Leksands IF

Leksands Idrottsförening is a Swedish ice hockey team from the town of Leksand in the region of Dalarna. Since the 2013–14 season, the team plays in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL)—the top-tier league in Sweden—after qualifying through the 2013 Kvalserien. Leksand has played 53 seasons in the top Swedish league (since 1975 the Elitserien, now named SHL) – between 1951 to 2001, 2002 to 2004, and 2005–06. The club's home arena is Tegera Arena, which seats 7,650 spectators.
== History ==
upright=0.8|left|thumb|Åke Lassa´s statue in Tegera Arena.|150px
The club was formed on 13 August 1919, originally playing bandy and [ki competitions. In 1920 they also took up football.
The first hockey game was played in 1938, when they beat Mora IK 11–0, and this sport is now the only sport the club competes in. Despite the fact that the town of Leksand only has 6,000 inhabitants, Leksands IF is one of the most popular teams in Sweden, and the team averages over 4,000 spectators per game in their home arena despite playing in the second tier. Leksand played in the top hockey division in Sweden from 1951 until 2001. The club was very successful between 1969 and 1975, when they became Swedish champions four times (1969, 1973–1975). Before the current top division, Elitserien (now known as the SHL), was formed prior to the 1975–76 season, they had been the runners-up four times: 1959, 1964, 1971 and 1972. Leksand has never become SHL champions despite winning the SHL's regular season in 1980, 1994 and 1997, and being the runners-up in 1989. In 2001, they were the club with the second most consecutive seasons in the highest division at that point (the record is held by Södertälje SK, with 53 consecutive seasons between 1925 and 1978).
Following the relegation to HockeyAllsvenskan in April 2001, Leksand commuted between the top and second divisions until 2005–06, when the team was relegated to the second tier again, where they would find themselves until the 2012–13 season.
For the 2007–08 season, Leksand signed former NHL goaltender Ed Belfour in an attempt to regain top league status. After winning the second league with relative ease, the team failed in the final qualification stage, Kvalserien, to gain promotion. Ed Belfour retired after the 2007–08 season.
Leksand once again won Allsvenskan in the 2008–09 season, but once again failed to qualify for the Elitserien in the 2009 Kvalserien. The managers Thomas Kempe and Thomas Jonsson were sacked following three straight defeats in the beginning of the Kvalserien. The team finished the 2009 Kvalserien with five wins in the last six games, but still failed to qualify. For the 2009–10 season, Leksand employed Leif Strömberg, who had previously successfully guided Södertälje SK through Kvalserien. The team once again won Allsvenskan and qualified for the 2010 Kvalserien, finishing three points ahead of AIK. In the ninth round of the 2010 Kvalserien, Leksand had a good chance to put them in the driver's seat for promotion to Elitserien, but Leksand failed to beat the Kvalserien's worst ranked team Växjö Lakers and, despite a win in the tenth and final round, Leksand missed Elitserien as both AIK and Rögle BK won their respective games in the final round.
After failing promotion, Leif Strömberg was replaced by ex-Leksand forward Niklas Eriksson, under whom the following season Leksand attempted to reach the Kvalserien for the seventh consecutive season. The team finished fourth in Allsvenskan and missed automatic qualification for the Kvalserien and had to play in a pre-qualification series to reach the Kvalserien, but Leksand finished third and missed the Kvalserien. Before the 2011/12 season, assistant head coach Christer Olsson took over the reins, but was sacked following a defeat at Sundsvall Hockey in late November and replaced by Andreas Appelgren.
After winning the regular season in the 2012–13 season, Leksand once again qualified for play in Kvalserien. In the 2013 Kvalserien, Leksand finally promoted back to the Swedish Hockey League (SHL; formerly Elitserien), the top-tier league, for the first time since the 2005–06 season.
