| IF Björklöven | |
|---|---|
| City | Umeå, Sweden |
| League | Division 1 A |
| Founded | 1970 |
| Home arena | Umeå Arena |
| Colors | Green, yellow |
| Head coach | Håkan Wirtala |
IF Björklöven (often simply referred to as Björklöven or Löven) is a Swedish professional ice hockey club in Umeå, Västerbotten, in northern Sweden. The club is currently playing in Division 1, but has played 15 seasons in the top Swedish league Elitserien (1976–77, 1978–79 to 1988–89, 1993–94, 1998–99 and 2000–01).
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 managed to get the bankruptcy alleged a month later. Despite big further efforts by the club in order to be given elite license to play in HockeyAllsvenskan the following season, the Swedish Ice Hockey Association (SIHA) decided not to give Björklöven elite license and thus the team was relegated to Division 1.
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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 Leafs) as a tongue in cheek reference to Canadian 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 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 has since then not been able to establish themselves permanently in the Elitserien again, but have mostly played in the second-tier league Allsvenskan, except 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.
The team has recently had many promising young players, including Alexander Hellström, Alexander Sundström, Patrik Nevalainen, Daniel Rahimi and Kristoffer Berglund. Due to lack of funds however, Björklöven lost all of these young players to other teams.
| Preceded by Färjestads BK |
Swedish ice hockey champions 1987 |
Succeeded by Färjestads BK |