Modo Hockey facts for kids

Quick facts for kids MoDo Hockey
City	Örnsköldsvik, Sweden
League	SHL
Founded	27 March 1921
Home arena	Hägglunds Arena
Colors	Red, white, green
General manager	Henrik Gradin
Head coach	Mattias Karlin
Captain	David Rundblad
Website	modohockey.se
Franchise history
1921–1963	Alfredshems IK
1964–86	MoDo AIK
1987–present	MoDo Hockey
Le Mat Trophy	1979, 2007

Modo Hockey is a professional ice hockey team from Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. They are also known as MoDo. The team currently plays in Sweden's top league, the SHL. They earned their spot in the SHL after winning the HockeyAllsvenskan league in the 2022-23 season.

The club was officially founded in 1987. Modo Hockey has won the SHL championship once, in 2007. Their home arena since 2006 is the Hägglunds Arena. Before that, they played at Kempehallen starting in 1964.

The History of Modo Hockey

Early Years: Alfredshems IK and Modo AIK (1921–1987)

The club started on March 27, 1921, as Alfredshems IK. However, they did not have an ice hockey team until 1938. In 1958, the club joined Hockeyallsvenskan, which was Sweden's highest hockey league back then.

Alfredshems IK played under that name until 1963. Then, they changed their name to Modo AIK. This new name came from their main sponsor, a big company called Mo och Domsjö AB (shortened to MoDo). The next year, in 1964, the team moved into their new home arena, Kempehallen.

In 1975, Modo AIK became one of the first ten teams in the new top league, Elitserien. Four seasons later, in 1979, Modo AIK won their first regular-season championship. They then beat Djurgårdens IF, a team that had won many times before. This win also gave Modo AIK their first Le Mat trophy, which is the award for the playoff champions.

Modo Hockey Today (1987–Present)

In 1987, the club changed its name again to simply Modo Hockey. After their big win in 1979, the team had some tough years in the 1980s. But then, amazing young players started to come from their junior program.

Rising Stars: Forsberg and Näslund

Two hometown stars, Peter Forsberg and Markus Näslund, played their first games with the main team in 1990–91. Näslund became the top scorer for Modo Hockey in his second season, when he was just eighteen. Forsberg won the Guldpucken award, which is for the best Swedish player of the year. He won it two years in a row, in 1993 and 1994.

Both Forsberg and Näslund were chosen early in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft by NHL teams. This meant they would not stay in Sweden for long. Näslund left for the NHL in 1993. Forsberg stayed and led Modo to the Elitserien playoff final in 1994, but they lost.

The Sedin Twins and Continued Success

After Forsberg left for the NHL in 1995, twin brothers Daniel and Henrik Sedin were the next big talents. When they were seventeen, they both won the Guldpucken award together in 1999. They also helped Modo win their second regular-season title that year.

Daniel and Henrik were chosen second and third overall in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft. They left Modo for the NHL in 2000. Even after they left, Modo kept being a strong team. They played in three playoff finals between 1999 and 2002, but they lost all of them.

NHL Lockout and Championship Win

During the 2004–05 NHL lockout, many former Modo stars came back from the NHL. This included Forsberg, Näslund, the Sedin twins, and František Kaberle. Some foreign NHL players also joined Modo, like Adrian Aucoin and Dan Hinote. Even with these strong players, Modo finished sixth in the regular season.

In 2006, Modo moved from Kempehallen to the new Swedbank Arena. This new arena was partly helped by former star Peter Forsberg and his father. On April 14, 2007, Modo won their second Le Mat trophy by beating Linköpings HC. This was their first championship in 28 years! The team had great players like Per Svartvadet (who won the Guldpucken award), top scorer Per-Åge Skrøder, and future NHL player Tobias Enström. About 8,000 fans watched them win the championship.

Recent Years

In the 2008–09 season, the team did not make the playoffs. In 2009, Forsberg returned to play for Modo. Näslund also came out of retirement to join him. This news made the Modo website crash because so many people visited it! Both Näslund and Forsberg played without a salary. Even with these two stars, the team missed the playoffs again. After that season, Näslund retired again and later became the general manager of Modo.

In the 2010–11 season, Modo was very close to being moved down to a lower league. They had to play in a special series called Kvalserien to stay in the top league. In the final game, Modo won 2–0 against Södertälje and stayed in Elitserien. Later, Peter Forsberg became an assistant general manager for the team.

On May 2, 2011, Ulf Samuelsson, who used to be an assistant coach in the NHL, became the head coach of Modo Hockey for two seasons.

Women's Team

Modo Hockey also has a women's team, Modo Hockey Dam. In the 2012–13 season, the women's team finished first in their regular season. However, they lost in the semifinals to Brynäs IF.

Modo Players in the NHL

Even though Örnsköldsvik is a small town, it has produced many talented hockey players who went on to play in the NHL. The town loves hockey, with six indoor rinks. The Hägglunds Arena often has 7,000 fans for Modo home games.

Anders Hedberg was one of the first Swedish players to do well in the NHL in the 1970s. In the early 1990s, Peter Forsberg and Markus Näslund came from Modo's junior teams. They were chosen early in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft. They became some of Modo's first big NHL stars.

Forsberg won the Calder Memorial Trophy (best rookie) in 1995 and the Hart Memorial Trophy (league MVP) in 2003. Näslund won the Lester B. Pearson Award (NHL MVP chosen by players) in 2003. In 2003, Forsberg and Näslund were the top two scorers in the league for the Art Ross Trophy. That season, 13 NHL players came from Modo, and seven more were born near Örnsköldsvik. Niklas Sundström also played with Forsberg and Näslund and was drafted 8th overall in 1993.

Eight years later, twin brothers Daniel and Henrik Sedin were drafted second and third overall. They joined Näslund on the Vancouver Canucks team. From 1998-99 to 2016-17, only Näslund, Henrik, or Daniel led the Canucks in scoring. In 2009–10, Henrik won the Art Ross Trophy (leading scorer) and the Hart Memorial Trophy (league MVP). The next year, his brother Daniel won the Art Ross Trophy. This was the first time in NHL history that two brothers won scoring titles one after another!

In 2008–09, defenseman Victor Hedman got a lot of attention from the NHL. He was chosen second overall in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft by the Tampa Bay Lightning. This made him tied with Daniel Sedin as the highest-drafted Modo player ever.

More recently, Victor Olofsson found success with the Buffalo Sabres. He became a regular player for them in the 2019–20 season.

Players

Current Roster

Modo Hockey has a team of talented players. The roster is updated regularly.

Retired Numbers

Modo Hockey honors special players by retiring their jersey numbers. This means no other player on the team will wear that number again.

Notable Players

Many great players have played for Modo Hockey over the years. Here are some of them:

Trophies and Awards

Team Achievements

Modo Hockey has won several important titles as a team:

Individual Player Awards

Many Modo players have won special awards for their skills:

Images for kids

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  Banners of retired numbers at Hägglunds Arena