HV71 (), also known as Huskvarna/Vätterstads 71 or often referred to as just HV, is a Swedish professional ice hockey club based in Jönköping, playing in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), the first tier of Swedish ice hockey. The team played in the 2008–09 Champions Hockey League season, and has also participated in the new Champions Hockey League tournament since the 2014–15 season. Between 2008 and 2013, HV also participated in the European Trophy tournament. With the exception of a one-year stint in the 2021–22 season in Sweden's second tier, HockeyAllsvenskan, where they won the promotion playoffs, the club has played continuously in the SHL since being promoted in the 1984–85 season.
History
HV71 was founded on May 24, 1971, as a merger between Husqvarna IF and Vätterstads IK, and initially used the name Huskvarna/Vätterstads IF, but later that year it was shortened to the current name HV71. The club were first promoted to the top Swedish league, Elitserien, in the 1978–79 season, but were relegated after only one season. They were promoted again in the 1984–85 season and have remained in the top division ever since, with the exception of the 2021–22 season and are as of the 2000s a well-established top club in Sweden. The club has won the national championship 5 times; 1994–95, 2003–04, 2007–08, 2009–10 and 2016–17. For a few years in the late 1990s, HV71 was also called the Blue Bulls.
Many Swedes associate HV71 with the club's old arena Rosenlundshallen, which was inaugurated in 1958 as Sweden's first indoor ice hockey arena, but was replaced in 2000 with the new and improved Kinnarps Arena. As the new arena was built around and on top of Rosenlundshallen, HV71 practically played its games, in the 1999–2000 season on a construction site.
On December 6, 2006, HV71 topped the Elitserien after a 5–2 win over Färjestads BK, at the same time, the club's two youth teams (under 20 and 18 years old) topped their leagues, J20 SuperElit and J18 Elit. This was an event that had never happened before in HV71's club history.
1994–95 season HV71 won its first national championship in the 1994–95 season as the last (8th) team to qualify for the playoffs. The club remains the only team in Swedish ice hockey history to win the play-offs after finishing in 8th place after the end of the regular season. In the quarter-finals HV beat Djurgårdens IF Hockey, the team that finished first in the regular season, in three straight games. In the semifinals they came back, after having lost the first two games to Malmö Redhawks, the team who was the defending champions, and turned the series around to a 3–2 victory. Finally they managed a decisive sudden death victory in the finals against Brynäs IF, in the fourth period of the fifth game to win the championship. The name of the historical scorer was Johan Lindbom, but other big heroes during the play-offs were the goalie Boo Ahl and the Finnish center-forward Esa Keskinen.
2003–04 season The second championship was won during the 2003–04 season after beating Modo Hockey with a 4–2 series, Frölunda HC with 4–2 in games in the semi-finals, and then winning the finals with a 4–3 match series against Färjestads BK. In the quarter-finals HV71 set a new Swedish record, for scoring the most goals in one period, with seven in the first period, of the second game against Modo Hockey. In fact, they scored the seven goals, during the last ten minutes of the period. The game ended with a 10–1 victory. In the final, goalie Stefan Liv managed to keep his goal empty, in all four games that the team won, the two last games ending 1–0 and 5–0 respectively. He also kept the goal empty in the last semi-final, which means he managed this, for 5 consecutive wins.
2006–07 season HV71 ended the regular season as the second placed team after Färjestads BK. HV chose to meet Brynäs IF in the quarter-finals and managed after seven games (4 wins and 3 losses) to continue to the semifinals. The team faced Modo Hockey and even with home advantage HV did not manage to proceed to the finals having lost 4 out of 7 games. This meant that HV for the second consecutive year lost a 7-game series in the semifinals to the eventual Swedish champions.
During the season the newly acquired defenceman Johan Åkerman was a trendsetting player and also made his national debut for Sweden at the age of 34. HV's starting goaltender, Erik Ersberg, had his breakthrough and played for the national team; and was awarded with the Honken Trophy as Sweden's best goaltender. During the off-season he signed with the NHL team Los Angeles Kings.
Season-by-season record This is a partial list, featuring the five most recent completed seasons. For a more complete list, see List of HV71 seasons.
