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IF Björklöven

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IF Björklöven
NicknameLöven
CityUmeå, Sweden
LeagueHockeyAllsvenskan
FoundedMay 15, 1970 (1970-05-15)
Home arenaWinpos Arena
Colours   
General managerPer Kenttä
Head coachMagnus Bogren
CaptainAxel Ottosson
Websitebjorkloven.com
Franchise history
26Seasons in Sweden's highest division
3Swedish Championship Finals appearances
Championships
Le Mat Trophy1987
Current season

IF Björklöven (often simply referred to as Löven) is a Swedish professional ice hockey club in Umeå, Västerbotten, in northern Sweden. The club is returning to SHL (previously Elitserien) after 25 years for the 2026-27 season[1], and played 15 seasons in Elitserien (1976–77, 1978–79 to 1988–89, 1993–94, 1998–99 and 2000–01, becoming national champions in 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, Nevalainen and Rahimi 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.[2]

Season-by-season records

List of Björklöven seasons
Season Level Division Record Avg.
home
atnd.		 Notes Ref
Position W-OT-L
This is a partial list, featuring the five most recent seasons. For a more complete list, see List of IF Björklöven seasons
2021–22 Tier 2 HockeyAllsvenskan 4th of 14 26–7–6–13 3,855 [3]
HockeyAllsvenskan Playoffs – 8–2–2–6 5,176 Won in quarterfinals, 4–1 vs Västerås IK
Won in semifinals, 4–3 vs Modo Hockey
Lost in finals, 2–4 vs HV71		 [4]
2022–23 Tier 2 HockeyAllsvenskan 2nd of 14 29–7–5–11 4,605 [5]
HockeyAllsvenskan Playoffs – 5–1–1–4 4,976 Won in quarterfinals, 4–1 vs Västerås IK
Lost in semifinals, 2–4 vs Djurgårdens IF		 [6]
2023–24 Tier 2 HockeyAllsvenskan 6th of 14 21–8–6–17 4,639 [7]
HockeyAllsvenskan Playoffs – 1–0–2–2 5,001 Lost in quarterfinals, 1–4 vs Djurgårdens IF [8]
2024–25 Tier 2 HockeyAllsvenskan 4th of 14 28–4–6–14 4,659 [9]
HockeyAllsvenskan Playoffs – 3–0–2–2 5,038 Lost in quarterfinals, 3–4 vs AIK [10]
2025–26 Tier 2 HockeyAllsvenskan 1st of 14 34–7–3–8 4,558 [11]
HockeyAllsvenskan Playoffs – 10–2–0–1 5,042 Won in quarterfinals, 4–0 vs IK Oskarshamn
Won in quarterfinals, 4–1 vs Södertälje SK
Won in finals, 4–0 vs BIK Karlskoga
 [12]

Players and personnel

Current roster

Updated June 13 2026.[13]

No. Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace
- Sweden Emil Alba LW L 28 2026 Stockholm, Sweden
47 Sweden Marcus Björk D R 28 2025 Umeå, Sweden
24 Sweden Linus Cronholm D L 26 2022 Malmö, Sweden
- Sweden Lucas Ekeståhl Jonsson D L 30 2026 Stockholm, Sweden
- Canada Chris DiDomenico C/RW R 37 2026 Woodbridge, Ontario, Canada
56 Sweden Fredrik Forsberg RW R 29 2024 Uppsala, Sweden
77 Sweden Philip Hemmyr C L 19 2024 Umeå, Sweden
16 Sweden Gustaf Kangas C L 20 2024 Stockholm, Sweden
37 Finland Lenni Killinen RW L 26 2024 Espoo, Finland
- Finland Lassi Lehtinen G L 27 2026 Lahti, Finland
33 Sweden Albin Lundin C L 30 2025 Stockholm, Sweden
64 Sweden Anton Malmström D L 26 2025 Haninge, Sweden
39 Finland Joel Mustonen C L 33 2022 Oulu, Finland
- Finland Topi Niemelä D R 24 2026 Oulu, Finland
10 Sweden Marcus Nilsson LW L 35 2024 Charlottenberg, Sweden
26 Latvia Bruno Osmanis RW R 19 2023 Ogre, Latvia
18 Sweden Axel Ottosson (C) C L 30 2024 Umeå, Sweden
71 Sweden Gustav Possler LW L 31 2020 Södertälje, Sweden
- Canada Tristen Robins C/RW R 24 2026 London, England
91 Sweden Oscar Tellström RW L 23 2024 Luleå, Sweden
50 Finland Frans Tuohimaa G L 34 2025 Helsinki, Finland
- Sweden Lucas Wallmark C L 30 2026 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, 2017–24
  • Axel Ottosson, 2024–present

Honored members

IF Björklöven retired numbers
No. Player Position Career No. retirement
9Aleksandrs BeļavskisRW1991–2003–
17Patrik SundströmRW1978–1982, 1992–1994–
23Roger HägglundD1977–1983, 1985–1992–
27Tore Ökvist[14]F1974–1988–

Notable players

References

  1. "Björklöven spelar i SHL 2026/2027!". www.shl.se (in Swedish). 2026-04-23. Retrieved 2026-05-11.
  2. Payne, Shelley (September 11, 2018). "IF Bjorkloven: Damcup Umea Pre-Season Tournament".
  3. "Allsvenskan: 2021–22: Allsvenskan". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 26 April 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  4. "Allsvenskan: 2021–22: Allsvenskan Playoffs". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 26 April 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  5. "Allsvenskan: 2022–23: Allsvenskan". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 26 June 2025. Retrieved 26 June 2025.
  6. "Allsvenskan: 2022–23: Allsvenskan Playoffs". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 26 June 2025. Retrieved 26 June 2025.
  7. "Allsvenskan: 2023–24: Allsvenskan". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 26 June 2025. Retrieved 26 June 2025.
  8. "Allsvenskan: 2023–24: Allsvenskan Playoffs". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 26 June 2025. Retrieved 26 June 2025.
  9. "Allsvenskan: 2024–25: Allsvenskan". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 26 June 2025. Retrieved 26 June 2025.
  10. "Allsvenskan: 2024–25: Allsvenskan Playoffs". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 26 June 2025. Retrieved 26 June 2025.
  11. "Allsvenskan: 2025–26: Allsvenskan". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 26 June 2025. Retrieved 26 June 2025.
  12. "Allsvenskan: 2025–26: Allsvenskan Playoffs". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 26 June 2025. Retrieved 26 June 2025.
  13. "Björklöven roster". IF Björklöven (in Swedish). 31 July 2025. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  14. "Retired Numbers". European Hockey.net. Retrieved January 23, 2007.