Leksands IF

Leksands IF
Leksands IF
City	Leksand, Sweden
League	Swedish Hockey League
Founded	13 August 1919
Home arena	Tegera Arena
Colours
General manager	Thomas Johansson
Head coach	Björn Hellkvist
Captain	Patrik Zackrisson
Affiliate	Leksands IF Dam
Website	leksandsif.se
Franchise history
Championship wins	4 (1969, 1973, 1974, 1975)
Runners-up	5 (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

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.

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.
Year	Level	Division	Position	W-OTW-OTL-L	Avg. home atnd.	Notes	Ref.
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 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]
2020–21	Tier 1	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]
2021–22	Tier 1	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]
2022–23	Tier 1	Eighth-finals	—	0–1–0–2	5,508	Lost 1–2 in games vs Rögle BK	^[12]

Players and personnel

Current roster


No.	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
40	Mantas Armalis	G	L	31	2022	Plungė, Lithuania
44	Carter Ashton	LW	L	33	2020	Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
20	Lian Bichsel	D	L	20	2021	Olten, Switzerland
8	Matthew Caito	D	R	30	2020	Coto de Caza, California, United States
34	Peter Cehlárik	LW	L	28	2023	Žilina, Slovakia
34	Arvid Eljas	C	L	21	2020	Björbo, Sweden
36	Lucas Elvenes	LW	L	24	2022	Ängelholm, Sweden
10	Johan Fransson	D	L	39	2019	Kalix, Sweden
27	Marek Hrivík	C	L	32	2022	Čadca, Czechoslovakia
3	Anton Johansson	D	R	20	2021	Stockholm, Sweden
7	Marcus Karlberg	LW	R	24	2017	Leksand, Sweden
11	Martin Karlsson (A)	LW	L	33	2015	Falun, Sweden
28	Justin Kloos	C	R	30	2021	Lakeville, Minnesota, United States
13	Jon Knuts	LW	L	33	2014	Malung, Sweden
14	Oskar Lang	LW	L	27	2014	Arvika, Sweden
37	Anton Lindholm	D	L	29	2022	Skellefteå, Sweden
26	Patrik Norén (A)	D	L	31	2020	Säter, Sweden
12	Kalle Östman	C	L	30	2022	Falun, Sweden
23	Mikael Ruohomaa	C	L	35	2021	Alastaro, Finland
24	Felix Unger Sörum	F	R	18	2022	Trondheim, Norway
9	Patrik Zackrisson (C)	C	R	37	2019	Ekerö, Sweden

Source: leksandsif.se^[13] and eliteprospects.com^[14]As of 21 March, 2023

Retired numbers

2 Åke Lassas
18 Jonas Bergqvist^[15]

Honored numbers

Honored coaches

Rune Mases

Hockey Hall of Famers

Ed Belfour – Class of 2011

References

^ "Historia". Leksands IF (in Swedish). Retrieved 3 September 2015.
^ "HockeyAllsvenskan: 2018–19: Allsvenskan". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 14 April 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
^ "HockeyAllsvenskan: 2018–19: Playoffs". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 14 April 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
^ "HockeyAllsvenskan: 2018–19: Allsvenskan Play In in SHL Qualifiers". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 14 April 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
^ "SHL: 2018–19: SHL Qualifiers". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 14 April 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
^ "SHL: 2019–20: SHL". 17 February 2023. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
^ "SHL: 2020–21: SHL". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 17 February 2023. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
^ "SHL: 2020–21: Play In". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 17 February 2023. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
^ "SHL: 2021–22: SHL". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 17 February 2023. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
^ "SHL: 2020–21: Play In". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 17 February 2023. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
^ "SHL: 2022–23: SHL". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 17 March 2023. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
^ "SHL: 2022–23: Play In". Swedish Ice Hockey Association. 17 March 2023. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
^ "Leksands IF - roster" (in Swedish). Leksands IF. 21 March 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
^ "Leksand - Team Roster". Eliteprospects.com. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
^ "Retired Numbers". European Hockey.net. Retrieved 23 January 2007.