Season GP W L OT Pts GF GA Finish Playoffs 2020–21 52 12 30 10 51 127 167 14th, SHL Lost Play out, 1–4 (Brynäs IF) Relegated to HockeyAllsvenskan 2021–22 52 34 10 8 116 189 118 1st, HockeyAllsvenskan Promoted to SHL, 4–2 (IF Björklöven) 2022–23 52 15 21 16 68 138 151 11th, SHL Did not qualify2023–2452133095313017513th, SHL Won Play out, 4–3 (IK Oskarshamn) 2024–25521327125712716414th, SHL Won Play out, 4–2 (Modo Hockey)
Players and personnel
Current roster
Updated July 3, 2026
Team managers
Folke Jörneke (1971–1972) Göte Wiklund (1972–1978) Dan Hobér (1978–1980) Timo Lahtinen (1980–1983) Thommie Bergman (1983–1984) Bror Hansson (1984–1985) Curt Lundmark (1985–1989) Lars-Erik Lundström (1989–1993) Håkan Nygren (1993–1994) Sune Bergman (1994–1998) Randy Edmonds (1998) Lars-Erik Lundström (1998–2000) Harald Lückner (2000–2003) Pär Mårts (2003–2007) Kent Johansson (2007–2009) Janne Karlsson (2009–2011) Ulf Dahlén (2011–2013) Torgny Bendelin (2013–2014) Andreas Johansson (2014–2015) Johan Lindbom (2015–2018) Stephan Lundh (2018–2020) Nicklas Rahm (2020–2021) Stephan Lundh (2021) Tommy Samuelsson (2021–2023) Johan Lindbom (2023) Tomas Montén (2023) Johan Lindbom (2023–2024) Anton Blomqvist (2024–2026) Niklas Eriksson (2026–)
General managers Denny Eriksson (1971–1998) Dag Larsson (1998–2005) Bengt Kinell (2005; Interim) Fredrik Stillman (2005–2014) Johan Hult (2014–2022) Kent Norberg (2022–2024) Chris Abbott (2024–2025) Björn Liljander (2025–2026) Fredrik Stillman (2025–2026; Interim) Linus Leise (2026; Interim) Johan Hult (2026–)
Club committees Owe Jungåker (1971–2001) Per Carendi (2001–2003) Lennart Nilforsen (2003–2005) Tommy Fritz (2005; Interim) Hans-Göran Frick (2005–2015) Sten-Åke Karlsson (2015–2021) Anders Wilander (2021–2023) Andreas Davidsson (2023–2024; Interim) Anna-Lena Isaksson (2024–2026) Tommy Fritz (2026–)
Team captains
Anders Wallin, D, (1971–1978) Bo Berggren, C, (1978–1980) Hans Wallin, LW, (1980–1983) Thomas Lindster, RW, (1983–1988) Hasse Sjöö, LW, (1988–1989) Klas Heed, D, (1989–1991) Fredrik Stillman, D, (1991–1992) Thomas Ljungbergh, W, (1992–1993) Fredrik Stillman, D, (1993–1995) Stefan Örnskog, LW, (1995–1996) Fredrik Stillman, D, (1996–1999) Per Gustafsson, D, (1999–2002) Johan Davidsson, C, (2002–2013) Pasi Puistola, D, (2011; Interim) David Petrasek, D, (2013–2014) Oscar Fantenberg, D, (2014; Interim) Andreas Jämtin, LW, (2014; Interim) Ted Brithén, C, (2014–2016) Jere Karalahti, D, (2014–2015; Interim) Chris Campoli, D, (2015; Interim) Chris Abbott, C, (2016–2017) Martin Thörnberg, LW, (2016; Interim) Martin Thörnberg, LW, (2017–2019) Simon Önerud, LW, (2019–2022) Taylor Matson C, (2022–2023) Niklas Hjalmarsson, D, (2023) Taylor Matson C, (2023; Interim) André Petersson, RW, (2023–2024) Anton Strålman D, (2023–2024; Interim) Joonas Nättinen C, (2024; Interim) Olle Alsing, D, (2024–present)
Retired numbers
HV71 retired numbers No.PlayerPositionCareerNo. retirement 14 Fredrik Stillman D 1981–1995, 1996–1999, 2000–2001 December 26, 2001 15 Stefan Örnskog LW 1983–1998, 1999–2001 December 26, 2001 7 Per Gustafsson D 1988–1996, 1998–2010 September 18, 2010 1 Stefan Liv G 1995–2006, 2007–2010 January 10, 2012 76 Johan Davidsson C 1990–1997, 2001– 2014 September 27, 2014 22 David Petrasek D 1991–2000, 2005–2010, 2011–2015 January 27, 2017 10 Martin Thörnberg LW/RW 1999–2011, 2015–2020, 2021 January 5, 2023
