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, becoming national champions in 1987).

IF Björklöven
City	Umeå, Sweden
League	HockeyAllsvenskan
Founded	May 15, 1970 (1970-05-15)
Home arena	Winpos Arena
Colours
General manager	Per Kenttä
Head coach	Viktor Stråhle
Captain	Fredric Andersson
Website	bjorkloven.com
Franchise history
26	Seasons in Sweden's highest division
3	Swedish Championship Finals appearances
Championships
Le Mat Trophy	1987

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 ice 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.

Björklöven Dam

Björklöven's women's side currently plays in Damettan, in the north division of the second tier of Swedish women's hockey. Ahead of the 2018–19 SDHL season, the club hosted the Damcup Umeå exhibition tournament between Björklöven, Luleå HF/MSSK, Modo Hockey, and the Japanese national team. Luleå were crowned winners of the tournament after winning all three of their games.^[1]

Season-by-season records

List of Björklöven seasons
Season	Level	Division	Record		Avg. home atnd.	Notes	Ref
			Position	W-OTW-OTL-L
This is a partial list, featuring the five most recent seasons. For a more complete list, see List of IF Björklöven seasons
2017–18	Tier 2	HockeyAllsvenskan	5th of 14	20–6–8–18	3,902		^[2]
		Playoff to SHL qualifiers	3rd of 6	2–2–0–1	4,028		^[3]
2018–19	Tier 2	HockeyAllsvenskan	10th of 14	16–6–8–22	3,879		^[4]
2019–20	Tier 2	HockeyAllsvenskan	1st of 14	36–5–3–8	4,754		^[5]
		HockeyAllsvenskan Finals	–	1–0–1–0	5,400	Playoffs cancelled due to COVID19 pandemic	^[6]
2020–21	Tier 2	HockeyAllsvenskan	3rd of 14	26–6–3–17	23		^[7]
		HockeyAllsvenskan Playoffs	–	6–2–3–5	56	Won in quarterfinals 3–1 in games vs Mora IK Won in semifinals 4–3 in games vs BIK Karlskoga Lost in finals 1–4 in games vs Timrå IK	^[8]
2021–22	Tier 2	HockeyAllsvenskan	4th of 14	26–7–6–13	3,855		^[9]
		HockeyAllsvenskan Playoffs	–	8–2–2–6	5,176	Won in quarterfinals 4–1 in games vs Västerås IK Won in semifinals 4–3 in games vs Modo Hockey Lost in finals 2–4 in games vs HV71	^[10]

Players and personnel

Current roster

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Updated 5 March, 2023.^[11]

No.	Nat	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
13		Fredric Andersson (C)	C	L	34	2017	Gnesta, Sweden
37		Jacob Andersson	D	L	28	2022	Umeå, Sweden
47		Charles-David Beaudoin	D	R	29	2022	Drummondville, Quebec, Canada
25		Christopher Bengtsson	C	L	29	2021	Stockholm, Sweden
24		Linus Cronholm	D	L	22	2022	Malmö, Sweden
33		Alex D'Orio	G	R	23	2022	Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada
68		Elliot Ekefjärd	RW	L	21	2021	Vaxholm, Sweden
76		Elliot Ekmark	C	L	21	2023	Linköping, Sweden
10		Gerry Fitzgerald	C	R	29	2021	Port Alberni, British Columbia, Canada
41		Maxime Fortier	RW	R	25	2022	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
20		Carl Holmner Härgestam	LW	L	19	2020	Umeå, Sweden
90		Alex Hutchings	C/RW	R	32	2019	Burlington, Ontario, Canada
58		Kim Johansson	D	L	24	2022	Luleå, Sweden
18		Oliver Johansson	LW	L	19	2022	Sundsvall, Sweden
92		Viljami Juusola	D	L	19	2021	Kirkkonummi, Finland
5		Jesper Lindgren	D	R	25	2021	Umeå, Sweden
81		Jens Lööke	RW	R	25	2023	Gävle, Sweden
39		Joel Mustonen	C	L	30	2022	Oulu, Finland
15		Mattias Nørstebø (A)	D	L	27	2021	Trondheim, Norway
32		Jacob Olofsson	C	L	23	2021	Piteå, Sweden
12		Scott Pooley	RW	R	28	2022	Granger, Indiana, United States
71		Gustav Possler	LW	L	28	2020	Södertälje, Sweden
48		Daniel Rahimi	D	L	35	2020	Umeå, Sweden
7		Nick Schilkey	RW	R	28	2022	Marysville, Michigan, United States
6		Veeti Vainio	D	R	25	2021	Espoo, Finland
29		Alexander Viklund (A)	W	L	32	2018	Piteå, Sweden
30		Joona Voutilainen	G	L	26	2021	Espoo, Finland
22		Fredric Weigel	C	L	30	2022	Stockholm, 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
9	Aleksandrs Beļavskis	RW	1991–2003	–
17	Patrik Sundström	RW	1978–1982, 1992–1994	–
23	Roger Hägglund	D	1977–1983, 1985–1992	–
27	Tore Ökvist^[12]	F	1974–1988	–

Notable players

• Ric Jackman
• Greg Parks
• Andrew Raycroft
• Brian Watts
• François Rozenthal
• Maurice Rozenthal
• Peter Andersson
• Mikael Andersson
• Ulf Dahlén
• Calle Johansson
• Peter Sundström
• Brad DeFauw

References

1. Payne, Shelley (September 11, 2018). "IF Bjorkloven: Damcup Umea Pre-Season Tournament".
2. "Allsvenskan: 2017–18: Allsvenskan". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 26 April 2018. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
3. "Allsvenskan: 2017–18: Allsvenskan Playoffs". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 26 April 2018. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
4. "Allsvenskan: 2017–18: Allsvenskan". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 26 April 2018. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
5. "Allsvenskan: 2019–20: Allsvenskan". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 26 April 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
6. "Allsvenskan: 2019–20: Allsvenskan Playoffs". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 26 April 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
7. "Allsvenskan: 2020–21: Allsvenskan". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 26 April 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
8. "Allsvenskan: 2020–21: Allsvenskan Playoffs". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 26 April 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
9. "Allsvenskan: 2021–22: Allsvenskan". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 26 April 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
10. "Allsvenskan: 2021–22: Allsvenskan Playoffs". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 26 April 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
11. "Björklöven roster". IF Björklöven (in Swedish). 5 March 2023. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
12. "Retired Numbers". European Hockey.net. Retrieved January 23, 2007.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to IF Björklöven.

• IF Björklöven official website
• Green Devils supporter's club
• Gröngult, independent fansite