IF Björklöven

IF Björklöven (often simply referred to as Björklöven or Löven) is a Swedish professional ice hockey club in Umeå, Västerbotten, in northern Sweden. The club is currently playing in the second-tier league HockeyAllsvenskan as of the 2014–15 season, but has played 15 seasons in the top Swedish league Elitserien (1976–77, 1978–79 to 1988–89, 1993–94, 1998–99 and 2000–01).

IF Björklöven
CityUmeå, Sweden
LeagueHockeyAllsvenskan
FoundedMay 15, 1970 (1970-05-15)
Home arenaA3 Arena
Colours         
General managerPer Kenttä
Head coachHans Wallson
CaptainFredric Andersson
Websitewww.bjorkloven.com
Franchise history
26Seasons in Sweden's highest division
3Swedish Championship Finals appearances
Le Mat Trophy1987

History

IF Björklöven was formed in 1970 when the ice hockey sections of IFK Umeå and Sandåkerns SK were merged. The IFK Umeå team had already at times been referred to as 'björklöven' (the birch leaves) as a tongue in cheek reference to Canadian hockey and Umeå being known as the 'city of birch trees', and after the merger the nickname became the official team name.

The team was quite successful at the Elitserien (SEL) level, the highest league in Sweden, during the 1980s and won the Swedish championship in 1987. They were, however, relegated only two years later, and since then have not been able to establish themselves permanently in the Elitserien again. Instead, they have mostly played in the second-tier league Allsvenskan, save for a few short stints in the 90s. Some notable players from Björklöven are Calle Johansson, Ulf Dahlén, Tore Öqvist and twins Patrik Sundström and Peter Sundström.

From 2001 to 2010, Björklöven played in HockeyAllsvenskan, the second highest ice hockey league for men in Sweden. Although the team finished 12th in the 2009–10 HockeyAllsvenskan season (which meant that the team was set to play in HockeyAllsvenskan the following season), the club was in big economical problems in March–May 2010. The club went bankrupt in April 2010, but got the bankruptcy allayed a month later. Despite huge further efforts by the club to obtain an elite license to play in HockeyAllsvenskan the following season, the Swedish Ice Hockey Association (SIHA) decided not to give Björklöven an elite license and thus the team was relegated to the third-tier league Division 1 for the 2010–11 season. Björklöven was eventually promoted back to HockeyAllsvenskan in the 2012–13 season.

The team has recently had many promising young players, including Alexander Hellström, Alexander Sundström, Patrik Nevalainen, Daniel Rahimi and Kristofer Berglund. Due to lack of funds however, Björklöven lost all of these young players to other teams, although Hellström, Sundström and Nevalainen later rejoined the team.

Season-by-season records
List of Björklöven seasons
Season Level Division Record Avg.
home
atnd.		 Notes Ref
Position W-T-L
W-OT-L
This is a partial list, featuring the five most recent seasons. For a more complete list, see List of IF Björklöven seasons
2014–15 Tier 2 HockeyAllsvenskan 6th of 14 19–10–4–19 3,552 [1]
Playoff to SHL qualifiers 4th of 6 1–2–0–2 5,118 [2]
2015–16 Tier 2 HockeyAllsvenskan 12th of 14 20–2–9–22 3,472 [3]
2016–17 Tier 2 HockeyAllsvenskan 11th of 14 20–1–5–26 3,802 [4]
2017–18 Tier 2 HockeyAllsvenskan 5th of 14 20–6–8–18 3,902 [5]
Playoff to SHL qualifiers 3rd of 6 2–2–0–1 4,028 [6]
2018–19 Tier 2 HockeyAllsvenskan 10th of 14 16–6–8–22 3,879 [7]

Players and personnel

Current roster

Updated 10 October, 2019.[8]

# Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace
13 Fredric Andersson (C) C L 31 2017 Gnesta, Sweden
96 Pontus Andreasson F L 21 2019 Stockholm, Sweden
35 Joe Cannata G L 30 2019 Wakefield, Massachusetts, United States
12 Brian Cooper D L 26 2019 Anchorage, Alaska, United States
8 Alexander Deilert D R 31 2019 Stockholm, Sweden
91 Justin Crandall RW R 28 2019 Lakeville, Minnesota, United States
53 Lukas Eriksson C/LW L 31 2017 Karlstad, Sweden
11 William Eriksson F R 22 2018 Stockholm, Sweden
90 Alex Hutchings C/RW R 29 2019 Burlington, Ontario, Canada
7 Alexander Hellström D L 33 2018 Falun, Sweden
5 Hardy Häman Aktell D L 22 2018 Kåge, Sweden
77 David Lindquist C/LW L 27 2018 Piteå, Sweden
26 Oliver Larsen D R 21 2019 Aalborg, Denmark
79 Emil Lundberg W L 26 2018 Luleå, Sweden
30 Mattias Pettersson G L 29 2018 Halmstad, Sweden
21 Erik Rainersson RW R 21 2017 Umeå, Sweden
40 Sebastian Selin RW R 28 2018 Skellefteå, Sweden
71 Oskar Stål Lyrenäs RW R 22 2018 Umeå, Sweden
19 Kristoffer Söder C L 29 2018 Skövde, Sweden
24 Ludwig Stenvall D R 21 2019 Skellefteå, Sweden
52 August Tornberg D R 28 2018 Pajala, Sweden
15 Tyler Vesel C R 26 2019 Duluth, Minnesota, United States
28 Alexander Viklund W L 29 2018 Piteå, Sweden
39 Filiph Åström LW L 19 2016 Umeå, Sweden

Team captains
  • John Slettvoll, 1976–77
  • Ulf Lundström, 1977–80
  • Torbjörn Andersson, 1981–83
  • Rolf Berglund, 1983–86
  • Peter Andersson, 1986–89
  • Ulf Andersson, 1989–90
  • Peter Andersson, 1990–93
  • Patrik Sundström, 1993–94
  • Peter Andersson, 1994–95
  • Jens Öhman, 1995–96
  • Robert Ljunggren, 1996–97
  • Peder Bejegård, 1997–98
  • Jens Öhman, 1998–99
  • Christian Lechtaler, 1999–01
  • Göran Hermansson, 2001–02
  • Jörgen Hermansson, 2002–05
  • Mats Lavander, 2005–07
  • Magnus Gästrin, 2007–09
  • Fredrik Öberg, 2009–10
  • Martin Johansson, 2010–11
  • Johan Jarl, 2011–13
  • Mats Lavander, 2013–14
  • Stefan Öhman, 2014–17
  • Fredric Andersson, 2017–present

Honored members
IF Björklöven retired numbers
No. Player Position Career No. retirement
9Aleksandrs BeļavskisRW1991–2003–
17Patrik SundströmRW1978–1982, 1992–1994–
23Roger HägglundD1977–1983, 1985–1992–
27Tore Ökvist[9]F1974–1988–

Notable players
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References
  1. "Allsvenskan: 2014–15: Allsvenskan". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 26 April 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
  2. "Allsvenskan: 2014–15: Allsvenskan Playoffs". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 26 April 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
  3. "Allsvenskan: 2015–16: Allsvenskan". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 26 April 2016. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  4. "Allsvenskan: 2016–17: Allsvenskan". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 26 April 2017. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  5. "Allsvenskan: 2017–18: Allsvenskan". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 26 April 2018. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  6. "Allsvenskan: 2017–18: Allsvenskan Playoffs". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 26 April 2018. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  7. "Allsvenskan: 2017–18: Allsvenskan". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 26 April 2018. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  8. "Björklöven roster". IF Björklöven (in Swedish). 10 October 2019. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
  9. "Retired Numbers". European Hockey.net. Retrieved January 23, 2007.
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