/minus; PIM = Penalty minutes

Leading goaltenders

These are the top five goaltenders in the playoffs based on goals against average.[29]

Player	Team	GP	TOI	W	L	GA	SO	Sv%	GAA
Patrick DesRochers	Vålerenga	16	992	10	6	32	4	91.9	1.93
Antti Ore	Stavanger Oilers	18	1,107	12	6	39	4	91.9	2.11
Phil Osaer	Sparta Warriors	12	724	6	6	27	0	93.1	2.23
Alexander Bergh	Lillehammer	4	217	1	2	10	1	90.0	2.76
Pål Grotnes	Stjernen	6	356	2	4	17	0	91.2	2.86

GP = Games Played; TOI = Time On Ice (minutes); W = Wins; L = Losses; GA = Goals Against; SO = Shutouts; Sv% = Save Percentage; GAA = Goals Against Average

All-Star team

The following players were selected to the 2009–10 GET-ligaen All-Star team:[33]

• Goaltender: Patrick DesRochers (Vålerenga)
• Defenseman: Robert Bina (Stavanger)
• Defenseman: Regan Kelly (Vålerenga)
• Center: Anders Fredriksen (Vålerenga)
• Winger: Tomi Pöllänen (Lillehammer)
• Winger: Knut Henrik Spets (Vålerenga)

Other

• Player of the year: Tomi Pöllänen[33] (Lillehammer)
• Coach of the year: David Livingston[33] (Manglerud Star)
• Playoff MVP: Robert Bina[34] (Stavanger)

• Official website (in Norwegian)