HV 71 HV71 , often commonly referred to as HV and internationally HV71 Jönköping , is a Swedish professional ice hockey club based in Jönköping , playing in the Swedish elite league Elitserien ( internationally sometimes called SEL ) . The team participates during the off - seasons in Nordic Trophy since 2008 and played in the 2008 – 09 inaugural season of the Champions Hockey League . Club history . HV71 was founded on May 24 , 1971 , as a merger between Husqvarna IF and Vätterstads IK , and took the name Huskvarna / Vätterstads IF but later that year it was shortened to the current name HV71 . The club first entered the top Swedish league , Elitserien , in 1979 , but were soon relegated . They won promotion again in 1985 – 86 and have remained in the top division ever since and are as of the 2000s a well - established top club in Sweden . The club has won the national championship four times ; 1995 , 2004 , 2008 and 2010 . 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 build around and on top of Rosenlundshallen , HV71 practically played its games during the season 1999 – 00 in a construction site . On December 6 , 2006 , HV71 topped Elitserien after a 5 - 2 - win over Färjestads BK , at the same time as 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 entire club history . 1994 – 95 season . HV71 won its first national championship season 1994 – 95 as the last ( 8th ) team to qualify for the playoffs . The club is the only team in Swedish history to win the finals after ending as the 8th team at 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 semifinal they came back after having lost the first two games to Malmö Redhawks and turned the series around to a 3 - 2 victory , and in the final they managed a decisive sudden death victory against Brynäs IF in the fifth period of the fifth game to win the championship . 2003 – 04 season . The second championship was won during the season 2003 – 04 after beating Modo Hockey with a 4 - 2 game 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 of scoring the most goals in one period with their seven against Modo Hockey . 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 . 2005 – 06season . HV71 finished the regular season 2005 – 06 as winner of the league table . For the first time in HV71 ' s history the club faced Mora IK in the quarter - finals , winning the match series with 4 - 1 . In the semi - finals the club was pitted against Färjestads BK . The match series did not have a winner until the last minute of the seventh game . Färjestads BK scored two goals in a matter of seconds during the last minutes of the game and thus ending HV71 ' s season . 2006 – 07season . 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 four out of seven games . This meant that HV for the second consecutive year lost a seven games series in the semifinal to the eventual Swedish champion . 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 . 2007 – 08 season . The 2007 – 08 season saw HV71 winning their third Swedish Championship , the second during the 2000s . HV71 finished the regular season as the league champion with 107 points , 15 points ahead of the second placed team Linköpings HC . HV defeated Skellefteå AIK in the quarter - finals , winning the series 4 - 1 . In the semifinals HV met the fifth seeded team , Timrå IK . HV advanced to the finals after winning the series 4 - 2 . In the finals HV managed to defeat Linköpings HC in six games , coming back from 2 - 0 down after the first two games . The sixth game went into overtime with HV ' s newly signed player Eric Johansson scoring the game - winning goal and winning the Swedish Championship . Season - by - season record . " Note : GP = Games played ; W = Wins ; L = Losses ; T = Ties ; Pts = Points ; GF = Goals for ; GA = Goals against " Notable players . Niklas Hjalmarsson , who won the Stanley Cup with the Chicago Blackhawks ( NHL ) in 2010 Club scoring leaders . These are the top - ten point - scorers in club history . Figures are updated after each completed Elitserien regular season . " Note : Pos = Position ; GP = Games Played ; G = Goals ; A = Assists ; Pts = Points ; P / G = Points per game ; * = current HV71 player " Elitserien awards and trophies . Source : Club individual records . Source :