Växjö Lakers

Växjö Lakers Hockey Club (often referred to as the Växjö Lakers or VLH) is a Swedish professional ice hockey club from Växjö in Sweden. The club play at the Vida Arena and plays in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL; formerly Elitserien), the top-level league of Swedish ice hockey, and made its debut there in 2011–12. Since entering the SHL the club has become known as one of the premier SHL clubs, winning the Le Mat Trophy as Swedish national Champions four times in 2015, 2018, 2021 and 2023 (the most of any SHL clubs since their promotion). Forwards Erik Josefsson and Robert Rosén are the only players to be a part of all four Championship-winning teams. 
==History==
The club was founded in 1997, after Växjö HC went bankrupt that year. Växjö Lakers originally played in Växjö Ishall as their home arena, but prior to the 2011–12 season they moved to Vida Arena. The construction of the Vida Arena was finished in summer 2011.
The club began play in the 1997–98 season. Starting in Division 4, four divisions below the Elitserien/SHL, Växjö worked its way to HockeyAllsvenskan within 6 years, being promoted 3 times. With a perfect record in the 2002 HockeyAllsvenskan Kvalserien, the club qualified for HockeyAllsvenskan. Sensationally, during their debut season in HockeyAllsvenskan, the club acquired Shjon Podein, an NHL-merited North American player who played 699 NHL games and won the Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche in 2001. The acquirement was described as "årets värvning" (acquirement of the year) by some people. During Podein's years in Växjö he became a crowd favorite. Prior to the following season, the 2004–05 season, the team also acquired Brad DeFauw, another NHL-merited North American player who played 9 NHL games and 154 AHL games. Both Shjon Podein and Brad DeFauw left the team after the 2004–05 season.
The club would spend 8 seasons in HockeyAllsvenskan and, during that time, reach the Kvalserien qualification for Elitserien three times. Växjö did not manage to promote to Elitserien in the 2009 and 2010 respective Kvalserien qualifications, but after winning the 2010–11 HockeyAllsvenskan season for the first time in club history and earning a third consecutive trip to Kvalserien, Växjö secured promotion to the top-tier league Elitserien in the eighth round (of ten) in the 2011 Kvalserien. The team finished the 2011 Kvalserien with 26 points, which is a record in the Kvalserien history.
The team formerly used red, yellow and blue as its colours, both in the team's logo and the team's jerseys. On 18 April 2011 it was announced that the club had changed the colours of their jerseys to blue and orange prior to the 2011–12 season. At that time it was also announced that the club's logo had been changed to an orange shield containing the name of the club beneath a lion holding a crossbow – an image from the Småland coat of arms.
===Games in Elitserien===
The club's first game in the Elitserien league was played on 13 September 2011, losing 0–2 to Frölunda HC in front of an outsold Scandinavium. Two days later, the club historically took their first points in Elitserien, beating Luleå HF on away ice 3–2 in a shootout, despite trailing by two goals in the third period. Their first home game was played on September 17, against Linköpings HC, in front of an outsold Vida Arena. Linköping won the game 4–2. Their first home points and regulation-time win came on September 27, when the Lakers won 4–1 against Modo Hockey. The Lakers' first shutout came on away ice when Modo were beaten 2–0 on 25 October 2011.
Växjö Lakers played the first Småland derby game in Elitserien history, which was on away ice against reigning regular-season champions HV71, on 8 October 2011 in front of an outsold Kinnarps Arena—exactly 7,000 spectators—in Jönköping. Växjö Lakers came out on top with a 3–2 victory in a shootout. Växjö Lakers forward Mike Iggulden scored three penalty shot goals in the game, two of them counted in the statistics.
==Season history==
Season 	Level 	Division 	Record 	Record 	 	Notes
Season 	Level 	Division 	Position	W-T-LW-OT-L	 	Notes
1997–98	Tier 6 	Division 4 	? 	? 	? 	
1998–99	Tier 6 	Division 4 	1st 	13–1–0 	? 	Promoted to Division 2
1999–00	Tier 4 	Division 2 	3rd 	10–0–4 	? 	
2000–01	Tier 4 	Division 2 	1st 	13–1–0 	? 	Promoted to Division 1
2001–02	Tier 3 	Division 1: South: B 	1st 	14–2–2 	? 	
2001–02	Tier 3 	Div. 1: South: Allettan 	4th 	7–0–7 	? 	
2001–02	Tier 3 	Div. 1: South: Final round 	1st 	4–0–2 	? 	
2001–02	2002 Allsvenskan qualifier (south)	2002 Allsvenskan qualifier (south)	4th 	4–1–5 	2,651	
2002–03	Tier 3 	Division 1: South 	1st 	34–7–3 	? 	
2002–03	Tier 3 	Div 1: South: Final round A 	1st 	6–0–0 	? 	
