Ishockeyföreningen Björklöven, commonly known as IF Björklöven, (or 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, 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.

Season-by-season records List of Björklöven seasons Season Level Division Record Notes RefPositionW-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 HockeyAllsvenskan Playoffs – 8–2–2–6 5,176 Won in quarterfinals, 4–1 vs Västerås IKWon in semifinals, 4–3 vs Modo HockeyLost in finals, 2–4 vs HV71 2022–23 Tier 2 HockeyAllsvenskan 2nd of 14 29–7–5–11 4,605 HockeyAllsvenskan Playoffs – 5–1–1–4 4,976 Won in quarterfinals, 4–1 vs Västerås IKLost in semifinals, 2–4 vs Djurgårdens IF 2023–24 Tier 2 HockeyAllsvenskan 6th of 14 21–8–6–17 4,639 HockeyAllsvenskan Playoffs – 1–0–2–2 5,001 Lost in quarterfinals, 1–4 vs Djurgårdens IF 2024–25 Tier 2 HockeyAllsvenskan 4th of 14 28–4–6–14 4,659 HockeyAllsvenskan Playoffs – 3–0–2–2 5,038 Lost in quarterfinals, 3–4 vs AIK 2025–26 Tier 2 HockeyAllsvenskan 1st of 14 34–7–3–8 4,558 HockeyAllsvenskan Playoffs – 10–2–0–1 5,042 Won in quarterfinals, 4–0 vs IK OskarshamnWon in quarterfinals, 4–1 vs Södertälje SKWon in finals, 4–0 vs BIK Karlskoga

Players and personnel Current roster

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.PlayerPositionCareerNo. retirement 9 Aleksandrs Beļavskis RW 1991–2003 – 17 Patrik Sundström RW 1978–1982, 1992–1994 – 23 Roger Hägglund D 1977–1983, 1985–1992 – 27 Tore Ökvist F 1974–1988 –

Notable players

Ric Jackman Greg Parks Andrew Raycroft Brian Watts François Rozenthal Maurice Rozenthal Peter Andersson Mikael Andersson Ulf Dahlén Calle Johansson Peter Sundström Brad DeFauw

References

External links

IF Björklöven official website Green Devils supporter's club Gröngult, independent fansite