Frölunda HC explained

Current:2022–23 SHL season
Text Color:
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Bg Color:background:#FFFFFF; border-top:#CE0014 5px solid; border-bottom:#00573F 5px solid;
Team:Frölunda HC
Logosize:190px
City:Gothenburg, Sweden
League:Swedish Hockey League
Founded:3 February 1938
Arena:Scandinavium
Captain:Max Friberg
Coach:Roger Rönnberg
Gm:Fredrik Sjöström
Name1:Västra Frölunda IF
Dates1:1944–1984
Name2:Västra Frölunda HC
Dates2:1984–2004
Name3:Frölunda HC
Dates3:2004–present
Le Mat Trophies:5 (1965, 2003, 2005, 2016, 2019)
Championships1 Type:Champions Hockey League
Championships1:4 (2016, 2017, 2019, 2020)
Website:frolundahockey.com

Frölunda Hockey Club, previously known as the Frölunda Indians,[1] is a Swedish professional ice hockey club based in Gothenburg. They currently play in the highest Swedish league, the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), formerly the Elitserien, where they have played for most of the club's existence. They last played in the lower division, the Allsvenskan, in 1995. Frölunda have won the national championship title five times: in 1965, 2003, 2005, 2016 and 2019.

The club was founded on 3 February 1938,[2] as an ice hockey section in Västra Frölunda IF and became independent on 29 March 1984.[3] Prior to the 1995/1996 season, the nickname Indians was adopted. This referring to the successful years of the 1960s, when fans started to call them the "Wild West" (Västra Frölunda is West Frölunda in English). But as they did not want a nickname like cowboys or something with firearms, Indians was selected.On 16 June 2004, the club shortened the name from Västra Frölunda Hockey Club to Frölunda Hockey Club. Frölunda's home venue is the Scandinavium arena in central Gothenburg, which has a capacity of 12,044 people. Frölundaborg is used when Scandinavium is occupied with other events. Frölunda's average home attendance has been the highest in the league for over a decade.[4]

History

In 2003 Frölunda became the champions after a 38-year hiatus. The final game in Scandinavium on 7 April against Färjestad BK was ended by late season recruit Tomi Kallio in the third overtime period.[5] 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 negotiations between the league and the players association. 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 during the season, including Gothenburg native Daniel Alfredsson, who joined his hometown club for the season. This increased the quality of play and many observers said that Elitserien was the best league in the world during 2004–05.[6]

Frölunda set a new Elitserien record on 6 April 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.

Frölunda has claimed the Champions Hockey League title on four separate occasions in 2015–16, 2016–17, 2018–19 and 2019–20, the most titles out of any club.

On 2 February 2022, Frölunda Hockey Club presented their new logo. According to the club, the new logo represents the city of Gothenburg, Västra Frölunda, gentleness and excitement. The logo visualizes two F's, two hands and the letter H which stands for hockey. The proposed redesign received negative feedback from fans and media due to similarities of the Nazi Party flag. The previous logo was announced in 1995 and represented the club for 27 years.[7] On April 20, 2022, Frölunda updated their logo, which had been accepted by members of the fan club.[8]

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 List of Frölunda HC seasons.

SeasonLeagueRegular season[9] Post season results
FinishGPWLTGFGAPts
2019–20SHL7th522921215412685Playoffs cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
2020–21SHL7th522823113313184Won in Eighth-finals, 2–1 (Djurgården)
Lost in Quarterfinals, 0–4 (Rögle)
2021–22SHL4th523117415513987Won in Quarterfinals, 4–0 (Växjö)
Lost in Semifinals, 1–4 (Luleå)
2022–23SHL6th5221181314013981Won in Quarterfinals, 4–3 (Färjestad)
Lost in Semifinals, 2–4 (Växjö)
2023–24SHL4th5224141414411996Won in Quarterfinals, 4–3 (Leksand)
Lost in Semifinals, 3–4 (Skellefteå)

Players and personnel

Current roster

Updated July 24, 2024[10]

Team captains

Head coaches

Honored members

Frölunda HC retired numbers
width=40pxNo.width=150pxPlayerwidth=60pxPositionwidth=100pxCareerwidth=160pxNo. retirement
5 1998–2002
2004–2005
2009–2015
January 27, 2024
13 1960–1968 March 3, 2002
14 1960–1968 March 3, 2002
14 1986–1992
1994–1995
1997–2003
October 4, 2014
19 1973–1980
1986–1991
March 3, 2002
23 1992–1997
1998–2009
October 15, 2016
24 1987–1991
2001–2011
October 21, 2017
29 1983–1987
1989–2001
March 3, 2002
Frölunda 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 Pettersson, who spent seven seasons with Frölunda before suffering a career-ending injury on 14 December 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. Since then an additional four players have had their numbers retired; number 14 a second time for Patrik Carnbäck on October 4, 2014. Number 23 for Ronnie Sundin on October 15, 2016. Number 24 for Niklas Andersson on October 21, 2017. And number 5 for Christian Bäckman on January 27, 2024.

