Leksands IF

Leksands Idrottsförening is a Swedish ice hockey team from the town of Leksand in the region of Dalarna. The team plays in the top-tier league, SHL, after succeeding through the 2019 SHL qualifiers and thus earning promotion to the SHL. The club's home arena is Tegera Arena, which seats 7,650 spectators.

Leksands IF
CityLeksand, Sweden
LeagueSwedish Hockey League
FoundedAugust 13, 1919 (1919-08-13)
Home arenaTegera Arena
Colours     
General managerThomas Johansson
Head coachBjörn Hellkvist
CaptainPatrik Zackrisson
Affiliate(s)Leksands IF Dam
Franchise history
Championship wins4 (1969, 1973, 1974, 1975)
Runners-up5 (1959, 1964, 1971, 1972, 1989)

History

The club was formed on 13 August 1919,[1] originally playing bandy and ski competitions. In 1920 they also took up football.

The first hockey game was played in 1938, when they beat Mora IK 11–0, and this sport is now the only sport the club competes in. Despite the fact that the town of Leksand only has 6,000 inhabitants, Leksands IF is one of the most popular teams in Sweden, and the team averages over 6,000 spectators per game in their home arena. Leksand played in the top hockey division in Sweden from 1951 until 2001. The club was very successful between 1969 and 1975, when they became Swedish champions four times (1969, 19731975). Before the current top division, Elitserien (now known as the SHL), was formed prior to the 1975–76 season, they had been the runners-up four times: 1959, 1964, 1971 and 1972. Leksand has never become SHL champions despite winning the SHL's regular season in 1980, 1994 and 1997, and being the runners-up in 1989. In 2001, they were the club with the second most consecutive seasons in the highest division at that point (the record is held by Södertälje SK, with 53 consecutive seasons between 1925–1978).

Following the relegation to HockeyAllsvenskan in April 2001, Leksand commuted between the top and second divisions until 2005–06, when the team was relegated to the second tier again, where they would find themselves until the 2012–13 season.

Leksand players celebrating a victory against arch rivals Mora IK in 2013.

For the 2007–08 season, Leksand signed former NHL goaltender Ed Belfour in an attempt to regain top league status. After winning the second league with relative ease, the team failed in the final qualification stage, Kvalserien, to gain promotion. Ed Belfour retired after the 2007–08 season.

Leksand once again won Allsvenskan in the 2008–09 season, but once again failed to qualify for the Elitserien in the 2009 Kvalserien. The managers Thomas Kempe and Thomas Jonsson were sacked following three straight defeats in the beginning of the Kvalserien. The team finished the 2009 Kvalserien with five wins in the last six games, but still failed to qualify. For the 2009–10 season, Leksand employed Leif Strömberg, who had previously successfully guided Södertälje SK through Kvalserien. The team once again won Allsvenskan and qualified for the 2010 Kvalserien, finishing three points ahead of AIK. In the ninth round of the 2010 Kvalserien, Leksand had a good chance to put them in the driver's seat for promotion to Elitserien, but Leksand failed to beat the Kvalserien's worst ranked team Växjö Lakers and, despite a win in the tenth and final round, Leksand missed Elitserien as both AIK and Rögle BK won their respective games in the final round.

After failing promotion, Leif Strömberg was replaced by ex-Leksand forward Niklas Eriksson, under whom the following season Leksand attempted to reach the Kvalserien for the seventh consecutive season. The team finished fourth in Allsvenskan and missed automatic qualification for the Kvalserien and had to play in a pre-qualification series to reach the Kvalserien, but Leksand finished third and missed the Kvalserien. Before the 2011/12 season, assistant head coach Christer Olsson took over the reins, but was sacked following a defeat at Sundsvall Hockey in late November and replaced by Andreas Appelgren.

After winning the regular season in the 2012–13 season, Leksand once again qualified for play in Kvalserien. In the 2013 Kvalserien, Leksand finally promoted back to the Swedish Hockey League (SHL; formerly Elitserien), the top-tier league, for the first time since the 2005–06 season.

Season-by-season record

This is a partial list, featuring the five most recent completed seasons. For a more complete list, see List of Leksands IF seasons.

