Frölunda HC

Pro hockey team
text_color = #FFFFFF
bg_color = #BF2F38
team = Frölunda HC

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logosize = 150px
city = Gothenburg, Sweden
league = Elitserien
founded = February 3, 1938
operated =
arena = Scandinavium
colors = Red, Green, Gold, White
Colorbox|#BF2F38 Colorbox|#007550 Colorbox|#D8C793 Colorbox|#FFFFFF
owner =
captain = Flagicon|Sweden Niklas Andersson
coach = Flagicon|Sweden Ulf Dahlén
GM = Flagicon|Sweden Kent Norberg
media =
affiliates = Borås HC (HockeyAllsvenskan)
name1 = Västra Frölunda IF
dates1 = 1944–1984
name2 = Västra Frölunda HC
dates2 = 1984–2004
name3 = Frölunda HC
dates3 = 2004–present
reg_season_titles =
division_titles =
championships = 1965, 2003, 2005

Frölunda Hockey Club, also known as the Frölunda Indians, [cite web | url = http://www.frolundaindians.com/default.asp?initid=1307&menutree=1506&toplinkname=nyheter&menuheading=nyheter&mainpage=templates/03.asp?sida=1313 | title = Facts | accessdate = 2007-01-29 | publisher = Frölunda HC ] are a Swedish professional ice hockey club based in Gothenburg. They are currently playing in the highest Swedish league, Elitserien, where they have played the majority of the seasons during its existence. The last time they played in the lower division, Allsvenskan, was in 1995. Frölunda have won the national championship title three times, in 1965, 2003, and 2005.

The club was originally founded on February 3, 1938,cite book |last=Szemberg |first=Szymon |title=Västra Frölunda 50 År |accessdate=2007-02-28 |pages=p.12 ] as an ice hockey section in Västra Frölunda IF and became independent on March 29, 1984. [cite book |last=Szemberg |first=Szymon |title=Västra Frölunda 50 År |accessdate=2007-02-28 |pages=p.170 ] On June 16, 2004, the club shortened the name from Västra Frölunda Hockey Club to Frölunda Hockey Club.subst:cite email |author=Carlsson, Lars O |title=SV: Tröjor |senddate=2007-02-27 |email=[e-mail] |accessdate=2007-02-29 ]

Frölunda's home venue is the 12,044 capacity Scandinavium arena in central Gothenburg. Frölundaborg is used when Scandinavium is occupied with other events.

History

Early years

Frölunda Hockey Club originates from Älvsborg's gymnastics- and sports association, an association, which shortly after its foundation on January 2, 1930, changed name to Västra Frölunda Idrottsförening. [cite web |url=http://www.frolundaindians.com/default.asp?initid=1308&menutree=1555.1845.1847&toplinkname=f%F6reningen&menuheading=f%F6reningen&mainpage=templates/03.asp?sida=1401 |title=Del 13 - Innan isen lagt sig... |accessdate=2007-11-22 |last=Carlsson |first=Lars O |date=2005-11-27 |work=Nostalgiska återblickar |publisher=Frölunda HC |language=Swedish] On February 3, 1938, during a board meeting at Café Lorry, the ice hockey section in Västra Frölunda IF was founded.cite book |last=Szemberg |first=Szymon |title=Västra Frölunda 50 År |accessdate=2007-02-28 |pages=p.12 ] Chairman Nils "Johan" Johansson was the advocate of an ice hockey section in the association. The board agreed to pay 75 kronor to the Swedish Ice Hockey Association to gain membership and acquire free equipment. The equipment was however loaned to the military pilots at Säve airbase, by the main impugner/deprecator Bengt ”Bittan” Johansson.

In 1944 Frölunda registered a team for league competition. Due to the mild weather it would take 2 years before the premier. On January 25, 1946, Västra Frölunda IF played their first ice hockey game against local rival Fellows at Krokslätts ice rink. A small notice in Göteborgs-Posten attracted 160 people to watch the game that ended in a 1–8 loss. The team fielded for the game included one goalie, two defensemen and six forwards. Only one of the nine players, Gunnar Gerdne, had played hockey earlier, the other players came from the associations bandy section. Despite the big loss, the newspapers proclaim it as a good debut.Another two games were played in their first season, a 2–1 win over Chalmers and a 10–1 loss against Udden. Frölunda finished third in the Group B of the Gothenburg series.

