HV71

HV71, often referred to as HV, is a Swedish professional ice hockey club based in Jönköping, playing in the Swedish Elite League Elitserien. They also participate in the Nordic Trophy since 2008. In season 2008–09 HV71 will play in the newly formed 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 three times; 1995, 2004 and 2008. 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 1/4-final HV beat Djurgarden, 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 Malmo and turned the series around to a 3-2 victory, and in the final they managed a decisive sudden death victory against Brynas 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.

2005–06 season

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.

2006–07 season

HV71 ended the regular season as the second placed team after Färjestads BK. HV chose to meet Brynäs IF in the quarterfinals 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, second during the 2000s. HV71 finished the regular season as the league champion with 107 points, 15 points more than the second placed team Linköpings HC. HV defeated Skellefteå AIK in the quarterfinals, 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

Season	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	Finish	Playoffs
1971–72								7th, Division 2	Did not qualify
1972–73								4th, Division 2	Did not qualify
1973–74								1st, Division 2	3rd in Qualification for Elitserien
1974–75								1st, Division 2	Promoted to Division 1
1975–76								3rd, Division 1	Lost Play Off 2 to Elitserien
1976–77								1st, Division 1	3rd in Qualification for Elitserien
1977–78								2nd, Division 1	Lost Play Off 1 to Elitserien
1978–79								2nd, Division 1	Promoted to Elitserien
1979–80	36	8	24	4	20	113	170	10th, Elitserien	Relegated to Division 1
1980–81	36	31	4	1	63	260	95	1st, Division 1	Did not qualify
1981–82	36	32	2	2	66	266	126	1st, Division 1	Did not qualify
1982–83	32	20	9	3	43	198	110	6th, Division 1	Did not qualify
1983–84	32	18	9	5	41	167	111	3rd, Division 1	Did not qualify
1984–85	32	22	7	3	47	241	138	5th, Division 1	Promoted to Elitserien
1985–86	36	16	14	6	38	128	118	3rd, Elitserien	Lost Semifinal, 0-2 (Södertälje SK)
1986–87	36	16	15	5	37	103	115	5th, Elitserien	Did not qualify
1987–88	40	17	18	5	39	149	166	7th, Elitserien	Lost Quarterfinal, 0-2 (IF Björklöven)
1988–89	40	17	20	3	37	156	155	8th, Elitserien	Lost Quarterfinal, 1-2 (Leksands IF)
1989–90	40	16	21	3	35	131	161	9th, Elitserien	Did not qualify
1990–91	40	17	18	5	39	142	119	6th, Elitserien	Lost Quarterfinal, 2-3 (Västerås IK)
1991–92	40	17	16	7	41	151	129	8th, Elitserien	Lost Quarterfinal, 1-2 (Färjestads BK)
1992–93	40	13	19	8	34	123	149	9th, Elitserien	Did not qualify
1993–94	40	15	18	7	37	111	118	9th, Elitserien	Did not qualify
1994–95	40	12	19	9	33	117	143	8th, Elitserien	Swedish Champions, 3-2 (Brynäs IF)
1995–96	40	18	14	8	44	156	131	4th, Elitserien	Lost Quarterfinal, 1-3 (MODO Hockey)
1996–97	50	22	19	9	53	178	159	6th, Elitserien	Lost Quarterfinal, 2-3 (Färjestads BK)
1997–98	46	19	19	8	46	127	145	7th, Elitserien	Lost Quarterfinal, 2-3 (Djurgårdens IF)
1998–99	50	18	20	12	67	133	148	9th, Elitserien	Did not qualify
1999–00	50	18	19	13	75	144	131	8th, Elitserien	Lost Quarterfinal, 2-4 (Brynäs IF)
2000–01	50	17	23	10	66	147	149	10th, Elitserien	Did not qualify
2001–02	50	24	14	12	88	156	140	4th, Elitserien	Lost Semifinal, 0-3 (Färjestads BK)
2002–03	50	21	16	13	79	143	142	6th, Elitserien	Lost Quarterfinal, 2-4 (Djurgårdens IF)
2003–04	50	27	17	8	95	162	116	1st, Elitserien	Swedish Champions, 4-3 (Färjestads BK)
2004–05¹	50	15	25	10	57	123	163	10th, Elitserien	Did not qualify
2005–06	50	29	11	10	102	164	107	1st, Elitserien	Lost Semifinal, 3-4 (Färjestads BK)
2006–07	55	25	15	15	93	170	150	2nd, Elitserien	Lost Semifinal, 3-4 (MODO Hockey)
2007–08	55	31	13	11	107	178	132	1st, Elitserien	Swedish Champions, 4-2 (Linköpings HC)
Totals	1075	231	421	423	1365	3408	3358	6th, Elitserien	Elitserien totals

¹ NHL players in Elitserien due to the 2004–05 NHL lockout.

Notable players

Current roster

Team captains

Johan Davidsson, present

Retired numbers

14 Fredrik Stillman, D, 1982–1995, 1996–2001
15 Stefan Örnskog, LW, 1987–1998, 1999–2001

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

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	P/G
Johan Davidsson*	C	525	125	234	359	.68
Per Gustafsson*	D	676	111	199	310	.46
Fredrik Stillman	D	565	90	197	287	.51
Stefan Örnskog	LW	442	106	150	256	.58
Owe Thörnberg	LW	369	129	104	233	.63
Peter Ekelund	C	584	110	108	218	.37
Anders Huusko	RW	309	102	84	186	.60