Brynäs IF is a Swedish professional ice hockey team from Gävle. The club currently plays in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), promoted from the HockeyAllsvenskan, the second tier of ice hockey in Sweden, following the 2023–24 season. The club played in the top-tier Swedish league from 1960 to 2023 (1960-75 called Division I, 1975-2023 called the SHL), a total of 63 seasons, longer than any other Swedish club, before suffering relegation for the first time in franchise history at the conclusion of the 2022–23 season. They have won the Swedish championship 13 times, second only to Djurgården with 16 wins. In the 2023/2024 Hockeyallsvenskan season Brynäs won promotion back to the SHL after beating Djurgården 4–0 in the final.

History Brynäs IF was formed by Nils Norin, Ferdinand Blomkvist, and Thure Ternström on 12 May 1912 and began to play ice hockey in 1939. The club has also competed in soccer, athletics, bandy, swimming, and water polo. The team played in the hockey league's top flight from 1960 to 2023 and has won the Swedish championship 13 times, most recently in 2012.

Brynäs IF became the world's first ice hockey club to collaborate with the United Nations Program UNICEF, after signing a five-year contract with the organisation on 20 November 2013 (expiring in 2018). On 3 June 2014, the club also signed a five-year contract with Gävle Municipality (expiring after the 2018–19 season). The municipality acquired the naming rights for the club's home arena and renamed it Gavlerinken Arena. The latter collaboration also meant the municipality would pay the club to play with ad-free jerseys, starting in the 2014–15 season, as the only SHL team. The arena is since September 2019 named Monitor ERP Arena.

In 2021, after finishing 13th (out of 14 teams) in the regular season, the team was forced to defend its SHL status for the first time since 2008, playing a best-of-seven series against the last-placed team, HV71, with home advantage. At the conclusion of the 2022–23 season, Brynäs was relegated from the SHL for the first time in franchise history, after losing the relegation playout series, 1–4, to the Malmö Redhawks. They returned to the SHL after the 2023–24 season.

Season-by-season This is a partial list, featuring the five most recent completed seasons. For a more complete list, see List of Brynäs IF seasons.

SeasonLevelDivisionRecordNotes Position W–OTW–OTL–L2020–21Tier 1 SHL 13th 14–4–7–27 150 Play Out — 2–1 — Won 4–1 vs HV712021–22Tier 1 SHL 10th 17–6–6–23 4,544 Eighth-finals — 1–2 5,374 Lost 1–2 vs Örebro HK2022–23Tier 1 SHL 13th 16–4–6–26 6,357 Play Out — 1–4 7,050 Lost 1–4 vs Malmö Redhawks Relegated to HockeyAllsvenskan2023–24Tier 2 HockeyAllsvenskan 1st 33–5–3–11 6,442 Allsvenskan playoffs — 12–1 7,109 Won in Quarterfinals, 4–0 vs Nybro VikingsWon in Semifinals, 4–1 vs BIK Karlskoga Won in Finals 4–0 vs Djurgårdens IF promoted to SHL2024–25Tier 1 SHL 1st 26–8–3–15 7,700 Swedish Championship playoffs — 10–7 7,873 Won in Quarterfinals, 4–2 vs Malmö RedhawksWon in Semifinals, 4–1 vs Skellefteå AIK Lost in Finals 2–4 vs Luleå HF

Players and personnel Current roster

Updated 22 August 2025

Team captains

Jan Larsson (1999–2003) Tommy Sjödin (2003–2008) Andreas Dackell (2008–2012) Jakob Silfverberg (2012) Jörgen Sundqvist (2012–2014) Niclas Andersén (2014–2015) Anton Rödin (2015–2016) Jacob Blomqvist (2016–2019) Anton Rödin (2019–2023) Johan Larsson (2023–)

Head coaches

Axel Svensson (1943–1944) Conny Eriksson (1954–1957) Arne Backman (1960–1961) Nils Bergström (1961–1963) Herbert Pettersson (1963–1966) Börje Mattsson (1966–1967) Nils Bergström (1967–1969) Tommy Sandlin (1969–1977) Rolf Andersson (1977–1979) Lennart Johansson (1979–1980) Tord Lundström (1980–1981) Lennart Johansson (1981–1982) Stig Salming (1982–1987) Tord Lundström (1987–1988) Staffan Tholson (1988–1991) Tommy Sandlin (1991–1996) Göran Sjöberg (1996–1998) Roger Melin (1998–2002) Esko Nokelainen (2002) Gunnar Persson (2002–2004) Tomas Jonsson (2004) Roger Kyrö (2004–2005) Wayne Fleming (2005–2005) Leif Boork (2005–2007) Olof Östblom (2007–2008) Tomas Thelin (2008) Leif Boork (2008) Niklas Czarnecki (2008–2011) Tommy Jonsson (2011–2014) Thomas Berglund (2014–2017) Roger Melin (2017) Tommy Sjödin (2017–2018) Magnus Sundquist (2018–2020) Peter Andersson (2020–2021) Mikko Manner (2021–2023) Ove Molin (2023) Niklas Gällstedt (2023–)

Club records and leaders

Individual season records Most Goals in a season: Tom Bissett, 40 (1998–99) Most Assists in a season: Jan Larsson, 43 (1998–99) Most Points in a season: Lars-Göran Nilsson, 62 (1970–71) Most Penalty Minutes in a season: Tommy Melkersson, 118 (1996–97) Most Points in a season, defenseman: Pär Djoos, 48 (1998–99)

Scoring leaders

These are the top-ten point-scorers in SHL history. Figures are updated after each completed SHL regular season.

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game; = current Brynäs IF player Points Player Pos GP G A Pts P/G Lars-Göran Nilsson F 425 273 257 530 1.25 Håkan Wickberg F 363 253 241 494 1.36 Tord Lundström F 367 261 232 493 1.34 Ove Molin RW 772 192 295 487 .63 Jan Larsson C 598 189 281 470 .79 Stefan Karlsson F 428 252 140 392 .92 Anders Huss C 574 189 183 372 .65 Andreas Dackell RW 524 132 217 349 .67 Tommy Sjödin D 681 117 198 315 .46 Hans Lindberg F 246 209 105 314 1.28

Trophies and awards

Team Le Mat Trophy 1963–64, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1979–80, 1992–93, 1998–99, 2011–12

Individual

Coach of the Year Tommy Sandlin: 1991–92, 1992–93 Roger Melin: 1998–99

Guldhjälmen Jan Larsson: 1998–99 Jakob Silfverberg: 2011–2012

Guldpucken Håkan Wickberg: 1970–71 William Löfqvist: 1971–72 Stig Östling: 1974–75 Mats Näslund: 1979–80 Tommy Sjödin: 1991–92

Håkan Loob Trophy Kenneth Andersson: 1983–84 Evgeny Davydov: 1996–97 Tom Bissett: 1998–99 Jan Larsson: 1999–00

Honken Trophy Johan Holmqvist: 2005–06 Jacob Markström: 2009–10

Rinkens Riddare Lars Bylund: 1968–69 Håkan Wickberg: 1969–70 Jan-Erik Lyck: 1971–72

Rookie of the Year Nicklas Bäckström: 2005–06 Jacob Markström: 2009–10 Mattias Ekholm: 2010–11 Johan Larsson:2011-12

References

External links