# 2016–17 GET-ligaen season

The 2016–17 GET-ligaen was the 78th season of Norway's premier ice hockey league, GET-ligaen.
The regular season began play in September 2016. There were no team changes from the 2015–16 season.

## Participating teams

| Team | City | Arena | Capacity |
| Frisk Asker | Asker | Askerhallen | 2,400 |
| Kongsvinger Knights | Kongsvinger | Kongsvinger Ishall | 2,000 |
| Lillehammer IK | Lillehammer | Kristins Hall | 3,194 |
| Lørenskog IK | Lørenskog | Lørenskog Ishall | 2,400 |
| Manglerud Star | Oslo | Manglerudhallen | 2,000 |
| Sparta Warriors | Sarpsborg | Sparta Amfi | 3,450 |
| Stavanger Oilers | Stavanger | DNB Arena | 4,377 |
| Stjernen | Fredrikstad | Stjernehallen | 2,473 |
| Storhamar | Hamar | CC Amfi | 7,000 |
| Vålerenga | Oslo | Jordal Amfi Furuset Forum | 4,450 1,200 |

## Arenas

Vålerenga Ishockey played their last home game at Jordal Amfi on January 7. A new arena will be constructed at the site, planned for completion in September 2018. Vålerenga will finish the season with Furuset Forum as a temporary arena.

## Regular season
### Winter Classic

An outdoor match featuring Stjernen and Sparta Warriors was played January 21, 2017. The match was played on Fredrikstad stadion and was the first major outdoor match in Norway in the 21st century. The match ended with a 3-0 victory for Sparta in front of a record audience of 12.500.

### Standings

Updated as of February 28, 2017.
| 2016–17 GET-ligaen season | GP | W | L | OTW | OTL | GF | GA | +/– | Pts |
| Stavanger Oilers$^y$ | 45 | 28 | 10 | 6 | 1 | 174 | 102 | 72 | 97 |
| Lørenskog$^x$ | 45 | 26 | 11 | 4 | 4 | 158 | 100 | 58 | 90 |
| Storhamar$^x$ | 45 | 21 | 14 | 3 | 7 | 131 | 104 | 27 | 76 |
| Frisk Asker$^x$ | 45 | 21 | 15 | 3 | 6 | 137 | 118 | 19 | 75 |
| Vålerenga$^x$ | 45 | 20 | 16 | 4 | 5 | 135 | 111 | 24 | 73 |
| Lillehammer$^x$ | 45 | 17 | 16 | 9 | 3 | 138 | 131 | 7 | 72 |
| Stjernen$^x$ | 45 | 20 | 17 | 3 | 5 | 142 | 136 | 6 | 71 |
| Sparta Warriors$^x$ | 45 | 18 | 20 | 1 | 6 | 128 | 111 | 17 | 62 |
| Manglerud Star$^r$ | 45 | 12 | 24 | 8 | 1 | 100 | 148 | -48 | 53 |
| Kongsvinger Knights$^r$ | 45 | 1 | 41 | 0 | 3 | 61 | 243 | -182 | 6 |
x – clinched playoff spot; y – clinched regular season league title; r – play in relegation series
Source: scoreboard.com

### Statistics
#### Scoring leaders

List shows the ten best skaters based on the number of points during the regular season. If two or more skaters are tied (i.e. same number of points, goals and played games), all of the tied skaters are shown. Updated as of February 28, 2017.
GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/– = Plus/Minus; PIM = Penalty Minutes
| Player | Team | GP | G | A | Pts | +/– | PIM |
| Van Guilder, Mark Mark Van Guilder | Stavanger | 45 | 24 | 41 | 65 | +32 | 32 |
| Kissel, Dan Dan Kissel | Stavanger | 45 | 29 | 30 | 59 | +27 | 16 |
| Lindström, Tobias Tobias Lindström | Vålerenga | 45 | 29 | 29 | 58 | +19 | 38 |
| Backman, Victor Victor Backman | Stjernen | 40 | 26 | 28 | 54 | +10 | 36 |
| Espeland, Stefan Stefan Espeland | Lørenskog | 45 | 10 | 42 | 52 | +26 | 32 |
| Saponari, Vinny Vinny Saponari | Frisk Asker | 43 | 15 | 36 | 51 | +2 | 14 |
| Laumann Ylven, Martin Martin Laumann Ylven | Vålerenga | 45 | 28 | 22 | 50 | +18 | 30 |
| Krog, Jason Jason Krog | Lørenskog | 45 | 21 | 26 | 47 | +24 | 14 |
| Vigier, Stephan Stephan Vigier | Lillehammer | 45 | 17 | 29 | 46 | +11 | 56 |
| Ahlholm, Rasmus Rasmus Ahlholm | Vålerenga | 45 | 15 | 30 | 45 | +11 | 8 |
| Soares, Josh Josh Soares | Stavanger Oilers | 43 | 14 | 31 | 45 | +15 | 64 |
Source: hockey.no