On January 22, 1947, in the season premier against Hisingen Frölunda had three players ill, and were only able to dress six players for the game. At the end of the first period Frölunda players Björn Andersson got injured with a broken nose. With one player out Frölunda had to play the rest of the game one man down. They were able to keep the game tied to the final period before Hisingen got the lead, the game ended in a 4–7 loss. After a 4–4 tie against Göteborgs SK and a 13–1 win over Chalmers, Frölunda finished second in the standings which was one position higher then the last year.

1980s

Independent

After the 1982/83 season the hockey section presented a budget deficit of 675,000 SEK. At this point, the tension between the hockey section and the clubs management was high. Everyone with insight in the organisation knew that it was just a matter of time before the two parties would separate.

The only thing preventing an immediate separation between the two blocks, was the sentimental issue of Bittan Johansson. Bittan, a legend within the organisation, was at the time of the conflict deadly ill and only had months left to live. On September 9, 1983, only two months after his 65th birthday, Bittan Johansson died. Now when there were no more ties to VFIF, club president Rune Kristiansson didn't see any reasons why the hockey section should be a part of VFIF.

On March 11, 1984, VFIF played their last ice hockey game, 38 years, 1 month and 15 days after the premier against Fellows on Krokslätts ice rink.

On March 29, 1984, VFIF held their annual meeting, where the hockey section would participate for the last time. With a strike of a gavel, Rune Kristiansson ended the hockey section in VFIF. Kristiansson handed over the podium to Rolf Kling, who had been the last president of the hockey section. Kling cheerfully and ironically asked "So, is there anyone who wants to start a hockey club?"

Now

In 2003 Frölunda became the champions after a 30 year hiatus. The epic final game in Scandinavium on April 7th against Färjestad BK was ended by late season reqruit Tomi Kallio in the 3rd OT period. Ever since Tomi Kallio has been one of the most cheerished players in the clubs history.

In the 2004-05 season, the club's 60th anniversary and 20th as independent club, the team won the league title, by having the best record during the regular season, and the Swedish Championship. That particular year was notable because the National Hockey League had a labour stoppage due to labour negotiations between the league and the players. Many professional hockey players who could not play in the NHL chose to play in European or North American leagues. The largest number of professional NHL players were in Sweden for the season. This increased the quality of play dramatically and many observers said that the Elitserien was the best league in the world during 2004-05. [cite web
url = http://www.egmont-karnan.se/images/pdf/Pro%20hockey%20050427%5B1%5D.pdf | title = Elitserien världens bästa hockeyliga | accessdate = 2007-01-25 | date = 2005-04-27 | format = PDF | publisher = Pro Hockey | language = Swedish ]

Frölunda set a new Elitserien record on April 6, 2006, by winning the Elitserien playoff semi finals against Linköpings HC 4-3 after trailing the series 1-3. The season ended with a 2-4 defeat against Färjestads BK in the finals. The second game in the finals Ronnie Sundin played his 685th game for Frölunda becoming the player with most career games for the club.

On October 2, 2008, the Indians played an exhibition game against the Ottawa Senators while the Senators were getting ready to begin the season in Stockholm against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Indians lost by a score of 4-1, with Oscar Hedman scoring their only goal. Former Indian Daniel Alfredsson, who was honoured several days earlier as one of the team's all-time favourite players with a podium in the Scandinavium decorated in his honour, scored the second goal for the Senators. Chris Kelly, Alexandre Picard, and Jason Spezza score the Senators' other three goals in the match.

Season-by-season results

"This is a partial list of the last five seasons completed by Frölunda. For the full season-by-season history, see Frölunda HC seasons"

Current roster

Honored members

Frölunda Hockey have retired the numbers of four players, all on March 3, 2002. The number retired were; the number 13 worn by Lars Erik Lundvall, who spent eight seasons with Frölunda, all of them serving as team captain. The number 14 worn by Ronald "Sura Pelle" Pettersson, who spent seven seasons with Frölunda before suffering a career ending injury on December 14, 1967. The duo of Lundvall and Pettersson was one of the reason behind Frölunda's success in the 60's and secured that hockey got a strong foothold in Gothenburg. The number 19 worn by Jörgen Pettersson during his two stints with Frölunda. Pettersson joined the club in 1970 and played ten seasons for the club before joining the St. Louis Blues of the NHL. After five seasons in the NHL he returned and played another three seasons for the club. The number 29 worn by Stefan Larsson during his sixteen seasons with Frölunda. With the exception of two seasons, Larsson played for Frölunda his entire professional career.

