Djurgårdens IF was founded 12 March 1891 at a café at the address of Alberget 4A on the island Djurgården. Ice hockey was introduced in Sweden in 1921, and the club's hockey department was founded in 1922 with the help of IK Göta player Wilhelm Arwe. The club participated in its first Swedish championship the same year, being beaten by Hammarby in the semifinals. The club's roster consisted of only six players but was reinforced with five new players for the following season. Djurgården managed to reach the final during this season against IK Göta, which proved to be too hard and Djurgården lost 3–0 at Stockholms Stadion. The procedure was repeated in 1924 and Djurgården had to wait until 1926 to finally lift the Le Mat trophy for the first time, after a 7–1 victory against VIK Västerås HK. The club was successful early on and four Djurgården players were named for the Swedish roster in the 1924 Winter Olympics. At the 1926 Swedish Championship, the team contained three of those players, Wilhelm Arwe, Ernst Karlberg and Ruben Allinger.