#### Leading goaltenders

The top five goaltenders based on goals against average. Updated as of March 25, 2016.
| Player | Team | GP | TOI | W | L | GA | SO | Sv% | GAA |
Source: pointstreak.com

#### Attendance

| Team | Arena | Capacity |
| Frisk Asker | Askerhallen | 2,400 |
| Stavanger Oilers | DNB Arena | 4,377 |
| Storhamar | CC Amfi | 7,000 |
| Vålerenga | Jordal Amfi | 4,450 |
| Kongsvinger Knights | Kongsvinger Ishall | 2,000 |
| Lillehammer | Kristins Hall | 3,194 |
| Lørenskog | Lørenskog Ishall | 2,450 |
| Manglerud Star | Manglerudhallen | 2,000 |
| Sparta Warriors | Sparta Amfi | 3,450 |
| Stjernen | Stjernehallen | 2,473 |
Source:pointstreak.com

## Coaching changes

Coaching changes :
| Offseason ||||
| Team | 2015–16 coach | 2016–17 coach | Story / Accomplishments |
| Vålerenga Ishockey | Espen Knutsen | Roy Johansen | In June 2015, Knutsen announced that he would step down as head coach after the 2015-16 season. On 21 January 2016, Vålerenga announced national team coach Roy Johansen as Knutsen's replacement. |
| Stavanger Oilers | Petter Thoresen | Pål Gulbrandsen | Petter Thoresen was announced as the new head coach for the Norwegian national hockey team in December 2015. In February 2016, assistant coach Pål Gulbrandsen was announced as the new head coach of the Oilers, starting from the summer of 2016. |
| Kongsvinger Knights | Per Lundell | Janne Saaavalainen | On March 30, 2016 the club announced that Per Lundell did not want to extend his contract for 16/17. This is due to private, family reasons. On May 14, 2016, Janne Saaavalainen was presented as new head coach for the club. |
| Storhamar Hockey | Alexander Smirnov | Sjur Robert Nilsen | On April 29, Smirnov announced that he had signed with KHL club Ak Bars Kazan as part of their coaching team for the 2016-17 season. Sjur Robert Nilsen was announced as the new head coach on May 20. |
| In-season ||||
| Team | Outgoing coach | Incoming coach | Story / Accomplishments |
| Kongsvinger Knights | Janne Saavalainen | Anders Angelbrant | Janne Saavalainen left Kongsvinger on 7 January. He was replaced by Anders Angelbrant. |

## Playoffs

After the regular season, the top 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).

### Bracket

Updated as of April 11, 2017.
| Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | | | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Finals | Finals | Finals |
| 1 | Stavanger Oilers | 4 | | | | | | | | |
| 7 | Stjernen | 0 | | | | | | | | |
| 7 | Stjernen | 0 | | | 1 | Stavanger Oilers | 4 | | | |
| | | | | | 8 | Sparta Warriors | 0 | | | |
| 2 | Lørenskog | 3 | | | 8 | Sparta Warriors | 0 | | | |
| 6 | Lillehammer | 4 | | | | | | | | |
| 6 | Lillehammer | 4 | | | | | | 1 | Stavanger Oilers | 4 |
| (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | 1 | Stavanger Oilers | 4 |
| (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | 4 | Frisk Asker Tigers | 2 |
| 3 | Storhamar | 3 | | | | | | | | | 4 | Frisk Asker Tigers | 2 |
| 8 | Sparta Warriors | 4 | | | | | | | | |
| 8 | Sparta Warriors | 4 | | | 4 | Frisk Asker Tigers | 4 | | | |
| | | | | | 6 | Lillehammer | 1 | | | |
| 4 | Frisk Asker Tigers | 4 | | | 6 | Lillehammer | 1 | | | |
| 5 | Vålerenga | 2 | | | | | | | | |
Source: hockey.no
* Norwegian Champions 2017
* Stavanger Oilers 7th title

## Qualification

After the regular season had ended, the two lowest ranked teams in the league and the two highest ranked teams in the 1. divisjon competed for the right to play in the 2017–18 GET-ligaen. The tournament was organized according to a double round robin format, where each club played the others twice, home and away, for a total of six games. The points system and ranking method used, was the same as in the GET-ligaen.

### Standings

Updated as of March 23, 2017.
| 2017–18 GET-ligaen playoffs | GP | W | L | OTW | OTL | GF | GA | +/– | Pts |
| Manglerud Star$^q$ | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 26 | 15 | +11 | 14 |
| Kongsvinger Knights$^q$ | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 27 | -2 | 9 |
| Nidaros$^r$ | 6 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 19 | 20 | -1 | 7 |
| Comet$^r$ | 6 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 19 | 27 | -8 | 6 |
q – qualified for next years GET-league; r – will play in next years 1. division
Source: hockey.no