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Posted on June 17, 2024 By LabLynx Journal articles

This article is about the men's team. For the women's team competing in the SDHL, see Leksands IF Dam.

Leksands IF
CityLeksand, Sweden
LeagueSwedish Hockey League
Founded13 August 1919 (1919-08-13)
Home arenaTegera Arena
Colours     
General managerThomas Johansson
Head coachBjörn Hellkvist
CaptainPatrik Zackrisson
AffiliateLeksands IF Dam
Websiteleksandsif.se
Franchise history
Championship wins4 (1969, 1973, 1974, 1975)
Runners-up5 (1959, 1964, 1971, 1972, 1989)
Current season

Leksands Idrottsförening is a Swedish professional ice hockey team from the town of Leksand in the region of Dalarna. The team plays in the top-tier league, Swedish Hockey 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.

History

Åke Lassa´s statue in Tegera Arena.

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 4,000 spectators per game in their home arena despite playing in the second tier. 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, 1973–1975). 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 and 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
2018–19 Tier 2 HockeyAllsvenskan 4th 25–5–5–17 4,666 [2]
HockeyAllsvenskan Playoffs 1st 3–2–0–0 4,954 [3]
Playoff to the SHL qualifiers — 2–0–0–0 7,650 Won 2–0 in games vs AIK IF [4]
SHL qualifiers — 3–1–0–1 7,650 Won 4–1 in games vs Mora IK
Increase Promoted to the SHL 		[5]
2019–20 Tier 1 SHL 13th 13–2–6–31 5,795 [6]
2020–21 Tier 1 SHL 3rd 25–7–5–15 22 [7]
Swedish Championship playoffs — 0–0–1–3 16 Lost in 1st round 0–4 in games vs Örebro HK [8]
2021–22 Tier 1 SHL 8th 20–4–7–21 5,270 [9]
Eighth-finals — 1–0–0–2 6,154 Lost 1–2 in games vs IK Oskarshamn [10]
2022–23 Tier 1 SHL 8th 22–5–1–24 6,065 [11]
Eighth-finals — 0–1–0–2 5,508 Lost 1–2 in games vs Rögle BK [12]

Players and personnel

Current roster

No. Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace
40 Lithuania Mantas Armalis G L 32 2022 Plungė, Lithuania
8 United States Matthew Caito D R 31 2020 Coto de Caza, California, United States
34 Slovakia Peter Cehlárik LW L 29 2023 Žilina, Slovakia
24 Sweden Arvid Eljas C L 21 2020 Björbo, Sweden
25 Sweden Lucas Elvenes LW L 25 2022 Ängelholm, Sweden
36 Sweden Hannes Hellberg LW L 20 2024 Täby, Sweden
– Sweden Jakob Hellsten G L 24 2024 Ljusdal, Sweden
27 Slovakia Marek Hrivík C L 33 2022 Čadca, Czechoslovakia
10 Sweden Anton Johansson D R 20 2021 Stockholm, Sweden
7 Sweden Marcus Karlberg LW R 24 2017 Leksand, Sweden
11 Sweden Martin Karlsson LW L 33 2015 Falun, Sweden
28 United States Justin Kloos C R 31 2021 Lakeville, Minnesota, United States
13 Sweden Jon Knuts LW L 33 2014 Malung, Sweden
4 Sweden Lucas Lagerberg Hoen D L 20 2024 Mora, Sweden
14 Sweden Oskar Lang LW L 28 2014 Arvika, Sweden
33 Sweden Eddie Larsson D L 33 2023 Mariestad, Sweden
6 Sweden Alexander Lundqvist D L 23 2021 Skellefteå, Sweden
– Finland Joonas Lyytinen D L 29 2024 Espoo, Finland
3 Sweden Fred Nilsson D R 22 2023 Bollnäs, Sweden
26 Sweden Patrik Norén (A) D L 32 2020 Säter, Sweden
12 Sweden Kalle Östman C L 30 2022 Borlänge, Sweden
– Finland Axel Rindell D R 24 2024 Espoo, Finland
22 Sweden Lukas Vejdemo C L 28 2023 Stockholm, Sweden
15 Canada Max Véronneau RW R 29 2023 Sandy Hill, Ontario, Canada
9 Sweden Patrik Zackrisson (C) C R 37 2019 Ekerö, Sweden

As of 16 August 2024

Retired numbers

Honored numbers

Honored coaches

Hockey Hall of Famers

References

  1. ^ "Historia". Leksands IF (in Swedish). Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  2. ^ "HockeyAllsvenskan: 2018–19: Allsvenskan". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 14 April 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
  3. ^ "HockeyAllsvenskan: 2018–19: Playoffs". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 14 April 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
  4. ^ "HockeyAllsvenskan: 2018–19: Allsvenskan Play In in SHL Qualifiers". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 14 April 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
  5. ^ "SHL: 2018–19: SHL Qualifiers". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 14 April 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
  6. ^ "SHL: 2019–20: SHL". 17 February 2023. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
  7. ^ "SHL: 2020–21: SHL". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 17 February 2023. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
  8. ^ "SHL: 2020–21: Play In". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 17 February 2023. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
  9. ^ "SHL: 2021–22: SHL". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 17 February 2023. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
  10. ^ "SHL: 2020–21: Play In". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 17 February 2023. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
  11. ^ "SHL: 2022–23: SHL". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 17 March 2023. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
  12. ^ "SHL: 2022–23: Play In". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 17 March 2023. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
  13. ^ "Retired Numbers". European Hockey.net. Retrieved 23 January 2007.
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leksands_IF

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