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IF Björklöven facts for kids

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

IF Björklöven, often called Löven, is a professional ice hockey team from Umeå, a city in northern Sweden. The team plays in HockeyAllsvenskan, which is the second-highest league in Sweden. Björklöven has played 15 seasons in Sweden's top league, Elitserien. They even won the Swedish championship in 1987!

Team History

IF Björklöven was created in 1970. This happened when two other ice hockey teams, IFK Umeå and Sandåkerns SK, joined together. The name 'björklöven' means 'the birch leaves' in Swedish. People sometimes called IFK Umeå this name because Umeå is known as the 'city of birch trees'. After the teams merged, 'Björklöven' became their official name.

The team was very successful in the 1980s. They played in the Elitserien, which is Sweden's top league. In 1987, they won the Swedish championship, which was a huge achievement! However, just two years later, they moved down to a lower league. Since then, they have mostly played in the second-tier league, HockeyAllsvenskan. They did have a few short times back in the top league during the 1990s.

Some famous players who played for Björklöven include Calle Johansson, Ulf Dahlén, Tore Öqvist, and the twin brothers Patrik Sundström and Peter Sundström.

From 2001 to 2010, Björklöven played in HockeyAllsvenskan. In 2010, the club faced big financial problems. They went bankrupt in April 2010, but managed to fix the issue a month later. Even with a lot of effort, the Swedish Ice Hockey Association did not allow them to play in HockeyAllsvenskan. So, the team moved down to Division 1, the third-tier league, for the 2010–11 season. Björklöven worked hard and was promoted back to HockeyAllsvenskan in the 2012–13 season.

The team has had many promising young players over the years. These include Alexander Hellström, Alexander Sundström, Patrik Nevalainen, Daniel Rahimi, and Kristofer Berglund. Because of money issues, Björklöven sometimes lost these players to other teams. However, Hellström, Sundström, and Nevalainen later returned to play for the team.

Björklöven Women's Team

Björklöven also has a women's ice hockey team. This team currently plays in Damettan, which is the second level of women's hockey in Sweden. In 2018, the club hosted a special tournament called Damcup Umeå. Teams like Luleå HF/MSSK, Modo Hockey, and the Japanese national team played in it. Luleå won the tournament by winning all their games.

Players and Team Members

Current Roster

Updated 10 October, 2019.

# Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace
13 Sweden Andersson, FredricFredric Andersson (C) C L 36 2017 Gnesta, Sweden
96 Sweden Andreasson, PontusPontus Andreasson F L 26 2019 Stockholm, Sweden
35 United States Cannata, JoeJoe Cannata G L 35 2019 Wakefield, Massachusetts, United States
12 United States Cooper, BrianBrian Cooper D L 31 2019 Anchorage, Alaska, United States
8 Sweden Deilert, AlexanderAlexander Deilert D R 36 2019 Stockholm, Sweden
91 United States Crandall, JustinJustin Crandall RW R 33 2019 Lakeville, Minnesota, United States
53 Sweden Eriksson, LukasLukas Eriksson C/LW L 36 2017 Karlstad, Sweden
11 Sweden Eriksson, WilliamWilliam Eriksson F R 27 2018 Stockholm, Sweden
90 Canada Hutchings, AlexAlex Hutchings C/RW R 34 2019 Burlington, Ontario, Canada
7 Sweden Hellström, AlexanderAlexander Hellström D L 38 2018 Falun, Sweden
5 Sweden Häman Aktell, HardyHardy Häman Aktell D L 27 2018 Kåge, Sweden
77 Sweden Lindquist, DavidDavid Lindquist C/LW L 32 2018 Piteå, Sweden
26 Denmark Larsen, OliverOliver Larsen D R 26 2019 Aalborg, Denmark
79 Sweden Lundberg, EmilEmil Lundberg W L 31 2018 Luleå, Sweden
30 Sweden Pettersson, MattiasMattias Pettersson G L 34 2018 Halmstad, Sweden
21 Sweden Rainersson, ErikErik Rainersson RW R 26 2017 Umeå, Sweden
40 Sweden Selin, SebastianSebastian Selin RW R 33 2018 Skellefteå, Sweden
19 Sweden Söder, KristofferKristoffer Söder C L 34 2018 Skövde, Sweden
24 Sweden Stenvall, LudwigLudwig Stenvall D R 26 2019 Skellefteå, Sweden
52 Sweden Tornberg, AugustAugust Tornberg D R 33 2018 Pajala, Sweden
15 United States Vesel, TylerTyler Vesel C R 31 2019 Duluth, Minnesota, United States
28 Sweden Viklund, AlexanderAlexander Viklund W L 34 2018 Piteå, Sweden
39 Sweden Åström, FiliphFiliph Åström LW L 24 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

Some players are so important to the team that their jersey numbers are "retired." This means no other player on the team will ever wear that number again. It's a special way to remember their amazing contributions.

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 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
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