Five former 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.[11] 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.[11] Ville Peltonen played the 1997–98 season for Frölunda, where he was both the team's and the league's leading scorer, he was inducted in 2016.[12] Daniel Alfredsson played a total of four seasons for Frölunda, winning the Swedish Championships with Frölunda during the 2004–05 season. In 2006 he was a member of Sweden's gold medal winning team at the Winter Olympics, he was inducted in 2018.[13] Petteri Nummelin played two seasons for Frölunda between 1995 and 1997, he was inducted in 2024.[14]

In 2003, former Frölunda players Christian Ruuttu and Jorma Salmi were inducted to the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame.[15] Ville Peltonen was inducted in 2014. Trio of former Frölunda players who all won the Swedish Championships with Frölunda; Antti-Jussi Niemi, Fredrik Norrena, and Sami Salo were inducted in 2017.[16] Petteri Nummelin was inducted in 2019.

Club records and leaders

Career

Regular season

Playoffs

Team

Scoring leaders

These are the top-ten point-scorers of Frölunda HC since the 1975–76 season. Figures are updated after each completed regular season.[18]

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game; = current Frölunda HC player

Points
Player Pos GP G A Pts P/G
Niklas AnderssonLW5481762974730.86
Joel LundqvistC7271512524030.55
Jonas JohnsonC5131561963520.68
Tomi KallioRW4331681803480.80
Magnus KahnbergRW5871691683370.57
Patrik CarnbäckLW3791331793120.82
Peter StrömF472861272130.45
Ronnie SundinD705 63 141 2040.28
Ove KarlssonC294103871900.64
Stefan LarssonD463831011840.39

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Facts . 29 January 2007 . Frölunda HC . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20060524192512/http://www.frolundaindians.com/default.asp?initid=1307&menutree=1506&toplinkname=nyheter&menuheading=nyheter&mainpage=templates%2F03.asp%3Fsida%3D1313 . 24 May 2006.
  2. Book: Szemberg, Szymon . Västra Frölunda 50 År . 12 .
  3. Book: Szemberg, Szymon . Västra Frölunda 50 År . 170 .
  4. Web site: Official Statistics . Swedish Ice Hockey Federation.
  5. Book: Szemberg , Szymon . Västra Frölunda 50 År . 1994 . Sportförlaget . Sweden . sv . 978-91-88540-34-8 .
  6. Web site: Elitserien världens bästa hockeyliga . https://web.archive.org/web/20060615030403/http://egmont-karnan.se/images/pdf/Pro%20hockey%20050427%5B1%5D.pdf . 15 June 2006 . 25 January 2007 . 27 April 2005 . Pro Hockey . sv . dead . dmy.
  7. Web site: 2022-02-04. Swedish ice hockey team withdraws the redesign of a controversial logo. 2022-02-07. Newsendip. en-US.
  8. Web site: Frolunda gets another new logo after recent redesign rejected by fans . 2023-11-21 . Markerzone.com . en.
  9. Code explanation; GP—Games played, W—Wins, L—Losses, T—Tied games, GF—Goals for, GA—Goals against, Pts—Points
  10. Web site: 24 March 2024 . Frölunda HC current roster . 24 March 2024 . Elite Prospects . English.
  11. Web site: Complete list of IIHF Hall of Fame Inductees from 1997 to 2006 . 28 February 2007 . . https://web.archive.org/web/20061211184440/http://www.iihf.com/news/iihfpr4704.htm . 11 December 2006 . dead.
  12. Web site: Ville Peltonen Valittiin IIHF:N Hall of Fameen. 22 May 2016. Pallomeri. fi. 17 June 2023.
  13. News: Alfredsson invald i IIHF Hall of Fame. 1 December 2017. Aftonbladet. sv. Stockholm, Sweden. 16 June 2023.
  14. News: Petteri Nummelin utsågs till IIHF:s Hall of Fame – är en av åtta nya medlemmar. Nynäs. Nicolina. 15 January 2024. Yle. sv. Helsinki, Finland. 15 May 2024.
  15. Web site: Finnish Hall of Fame – Honoured Members . 28 February 2007 . . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070320072305/http://www.tampere.fi/jaakiekkomuseo/players.htm . 20 March 2007.
  16. Web site: Mennander . Pasi . 2017-10-15 . Kuusi uutta Jääkiekkoleijonaa aateloitiin Suomen Hockey Hall Of Fameen . Six new Ice Hockey Lions were honored by the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame . 2019-07-05 . Leijonat.fi . fi.
  17. Web site: Artturi Lehkonen . Elite Prospects.
  18. Web site: Frolunda HC – All Time SHL leaders . quanthockey.com . 4 May 2019 . 4 May 2019.