Club records and leaders Individual season records Most Seasons played: Per Gustafsson, 20 (1988–96), (1998–2010) Most Goals in a season: Hans Wallin, 45 (1981–82) Most Goals in a season, rookie: Kai Nurminen, 31 (1995–96) (Elitserien record) Most Assists in a season: Johan Davidsson, 46 (2009–10) Most Assists in a season, rookie: Esa Keskinen, 28 (1994–95) Most Points in a season: Hans Wallin, 79 (1981–82) Most Elitserien matches played in a row: Andreas Falk, 308 (19 September 2006 – 28 January 2012) (Elitserien record) Most Penalty Minutes in a season: Lance Ward, 273 (2006–07) (Elitserien record) Most Points in a season, goalkeeper: Andreas Andersson, 4 (2007–08) Most Points in a season, defenseman: David Petrasek, 53 (2009–10) (Elitserien record) Most Points in a season, rookie: Kai Nurminen, 55 (1995–96) (Elitserien record) Fastest Goal scored: Per Gustafsson, 6 seconds (17 October 1991) (Elitserien record) Longest Time without conceding a goal: Hannau Lassila, 184 minutes and 6 seconds (28 October 1979 – 11 November 1979) Most Shutouts: Stefan Liv, 43 Most Shutouts in a season: Stefan Liv, 6 (2003–04)
Source:
Scoring leaders These are the top-ten point-scorers in club's 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 HV71 player
Points Player Pos GP G A Pts Johan Davidsson C 920 205 461 666 Hans Wallin LW 423 264 255 519 Bengt Kinell LW 334 198 244 442 Jan Bergstrand RW 310 254 186 440 Per Gustafsson D 854 141 251 392 Martin Thörnberg LW 718 214 173 387 Ove Thörnberg LW 552 200 147 347 Fredrik Stillman D 657 109 231 340 Stefan Örnskog C 478 115 164 279 Jukka Voutilainen RW 352 120 157 277
Trophies and awards Team Le Mat Trophy Winners: 1994–95, 2003–04, 2007–08, 2009–10, 2016–17 Runners-up: 2008–09
SHL Regular Season Winners: 2003–04, 2005–06, 2007–08, 2009–10, 2010–11 Runners-up: 2006–07, 2016–17 Third place: 1985–86, 2011–12
HockeyAllsvenskan Winners: 2021–22 HockeyAllsvenskan Playoffs
Winners: 2021–22
Division 1 Regular Season Winners: 1976–77, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1984–85 Runners-up: 1977–78, 1978–79, 1983–84 Third place: 1975–76 Allsvenskan Division 1
Third place: 1983–84
Kvalserien Division 1 Winners: 1984–85 Runners-up: 1978–79 Third place: 1976–77, 1982–83
Division 2 Regular Season Winners: 1973–74, 1974–75 Kvalserien Division 2
Runners-up: 1974–75 Third place: 1973–74
European Trophy
Runners-up: 2010 Third place: 2009 Tampere Cup
Winners: 1998 Third place: 2002, 2003
Individual Coach of the Year Sune Bergman: 1994–95 Pär Mårts: 2003–04 Kent Johansson: 2007–08
Guldhjälmen Kari Eloranta: 1985–86 Esa Keskinen: 1995–96 Andreas Karlsson: 2005–06 Johan Davidsson: 2008–09 Håkan Loob Trophy
Andreas Karlsson: 2005–06
Guldpucken Ulf Dahlén: 1997–98 Johan Davidsson: 2003–04 Stefan Liv: 2007–08Guldskridskon Fredrik Stillman: 1994–95 Stefan Liv Memorial Trophy
Johan Davidsson: 2009–10 Simon Önerud: 2016–17
Honken Trophy Stefan Liv: 2001–02 Erik Ersberg: 2006–07 Gustaf Wesslau: 2012–13
Rinkens riddare Johan Davidsson: 2002–03 Johan Davidsson: 2003–04 Johan Davidsson: 2004–05 Jesper Fast: 2012–13 Martin Thörnberg: 2016–17 Markus Ljungh: 2018–19 HV71 Player of the Year Hans Wallin: 1983–84 Thomas Lindster: 1984–85 Kari Eloranta: 1985–86, 1986–87
Årets Gentleman
Johan Davidsson: 2002–03, 2003–04, 2004–05
Salming Trophy
Mikko Luoma: 2007–08 Lawrence Pilut: 2017–18
Swedish All Star Team
Fredrik Stillman: 1992–93 Boo Ahl, Per Gustafsson: 1995–96 Ulf Dahlén: 1997–98 Johan Davidsson: 2002–03 Per Gustafsson, Johan Davidsson: 2003–04