Year Level Division Record Avg.
home
atnd.
Notes Ref.
Position W-OTW-OTL-L
2014–15 Tier 1 SHL 11th 23–5–4–23 6,574 [2]
SHL qualifiers 2–1–0–4 6,240 Lost 3–4 in games to the Malmö Redhawks
Relegated to HockeyAllsvenskan
[3]
2015–16 Tier 2 HockeyAllsvenskan 4th 24–3–7–18 4,576 [4]
HockeyAllsvenskan Playoffs 1st 3–0–0–2 5,618 [5]
Playoff to the SHL qualifiers 2–0–0–0 7,650 Won 2–0 in games vs Tingsryds AIF [6]
SHL qualifiers 2–2–0–3 7,294 Won 4–3 in games vs MODO Hockey
Promoted to the SHL
[7]
2016–17 Tier 1 SHL 14th 12–1–5–34 5,737 [8]
SHL qualifiers 2–0–0–4 7,186 Lost 2–4 in games to Mora IK
Relegated to HockeyAllsvenskan
[9]
2017–18 Tier 2 HockeyAllsvenskan 2nd 26–3–7–16 5,141 [10]
HockeyAllsvenskan finals 0–0–1–2 5,954 Lost 0–3 in games vs Timrå IK [11]
Playoff to SHL qualifiers 1–1–0–1 4,603 Won 2–1 in games to IK Oskarshamn [12]
SHL qualifiers 1–0–0–4 7,557 Lost 1–4 in games to Mora IK [13]
2018–19 Tier 2 HockeyAllsvenskan 4th 25–5–5–17 4,666 [14]
HockeyAllsvenskan Playoffs 1st 3–2–0–0 4,954 [15]
Playoff to the SHL qualifiers 2–0–0–0 7,650 Won 2–0 in games vs AIK IF [16]
SHL qualifiers 3–1–0–1 7,650 Won 4–1 in games vs Mora IK
Promoted to the SHL
[17]

Players and personnel

Current roster

Source: leksandsif.se[18]Source: eliteprospects.com[19]As of October 18, 2020.

# Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace
34 Peter Cehlárik RW L 25 2020 Žilina, Slovakia
55 Jonas Ahnelöv D L 33 2019 Huddinge, Sweden
66 Nils Åman C L 20 2018 Avesta, Sweden
14 Oskar Lang LW L 24 2014 Arvika, Sweden
3 August Berg D R 21 2018 Stockholm, Sweden
33 Axel Brage G L 32 2018 Stockholm, Sweden
6 Alexander Lundqvist D L 19 2019 Skellefteå, Sweden
25 Carter Camper C R 32 2020 Rocky River, Ohio, United States
12 Fredrik Forsberg LW L 24 2019 Stockholm, Sweden
10 Johan Fransson D L 35 2019 Kalix, Sweden
15 Otto Paajanen C L 28 2020 Loppi, Finland
11 Martin Karlsson LW L 30 2015 Falun, Sweden
28 Mattias Göransson D L 25 2019 Grums, Sweden
16 Daniel Gunnarsson D R 28 2018 Köping, Sweden
17 Daniel Olsson-Trkulja LW L 29 2019 Stockholm, Sweden
8 Matthew Caito D R 27 2020 Coto de Caza, California, United States
30 Janne Juvonen G L 26 2019 Kiihtelysvaara, Finland
13 Jon Knuts LW L 29 2014 Malung, Sweden
7 Lucas Nordsäter D L 22 2018 Grums, Sweden
32 Jesper Kandergård C L 19 2019 Sweden
21 Mattias Ritola C L 33 2017 Borlänge, Sweden
29 Emil Heineman LW L 19 2019 Leksand, Sweden
5 Calle Själin D L 21 2017 Östersund, Sweden
9 Patrik Zackrisson (C) C R 33 2019 Ekerö, Sweden
27 Marek Hrivík C L 29 2019 Čadca, Slovakia
26 Patrik Norén D L 28 2020 Säter, Sweden

Retired numbers

Honored numbers

Honored coaches

Rune Mases

Hockey Hall of Famers

References

  1. "Historia". Leksands IF (in Swedish). Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  2. "SHL: 2014–15: SHL". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 14 October 2015. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  3. "SHL: 2014–15: SHL Qualifiers". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 14 October 2015. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  4. "HockeyAllsvenskan: 2015–16: Allsvenskan". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 14 October 2016. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  5. "HockeyAllsvenskan: 2015–16: Playoffs". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 14 October 2016. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  6. "HockeyAllsvenskan: 2015–16: Allsvenskan Play In in SHL Qualifiers". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 14 October 2016. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  7. "SHL: 2015–16: SHL Qualifiers". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 14 October 2016. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  8. "SHL: 2016–17: SHL". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 14 October 2017. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
  9. "SHL: 2016–17: SHL Qualifiers". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 14 October 2017. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
  10. "Allsvenskan: 2017–18: Allsvenskan". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 26 April 2018. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  11. "Allsvenskan: 2017–18: Allsvenskan Finals". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 26 April 2018. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  12. "Allsvenskan: 2017–18: Playoff to SHL Qualifiers". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 26 April 2018. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  13. "SHL: 2017–18: SHL Qualifiers". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 14 October 2018. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  14. "HockeyAllsvenskan: 2018–19: Allsvenskan". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 14 April 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
  15. "HockeyAllsvenskan: 2018–19: Playoffs". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 14 April 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
  16. "HockeyAllsvenskan: 2018–19: Allsvenskan Play In in SHL Qualifiers". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 14 April 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
  17. "SHL: 2018–19: SHL Qualifiers". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 14 April 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
  18. "Leksands IF - roster" (in Swedish). Leksands IF. 22 May 2019. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  19. "Leksand - Team Roster". Eliteprospects.com. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  20. "Retired Numbers". European Hockey.net. Retrieved 23 January 2007.
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