Two Frölunda players have been inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation's Hall of Fame. Forward Ulf Sterner, played three seasons for Frölunda before becoming the first European-trained player to play in the NHL during his short sojourn with the New York Rangers during the 1964–65 NHL season; he was inducted in 2001.cite web |url=http://www.iihf.com/news/iihfpr4704.htm |title=Complete list of IIHF Hall of Fame Inductees from 1997-2006 |accessdate=2007-02-28 |publisher=International Ice Hockey Federation] Forward Ronald "Sura Pelle" Pettersson, represented team Sweden in three olympic games and ten IIHF World Championships, totaling 252 games played for the national team; he was inducted in 2004.cite web |url=http://www.iihf.com/news/iihfpr4704.htm |title=Complete list of IIHF Hall of Fame Inductees from 1997-2006 |accessdate=2007-02-28 |publisher=International Ice Hockey Federation] In 2003, former Frölunda players Christian Ruuttu and Jorma Salmi were inducted to the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame. [cite web |url=http://www.tampere.fi/jaakiekkomuseo/players.htm |title=Finnish Hall of Fame - Honoured Members |accessdate=2007-02-28 |publisher=Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame]

Leaders

Head coaches

* Karl-Erik Eriksson, 1956–1960
* Lars Erik Lundvall, 1960–1963
* Curly Leachman, 1963–1964
* Lars Erik Lundvall, 1964–1969
* Arne Eriksson, 1969–1971
* Jack Bownass, 1971–1973
* Lars Erik Lundvall, 1973–1975
* Arne Strömberg, 1975–1978
* Leif Henriksson, 1978–1980
* Berny Karlsson, 1980–1981

* Len Lunde, 1981–1982
* Leif Henriksson, 1982–1983
* Kjell Jönsson, 1983–1984
* Roland Mattsson, 1984–1985
* Thommie Bergman, 1985–1987
* Conny Evensson, 1987–1989
* Lennart Åhlberg, 1989–1990
* Lars-Erik Esbjörs, 1990–1991
* Leif Boork, 1991–1994
* Ulf Labraaten, 1994–1995

* Lasse Falk, 1995–1997
* Tommy Boustedt, 1997–2001
* Conny Evensson, 2001–2004
* Janne Karlsson, 2004 (interim)
* Stephan Lundh, 2004–2006
* Per Bäckman, 2006–2007
* Roger Melin, 2007–2008
* Ulf Dahlén, 2008–"present"

Team captains

* Rune Johansson, 1945–1960
* Lars Erik Lundvall, 1960–1968
* Arne Carlsson, 1968–1969
* Lars-Erik Sjöberg, 1969–1974
* Henric Hedlund, 1974–1976
* Leif Henriksson, 1976–1977
* Lars-Erik Esbjörs, 1976–1979
* Anders Broström, 1979–1980
* Göran Nilsson, 1980–1983
* Thomas Kärrbrandt, 1983–1984

* Göran Nilsson, 1984–1985
* Hasse Sjöö, 1985–1987
* Jan Karlsson, 1987–1990
* Mikael Andersson, 1990–1992
* Terho Koskela, 1992–1995
* Christian Ruuttu, 1995–1996
* Henrik Nilsson, 1996–2000
* Mikael Andersson, 2000–2003
* Jonas Johnson, 2003–2008
* Niklas Andersson, 2008–"present"

References

General

* cite book
last = Szemberg
first = Szymon
title = Västra Frölunda 50 År
origyear = 1994
origmonth = September
publisher = Sportförlaget
location = Sweden
language = Swedish
isbn = 9789188540348
*cite web | title=Frölunda Indians spelare | work=Frölundas historia | url=http://www.wilsonlarsson.sbgb.se/vfspelarektillo.htm | accessmonthday=July 20 | accessyear=2006

Notes

External links

* [http://www.frolundaindians.com/ Official website Frölunda Indians HC]
* [http://www.wilsonlarsson.sbgb.se/frolunda.htm Team History]
* [http://www.mittzonen.net MittZonen Fan Forum]
* [http://www.wildwestsupport.se/start.asp Wild West Support Fan Site]
* Meltzer, Bill. [http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=318189 NHL.com article on Frölunda players in NHL Draft] . Retrieved 06-13-07.