After finishing first place in the Danish Ligaen regular season, Blue Fox Herning look to add another national title to their collection. Meanwhile, defending champions SønderjyskE Vojens look to repeat and return to the Champions Hockey League.

by Michael Søvsø

The Danish Metal Ligaen will begin its playoffs tonight with eight teams going into the quarter-finals. From now on it is all best-of-seven series in Denmark until a new champion is crowned in April. 

In Metal Ligaen the winner of the regular season gets to choose its opponent from the four lowest seeds. The second- and third-placed teams then make their selections from the remaining lower seeds, leaving the fourth-placed team against the one remaining club.

Blue Fox Herning, who have won more Danish championships than any other club, finished first in the regular season to qualify for a Champions Hockey League C-License in 2015–16. The winner of the playoffs will qualify for the other, and if Herning win that as well, the second CHL qualifier would be second-placed SønderjyskE Vojens, who are seeking a return trip to Europe's highest club hockey competition.

Herning won the regular season after a strong finish, and have chosen to face seventh-seeded Rungsted Ishockey, who had a terrible finish to the regular season with a lot of injuries and some heavy defeats. Rungsted is back in the playoffs for the first time since 2009–10, and will go into the series as heavy underdogs.

Veteran Rungsted coach Per Holten Møller will have to rely on American goalie Zane Kalemba, and his two "d-sons", defencemen Joachim and Mikkel Holten Møller, who play for their father's team. American centerman Adam Estoclet is a key player coming fresh into the playoffs after missing three weeks with an injury.

Rungsted need to stop a high-flying Herning attack. Henrik Eriksson, the Swedish goal machine who scored 42 goals in 35 regular season games. Joined by Czech Petr Kalus and Canadian Brad Schell, Herning's top line has been almost impossible to stop during the last half of the regular season. Veteran goalie Lubos Pisar and Danish national team player Daniel Nielsen are Herning's key defensive players.

Up next, defending champions SønderjyskE and coach Dan Ceman chose to play the sixth-seeded Rødovre Mighty Bulls in the quarter-finals.

The SønderjyskE team consists of some very strong imports, among them former NHLer Warren Peters, American forward and leading scorer Cory Quirk and new Finnish goalie Joni Myllykoski. Captain Kim Lykkeskov leads the Danish part of the squad, containing national team players Mads Bødker, Thomas Spelling and Steffen Frank and some other mature Danish players with a lot of experience.

They will face the best skating team in the league in Rødovre, with legend Jesper Duus as coach. Rødovre played most of the season with only one import, Swede Mike Rådde, but added former NHLer Theo Peckham in the last part of the regular season. They need some big goaltending from Sebastian Dahm, the best Danish goalie in the league, if they're going to have a chance against the reigning champions.

The Frederikshavn White Hawks, third in the regular season, chose local rivals the Aalborg Pirates. For the first time since 2006–07 the two clubs – only 40 kilometres between the cities – will face each other in a best-of-seven series. 

Frederikshavn is the only team that changed its coach during the regular season. At Christmas, Juha Riihijärvi was replaced by Peter Johansson, who came in from the Swedish Division I and Helsingborg. They finished quite strong in the regular season and seem to come into the playoffs with a lot of confidence. American Adam Miller scored a hat-trick in the last game of the regular season and he could be the goal scorer that Frederikshavn needs to win their first title since 2000. 

But first they need to overcome Aalborg, coached by former Coventry Blaze legend Paul "Thommo" Thompson. Aalborg is currently in the midst of severe financial problems and the board is trying to rescue the club from bankruptcy. Some good crowds in Gigantium  (capacity 5000) against Frederikshavn would surely help. 

Aalborg come in with a young Danish squad and some imports that need to step up if they are going to have a chance against Frederikshavn. Canadian players Tommy Grant, Paul McIlveen and Matt Francis have had some bleak periods during the regular season and need to show better form during the playoffs.

The two remaining quarter-finalists left facing each other are the fourth-placed Odense Bulldogs and fifth-placed Esbjerg Energy.

After 26 regular-season games Odense looked like they would win the regular season, but then only collected eight points in their last 10 games to fall to fourth. A tight series against Esbjerg is to be expected. Both teams play a Canadian-inspired game and ice a lot of North American players, so physical games are expected.

Odense need to rely on their goalie Chet Pickard and Canadian forward Dale Mitchell, one of the most charismatic players in the league. He is aggressive and strong but needs to keep his temper down like the rest of his teammates. Odense played some very undisciplined games during the season and if that continues into the playoffs, it could mean trouble for them.

Esbjerg won their last five regular-season games and are regarded the strongest offensive team in the league. They're led by Andrew Clark (75 points) and linemate Mark Derlago (65 points). Scott Howes (49 points) is an offensive power as well. The key for Esbjerg will be their goaltending. Japanese Yutaka Fukufuji hasn't reached his peak yet this season, but if he does, Esbjerg can be dangerous for every team in the league. 

See the playoff schedule and up-to-date results here at the league website.