HV71 (women)

HV71 (abbreviated from Husqvarna Vätterstad 1971) are a semi-professional ice hockey club in the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL). They play in Jönköping, in the southern Swedish province of Småland, at Husqvarna Garden.
== History ==
The club was originally formed independently in March 2002 as Jönköpings IF Queens, after neither local professional men's teams – HV71 of the Swedish Hockey League nor HC Dalen of Hockeyettan – were willing to start women's divisions. The club's logo was designed by 18-year old Swedish-Iranian refugee Behnaz Bahabozorgi, who served as the club's chairperson, and the team practiced on an outdoor rink on Saturdays. They began play in the 2003–04 Damettan season, finishing last in the southern division. In April 2008, as the club had grown to the point of adding a B-team and a youth department, Jönköpings IF Queens decided to merge with the HV71 organisation, becoming the HV71 Queens from 1 August the same year.
In 2012, the club earned promotion to the SDHL for the first time. For their first top-division season, the club dropped the "Queens" from their name, playing only as HV71. They finished last place in the 2012–13 season, and were relegated back to Damettan. The club made it to the promotion playoffs in 2013–14, but lost. The following season, after the HV71 board decided to substantially increase investment into the women's side, more than doubling the club's budget and making big signings such as Jenni Asserholt and Fanny Rask, the team earned promotion back to the SDHL. In 2016–17, the club was able to reach the SDHL playoff finals, but lost against Djurgårdens IF.
In the 2019–20 SDHL season, HV71 finished on top of the league table for the first time in club history, setting a SDHL record for most regular season points with 99. Halfway through the season, head coach Lucas Frey was fired due to engaging in inappropriate relationship with one player of the team, immediately being replaced by assistant coach Joakim Engström. The team reached the SDHL playoff finals for the second time in club history, but the finals vs. Luleå were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden. HV71 had a 1-0 lead and needed only win one more game to win the championship. Hours before the second game Luleå team staff claimed to have two cases of Covid-19, players being defender Johanna Fällman and goalie Sara Grahn. No proof of symptoms or test result was ever provided by Luleå and shortly after the finals was canceled Luleå management stated to local media NSD that no players in fact ever had symptoms of Covid-19.
== Season-by-season results ==
This is a partial list of the most recent seasons completed by HV71. Code explanation: GP—Games played, W—Wins, OTW—Overtime wins, T—Overtime losses, L—Losses, GF—Goals for, GA—Goals against, Pts—Points. Top Scorer: Points (Goals+Assists)
Season 	League 	Regular season	Regular season	Regular season	Regular season	Regular season	Regular season	Regular season	Regular season	Regular season	Regular season 	Post season results
Season 	League 	Finish 	GP 	W 	OTW 	OTL 	L 	GF 	GA 	Pts 	Top scorer 	Post season results
2015-16	Riksserien	6th 	36 	13 	6 	1 	16 	90 	109 	52 	F. Rask 40 (16+24) 	Lost quarterfinal to Linköping HC
2016-17	SDHL 	4th 	36 	15 	4 	5 	12 	89 	67 	58 	F. Rask 39 (20+19) 	Lost final to Djurgårdens IF
2017-18	SDHL 	5th 	36 	15 	1 	3 	17 	94 	100 	50 	R. Sallinen 47 (15+32) 	Lost quarterfinal to Djurgårdens IF
2018-19	SDHL 	5th 	36 	20 	0 	4 	12 	118 	70 	64 	R. Sallinen 51 (14+37) 	Lost semifinal to Luleå HF/MSSK
2019-20	SDHL 	1st 	36 	32 	2 	1 	1 	170 	52 	99 	K. Marchment 64 (32+32)	Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
2020-21	SDHL 	3rd 	36 	21 	4 	2 	9 	137 	70 	73 	K. Marchment 72 (28+44)	Lost semifinal to Brynäs IF
2021-22	SDHL 	4th 	36 	20 	3 	2 	11 	123 	95 	68 	S. Bujold 34 (20+14) 	Lost semifinal to Brynäs IF
2022-23	SDHL 	8th 	32 	4 	5 	2 	21 	67 	115 	24 	E. Svensson 27 (13+14) 	Lost quarterfinal to Luleå HF/MSSK
==References==
== External links ==
* Team information and statistics from EliteProspects.com and EuroHockey.com
Category:Ice hockey teams in Sweden