Leksands Idrottsförening, abbreviated Leksands IF or LIF, is a semi-professional ice hockey team in the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL). They play in Leksand, a town in the western-central Swedish province of Dalarna, at Tegera Arena. Until 2021, the organisation ran a second women's side, called Leksands IF Dam 2, which competed in the Damettan Västra.
History The women's section of Leksands IF was founded in 1998. The 2008 season saw a leap in success for the club, as it earned promotion to the Riksserien, and saw Cecilia Östberg and Klara Myrén become the first two Leksands players to represent the Swedish national women's team. In 2012, the club finished in 7th place, and was forced to compete in the relegation playoffs, but managed to keep its place in the SDHL.
In 2016, the club hired former Leksands men's youth player Alexander Bröms as head coach for the women's side, despite him having no previous coaching experience. He would hold the role until his departure in 2018 to coach the women's national under-18 team.
In 2017, multiple Leksands players publicly voiced dissatisfaction at the way the organisation was treating the women's side, including the fact that women's players received no salary and were being forced to clean up the arena's stands after men's games. Despite club chairperson Åke Nordström promising to improve conditions, after six months the players had only been provided with some exercise gear and a team-branded training bag.
In April 2018, Leksands goaltender Leon Reuterström publicly came out as transgender, and retired from the SDHL to pursue his medical transition. Later that summer, long-time club forward and third-leading scorer in club history, Iveta Koka, left the club to sign with AIK IF. Despite losing Koka, the club made several big signings ahead of the 2018–19 season, including Swedish international Anna Borgqvist and Canadian Danielle Stone. After beginning the season with a 9–0 victory over SDE Hockey, Leksands finished in 4th place in the SDHL, the second best result in club history. The club still failed to make it past the playoff quarterfinals, however, and both Borgqvist and Stone left the club after just one year. Long time defender and second-highest all-time in games played for the club Sofia Engström left the Leksands that summer as well, after the club had gone months without offering any players (nor the head coach) a contract extension following the team's elimination in the playoffs. The club dropped to 8th place in the 2019–20 SDHL season.
Season-by-season results This is a partial list of the most recent seasons completed by Leksands. Code explanation; GP—Games played, W—Wins, L—Losses, T—Tied games, GF—Goals for, GA—Goals against, Pts—Points. Top Scorer: Points (Goals+Assists)
Season League Regular season Post season results Finish GP W OTW OTL L GF GA Pts Top scorer 2015-16 Riksserien 5th 361834111158064 I. Koka 40 (10+30) Lost quarterfinals against Djurgården2016-17 SDHL 7th 361181169210350 I. Koka 38 (21+17) Lost quarterfinals against Djurgården2017-18 SDHL 6th 361314188810045 W. Johansson 28 (12+16) Lost quarterfinals against MODO2018-19 SDHL 4th 362110141117465 A. Borgqvist 32 (7+25) Lost quarterfinals against HV712019-20 SDHL 8th 361033209113339 K. Armborg 30 (9+21) Lost quarterfinals against HV712020-21 SDHL 9th 36 5 2 1 28 52 148 20 W. Johansson 16 (5+11) Relegation series cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic2021-22 SDHL 8th 36 12 1 1 22 70 104 39 T. Vanišová 24 (15+9) Lost quarterfinals against Brynäs2022-23 SDHL 6th 32 9 2 6 15 60 89 37 H. Haasová 14 (12+2) Lost quarterfinals against Djurgården2023-24 SDHL 8th 36 11 0 7 18 76 95 40 S. Maloney 20 (9+11) Lost quarterfinals against Luleå
Players and personnel 2024–25 roster
Coaching staff and team personnel Head coach: Joakim Engström Assistant coach: Göran Tärnlund Goaltending coach: Filip Myrskog Conditioning coach: Karin Reichel Equipment managers: Kent Arvidsson
Team captaincy history Sofia Engström, 2008–2014 Elin Lundberg, 2014–2019 Hanna Sköld, 2019–2022 Abby Thiessen, 2022–23 Anna Purschke, 2023–24 Courtney Vorster, 2024–
Head coaches Daniel Ljung, 2007–08 Ulf Hedberg, 2008–2011 Magnus Svensson, 2011–12 Christer Siik, 2012–2014 Jens Nielsen, 2014–15 Christer Sjöberg, 2015–16 Alexander Bröms, 2016–2018 Ulf Hedberg, 2018–19 Lars Stanmark, 2019–2021 Mathias Olsson, 2021–22 Jordan Colliton, 5 May 2022 – 22 November 2023 Joakim Engström, 22 November 2023 –
Franchise records and leaders All-time scoring leaders The top-ten regular season point-scorers (goals + assists) of Leksands IF through the 2023–24 season.
All-Time Points Nat Player Pos GP G A Pts P/G LW 152 86 117 203 1.34 LW/C 317 80 102 182 0.57 LW 176 81 98 179 1.02 C/RW 278 63 83 146 0.53 D 330 43 86 129 0.39 F 238 65 59 124 0.52 C 206 51 59 110 0.53 C 153 57 47 104 0.68 C/LW 97 38 63 101 1.04 C 208 33 55 88 0.42
References
External links
Team information and statistics from Eliteprospects.com