==Season-by-season records==
Year 	Level 	Division 	Record 	Record 	 	Notes 	
Year 	Level 	Division 	Position	W-T-LW-OT-L	 	Notes 	
1990–91	Tier 1 	Elitserien, first half 	11th 	8–3–11 	 	Relegated to Allsvenskan for second half 	
1990–91	Tier 2 	Allsvenskan 	2nd 	10–6–2 	 	 	
1990–91	Tier 2 	Allsvenskan Final 	— 	3–1 	5,487	Won vs Västra Frölunda HC (6–3, 2–1, 2–8, 5–1) Re-qualified for play in 1991–92 Elitserien	
1991–92	Tier 1 	Elitserien, first half 	11th 	3–9–10 	 	Relegated to Allsvenskan for second half 	
1991–92	Tier 2 	Allsvenskan 	2nd 	11–3–4 	 	 	
1991–92	Tier 2 	Allsvenskan Final 	— 	2–3 	5,503	Lost vs Rögle BK (3–2, 3–4, 2–5, 4–2, 3–4) 	
1991–92	1992 Elitserien qualifier	1992 Elitserien qualifier 	1st 	5–0–1 	4,143	Re-qualified for play in 1992–93 Elitserien 	
1992–93	Tier 1 	Elitserien 	7th 	17–4–19 	 	 	
1992–93	Tier 1 	Swedish Championship playoffs	— 	0–2 	4,310	Lost in quarterfinals, 0–2 vs Brynäs IF 	
1993–94	Tier 1 	Elitserien 	1st 	22–6–12 	 	 	
1993–94	Tier 1 	Swedish Championship playoffs	— 	1–3 	3,976	Lost in quarterfinals, 1–3 vs MoDo 	
1994–95	Tier 1 	Elitserien 	4th 	21–6–13 	 	 	
1994–95	Tier 1 	Swedish Championship playoffs	— 	1–3 	4,833	Lost in quarterfinals, 1–3 vs Brynäs IF 	
1995–96	Tier 1 	Elitserien 	7th 	15–10–15 	3,826	 	
1995–96	Tier 1 	Swedish Championship playoffs	— 	2–3 	5,172	Lost in quarterfinals, 2–3 vs Västra Frölunda HC 	
1996–97	Tier 1 	Elitserien 	1st 	28–7–15 	 	 	
1996–97	Tier 1 	Swedish Championship playoffs	— 	3–1 	5,273	Won in quarterfinals, 3–1 vs Malmö IFLost in semifinals, 2–3 vs Färjestads BK 	
1997–98	Tier 1 	Elitserien 	3rd 	24–8–14 	 	 	
1997–98	Tier 1 	Swedish Championship playoffs	— 	1–3 	4,142	Lost in quarterfinals, 1–3 vs MoDo Hockey 	
1998–99	Tier 1 	Elitserien 	4th 	20–14–16 	 	 	
1998–99	Tier 1 	Swedish Championship playoffs	— 	1–3 	4,838	Lost in quarterfinals, 1–4 vs Luleå HF 	
1999–00	Tier 1 	Elitserien 	10th 	14–12–24 	3,890	 	
2000–01	Tier 1 	Elitserien 	11th 	16–6–28 	4,314	 	
2000–01	2001 Elitserien qualifier	2001 Elitserien qualifier 	4th 	4–3–3 	4,588	Relegated to Allsvenskan 	
2001–02	Tier 2 	Allsvenskan Södra 	1st 	30–1–1 	3,551	 	
2001–02	Tier 2 	SuperAllsvenskan 	1st 	12–1–1 	3,472	 	
2001–02	2002 Elitserien qualifier	2002 Elitserien qualifier 	2nd 	7–3–0 	5,491	Promoted to Elitserien 	
2002–03	Tier 1 	Elitserien 	8th 	19–6–25 	5,241	 	
2002–03	Tier 1 	Swedish Championship playoffs	— 	1–4 	5,984	Lost in quarterfinals, 1–4 vs Färjestad 	
2003–04	Tier 1 	Elitserien 	12th 	11–17–22 	4,972	 	
2003–04	2004 Elitserien qualifier	2004 Elitserien qualifier 	4th 	3–3–4 	4,044	Relegated to Allsvenskan 	
2004–05	Tier 2 	Allsvenskan Norra 	1st 	26–2–4 	2,925	 	
2004–05	Tier 2 	SuperAllsvenskan 	1st 	8–4–2 	4,481	 	
2004–05	2005 Elitserien qualifier	2005 Elitserien qualifier 	1st 	5–4–1 	5,682	Promoted to Elitserien 	
2005–06	Tier 1 	Elitserien 	12th 	9–11–30 	6,487	 	
2005–06	2006 Elitserien qualifier	2006 Elitserien qualifier 	5th 	3–1–6 	4,147	Relegated to HockeyAllsvenskan 	
2006–07	Tier 2 	HockeyAllsvenskan 	3rd 	28–9–8 	4,127	 	