2002–03	2003 Allsvenskan qualifier (south)	2003 Allsvenskan qualifier (south)	1st 	10–0–0 	2,745	Promoted to Allsvenskan
2003–04	Tier 2 	Allsvenskan South 	7th 	16–8–8 	2,881	
2003–04	Tier 2 	Allsvenskan South (spring) 	2nd 	9–2–3 	2,920	
2003–04	Tier 2 	Playoff to Elitserien qual. 	— 	3–2 	3,938	1st round: 2–0 vs Sundsvall, 2nd round: 1–2 vs Skellefteå
2004–05	Tier 2 	Allsvenskan South 	5th 	13–8–9 	2,870	
2004–05	Tier 2 	Allsvenskan South (spring) 	2nd 	8–2–2 	2,730	
2004–05	Tier 2 	Playoff to Elitserien qual. 	— 	0–2 	3,200	1st round: 0–2 vs Nyköping
2005–06	Tier 2 	HockeyAllsvenskan 	10th 	14–11–17 	2,581	
2006–07	Tier 2 	HockeyAllsvenskan 	6th 	21–9–15 	2,634	
2006–07	Tier 2 	Playoff to Elitserien qual. 	— 	1–2 	2,672	1st round: 1–2 vs Björklöven
2007–08	Tier 2 	HockeyAllsvenskan 	6th 	20–10–15 	2,573	
2007–08	Tier 2 	Playoff to Elitserien qual. 	— 	1–2 	2,642	1st round, 1–2 vs Västerås
2008–09	Tier 2 	HockeyAllsvenskan 	5th 	22–5–3–5 	2,486	
2008–09	Tier 2 	Playoff to Elitserien qual. 	— 	4–1 	2,952	1st round: 2–0 vs Troja/Ljungby, 2nd round: 2–1 vs Almtuna
2008–09	2009 Elitserien qualifier 	2009 Elitserien qualifier 	5th 	3–0–1–6 	2,639	
2009–10	Tier 2 	HockeyAllsvenskan 	3rd 	29–4–7–12 	2,493	
2009–10	2010 Elitserien qualifier 	2010 Elitserien qualifier 	6th 	1–1–1–7 	2,790	
2010–11	Tier 2 	HockeyAllsvenskan 	1st 	33–5–14 	2,749	
2010–11	2011 Elitserien qualifier 	2011 Elitserien qualifier 	1st 	7–2–1–0 	3,521	Promoted to Elitserien
2011–12	Tier 1 	Elitserien 	9th 	18–8–7–22 	5,099	
2012–13	Tier 1 	Elitserien 	10th 	14–7–8–26 	5,042	
2013–14	Tier 1 	SHL 	3rd 	23–7–11–14 	5,021	
2013–14	Swedish Championship playoffs 	Swedish Championship playoffs 	— 	6–8 	5,619	Lost in semifinals, 2–4 vs Färjestad BK
2014–15	Tier 1 	SHL 	3rd 	24–9–6–16 	4,980	
2014–15	Swedish Championship playoffs 	Swedish Championship playoffs 	— 	12–6 	5,629	Won finals, 4–2 vs Skellefteå AIK
2015–16	Tier 1 	SHL 	6th 	25–4–4–19 	4,947	
2015–16	Swedish Championship playoffs 	Swedish Championship playoffs 	— 	7–6 	5,629	Lost in semifinals, 3–4 vs Skellefteå AIK
2016–17	Tier 1 	SHL 	1st 	26–7–7–12 	4,757	
2016–17	Swedish Championship playoffs 	Swedish Championship playoffs 	— 	2–4 	5,629	Lost in quarterfinals, 2–4 vs Malmö Redhawks
2017–18	Tier 1 	SHL 	1st 	34–6–2–10 	4,658	
2017–18	Swedish Championship playoffs 	Swedish Championship playoffs 	— 	12–1 	5,629	Won finals, 4–0 vs Skellefteå AIK
2018–19	Tier 1 	SHL 	7th 	22–3–10–17 	4,691	
2018–19	Eighth-finals 	Eighth-finals 	— 	2–0 	4,579	Won 2–0 vs Örebro HK
2018–19	Swedish Championship playoffs 	Swedish Championship playoffs 	— 	1–4 	5,223	Lost in quarterfinals, 1–4 vs Luleå HF
2019–20	Tier 1 	SHL 	10th 	20–26–4–2 	4,835	
2019–20	Swedish Championship playoffs 	Swedish Championship playoffs 	— 	— 	— 	Playoffs cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
2020–21	Tier 1 	SHL 	1st 	34–11–6–1 	— 	
2020–21	Swedish Championship playoffs 	Swedish Championship playoffs 	— 	11–3 	— 	Won finals, 4–1 vs Rögle BK
2021–22	Tier 1 	SHL 	5th 	28–17–5–2 	3,691	
2021–22	Swedish Championship playoffs 	Swedish Championship playoffs 	— 	0–4 	 	Lost in quarterfinals 0–4 vs Frölunda HC
2022–23	Tier 1 	SHL 	1st 	 	 	
2022–23	Swedish Championship playoffs 	Swedish Championship playoffs 	— 	 	 	Won finals, 4–1 vs Skellefteå AIK
== References ==
==External links== 
*Official home page 
Category:Ice hockey teams in Sweden