Brynäs IF
Sports club in Gävle, Sweden
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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.
| Brynäs IF | |
|---|---|
| |
| City | Gävle, Sweden |
| League | SHL |
| Founded | 12 May 1912 |
| Home arena | Monitor ERP Arena |
| Colors | |
| General manager | Johan Alcén |
| Head coach | Niklas Gällstedt |
| Captain | Johan Larsson |
| Website | brynas.se |
| Championships | |
| Le Mat Trophy | (13) (1964, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1976, 1977, 1980, 1993, 1999, 2012) |
 Current season | |
History
Brynäs IF was formed by Nils Norin, Ferdinand Blomkvist, and Thure Ternström on 12 May 1912[1] and began to play ice hockey in 1939. The club has also competed in soccer, athletics, bandy, swimming, and water polo.[citation needed] 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).[2] 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.[3] 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.[4] 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.[5] 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.
| Season | Level | Division | Record | Attendance | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | W–OTW–OTL–L | |||||
| 2020–21 | Tier 1 | SHL | 13th | 14–4–7–27 | 150 | |
| Play Out | — | 2–1 | — | Won 4–1 vs HV71 | ||
| 2021–22 | Tier 1 | SHL | 10th | 17–6–6–23 | 4,544 | |
| Eighth-finals | — | 1–2 | 5,374 | Lost 1–2 vs Örebro HK | ||
| 2022–23 | Tier 1 | SHL | 13th | 16–4–6–26 | 6,357 | |
| Play Out | — | 1–4 | 7,050 | Lost 1–4 vs Malmö Redhawks Relegated to HockeyAllsvenskan | ||
| 2023–24 | Tier 2 | HockeyAllsvenskan | 1st | 33–5–3–11 | 6,442 | |
| Allsvenskan playoffs | — | 12–1 | 7,109 | Won in Quarterfinals, 4–0 vs Nybro Vikings Won in Semifinals, 4–1 vs BIK Karlskoga Won in Finals 4–0 vs Djurgårdens IF  promoted to SHL | ||
| 2024–25 | Tier 1 | SHL | 1st | 26–8–3–15 | 7,700 | |
| Swedish Championship playoffs | — | 10–7 | 7,873 | Won in Quarterfinals, 4–2 vs Malmö Redhawks Won in Semifinals, 4–1 vs Skellefteå AIK Lost in Finals 2–4 vs Luleå HF | ||
Players and personnel
Current roster
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.[8][9]
Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game; = current Brynäs IF player
| 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
- 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
- Jan Larsson: 1998–99
- Jakob Silfverberg: 2011–2012
- Håkan Wickberg: 1970–71
- William Löfqvist: 1971–72
- Stig Östling: 1974–75
- Mats Näslund: 1979–80
- Tommy Sjödin: 1991–92
- Kenneth Andersson: 1983–84
- Evgeny Davydov: 1996–97
- Tom Bissett: 1998–99
- Jan Larsson: 1999-00
- Johan Holmqvist: 2005–06
- Jacob Markström: 2009–10
Rinkens Riddare
- Lars Bylund: 1968–69
- Håkan Wickberg: 1969–70
- Jan-Erik Lyck: 1971–72
- Nicklas Bäckström: 2005–06
- Jacob Markström: 2009–10
- Mattias Ekholm: 2010–11
- Johan Larsson:2011-12