2006–07	2007 Elitserien qualifier	2007 Elitserien qualifier 	5th 	3–1–6 	4,536	 	
2007–08	Tier 2 	HockeyAllsvenskan 	1st 	33–6–6 	5,152	 	
2007–08	2008 Elitserien qualifier	2008 Elitserien qualifier 	5th 	4–1–5 	7,315	 	
2008–09	Tier 2 	HockeyAllsvenskan 	1st 	30–5–1–9 	5,300	 	
2008–09	2009 Elitserien qualifier	2009 Elitserien qualifier 	4th 	4-1–0–5 	6,917	 	
2009–10	Tier 2 	HockeyAllsvenskan 	1st 	31–4–6–11 	4,785	 	
2009–10	2010 Elitserien qualifier	2010 Elitserien qualifier 	4th 	4–2–0–4 	7,093	 	
2010–11	Tier 2 	HockeyAllsvenskan 	4th 	23–7–7–15 	4,842	 	
2010–11	Tier 2 	Pre-qualifier 	3rd 	2–1–0–3 	2,445	 	
2011–12	Tier 2 	HockeyAllsvenskan 	2nd 	27–7–5–13 	4,820	 	
2011–12	2012 Elitserien qualifier	2012 Elitserien qualifier 	4th 	3–1–1–5 	7,002	 	
2012–13	Tier 2 	HockeyAllsvenskan 	1st 	31–5–6–10 	5,000	 	
2012–13	2013 Elitserien qualifier	2013 Elitserien qualifier 	2nd 	7–0–1–2 	7,396	Promoted to Elitserien (later renamed SHL) 	
2013–14	Tier 1 	SHL 	7th 	23–5–4–23 	6,574	 	
2013–14	Tier 1 	Swedish Championship playoffs	— 	1–0–0–2 	6,240	Lost in 1st round 1–2 in games vs HV71 	
2014–15	Tier 1 	SHL 	11th 	23–5–4–23 	6,574	 	
2014–15	SHL qualifiers 	SHL qualifiers 	— 	2–1–0–4 	6,240	Lost 3–4 in games to the Malmö Redhawks Relegated to HockeyAllsvenskan 	
2015–16	Tier 2 	HockeyAllsvenskan 	4th 	24–3–7–18 	4,576	 	
2015–16	Tier 2 	HockeyAllsvenskan Playoffs 	1st 	3–0–0–2 	5,618	 	
2015–16	Tier 2 	Playoff to the SHL qualifiers	— 	2–0–0–0 	7,650	Won 2–0 in games vs Tingsryds AIF 	
2015–16	SHL qualifiers 	SHL qualifiers 	— 	2–2–0–3 	7,294	Won 4–3 in games vs MODO Hockey Promoted to the SHL 	
2016–17	Tier 1 	SHL 	14th 	12–1–5–34 	5,737	 	
2016–17	SHL qualifiers 	SHL qualifiers 	— 	2–0–0–4 	7,186	Lost 2–4 in games to Mora IK Relegated to HockeyAllsvenskan 	
2017–18	Tier 2 	HockeyAllsvenskan 	2nd 	26–3–7–16 	5,141	 	
2017–18	Tier 2 	HockeyAllsvenskan finals 	— 	0–0–1–2 	5,954	Lost 0–3 in games vs Timrå IK 	
2017–18	Tier 2 	Playoff to SHL qualifiers 	— 	1–1–0–1 	4,603	Won 2–1 in games to IK Oskarshamn 	
2017–18	SHL qualifiers 	SHL qualifiers 	— 	1–0–0–4 	7,557	Lost 1–4 in games to Mora IK 	
2018–19	Tier 2 	HockeyAllsvenskan 	4th 	25–5–5–17 	4,666	 	
2018–19	Tier 2 	HockeyAllsvenskan Playoffs 	1st 	3–2–0–0 	4,954	 	
2018–19	Tier 2 	Playoff to the SHL qualifiers	— 	2–0–0–0 	7,650	Won 2–0 in games vs AIK IF 	
2018–19	SHL qualifiers 	SHL qualifiers 	— 	3–1–0–1 	7,650	Won 4–1 in games vs Mora IK Promoted to the SHL 	
2019–20	Tier 1 	SHL 	13th 	13–2–6–31 	5,795	 	
2020–21	Tier 1 	SHL 	3rd 	25–7–5–15 	22 	 	
2020–21	Tier 1 	Swedish Championship playoffs	— 	0–0–1–3 	16 	Lost in 1st round 0–4 in games vs Örebro HK 	
2021–22	Tier 1 	SHL 	8th 	20–4–7–21 	5,270	 	
2021–22	Tier 1 	Eighth-finals 	— 	1–0–0–2 	6,154	Lost 1–2 in games vs IK Oskarshamn 	
2022–23	Tier 1 	SHL 	8th 	22–5–1–24 	6,065	 	
2022–23	Tier 1 	Eighth-finals 	— 	0–1–0–2 	5,508	Lost 1–2 in games vs Rögle BK 	
==References==
== External links ==
*Leksands IF – Official site
*Elite prospects – Leksands IF
 
 
Category:Ice hockey teams in Sweden