Hammarby Hockey

Hammarby IF Ishockeyförening ("Hammarby IF Ice Hockey Club", or simply Hammarby Hockey) is an ice hockey club founded as "Bajen Fans IF" in 2008 by supporters of the previous incarnation of Hammarby Hockey which went bankrupt that same year. The club plays in Hockeytvåan, the fourth tier of Swedish men's ice hockey, since the 2021–22 season.[1]

For the defunct former organization, see Hammarby Hockey (1921–2008). For other departments of the club, see Hammarby IF.
Hammarby IF
CitySweden Stockholm, Sweden
LeagueHockeytvåan
(as of the 2021–22 season)
DivisionEast
Founded2008 (2008)
Home arenaSDC-hallen (capacity 850)
ColoursGreen, white
   
Head coachSweden Fredrik Mälberg
Websitewww.hammarbyhockey.se
Franchise history
2008–13Bajen Fans IF
2013–Hammarby IF
Previous franchise history
1921–2008Hammarby IF
Swedish champions1932, 1933, 1936, 1937, 1942, 1943, 1945, 1951
Departments of Hammarby IF
Athletics Arm wrestling Bandy Basketball
Boules Bowling Boxing Floorball
Football
(Men's)		 Football Feeder
(Men's)		 Football
(Women's)		 Goalball
Golf Handball
(Men's)		 Ice Hockey
(current)		 Ice Hockey
(historic)
Motorcycle
speedway		 Orienteering Rowing Rugby union
(Men's)
Skiing Table Tennis

In its first five seasons, the club was promoted three times. Prior to the 2013–14 season, the club had failed only once to achieve promotion to a higher league in the Swedish ice hockey system when it was available, as league restructuring prior to the 2010–11 season prevented their immediate rise to Division 2 for that season. Given this success, the club chose to rejoin the Hammarby IF umbrella organization and retake the name "Hammarby IF". This change was approved on 30 May 2013.[2][3][4]

The club currently uses MB Hockey's home ice, SDC-hallen, but has also played home matches at Zinkensdamms IP on Södermalm and Kärrtorps IP in the southern suburbs, and has also played one game each year between 2009–2018 and in 2020 at Hovet (known as "Bajenkvällen"), the 8,094-seat arena which the former Hammarby Hockey for many years called their home arena. Even before its bankruptcy, Hammarby Hockey was searching for a place to run all of its professional and youth programs under one roof.[5] That search continues for the new Hammarby Hockey club, which has submitted papers to municipal authorities to build its own rink in the southern suburb of Kärrtorp, to avoid the difficulties of sharing ice time with many other clubs in other places.[6]

Supporter clubs of Hammarby Hockey include Bajen Fans, Bamsingarna, Ultra Boys, Hammarby Ultras, Söder Bröder, and Bara Bajare.

Overview

Previous Hammarby hockey club
Main article: Hammarby Hockey (1921–2008)
Orvar Stambert, who played for the original Hammarby Hockey 1978–1983

Hammarby IF began playing ice hockey in February 1921, though at first the hockey team consisted of members of Hammarby's bandy club. That club would become a giant in early Swedish ice hockey, winning the Swedish championships 8 times (1932, 1933, 1936, 1937, 1942, 1943, 1945, 1951) and playing 42 seasons in Sweden's highest hockey league (most recently 1984-85). The club through its entire history played in the first two tiers of Swedish ice hockey. Hammarby's final season before the bankruptcy in 2008 was played in HockeyAllsvenskan.

In the 2000s, the club flirted with demotion from HockeyAllsvenskan several times. They had experienced arena-trouble, as Hovet was becoming too expensive.[7] In October 2007, the club had racked up a debt of over 4 million SEK.[8] By February 2008, the choice was to play in the third-tier league or file for bankruptcy, as the club was in a demotion spot in the standings and they announced that they were in no position to participate in the Kvalserien tournament to defend their spot in HockeyAllsvenskan.[9] At that point, Nacka HK, a hockey club from the nearby Stockholm suburb of Nacka, was considering joining the Hammarby IF organization. Hammarby IF Hockey declared bankruptcy on 14 April 2008, after 87 years of hockey under the name of "Hammarby IF".[10] At the same time, a group of supporters were planning on starting a new hockey club named "Bajen Hockey IF", that would rebuild from the bottom of the Swedish hockey system.[11]

Bajen Fans IF
Bajen Fans IF logo (2008–2013). A patch with the original logo will continue to appear on the club's jerseys in the future.

The idea of saving Hammarby's hockey legacy by starting a new supporter-based club was started during a car ride home from one of Hammarby's last away matches.[12] The club began play in the 2008–09 season, starting in the Division 4, the lowest tier of Swedish ice hockey for men. Bajen Fans Hockey won 15 out of 16 games in their inaugural season and quickly promoted to the Division 3 as they won their division. The team spent their inaugural Division 3 season, 2009–10, in the Stockholm södra (southern) section. The team won all their 24 games and thus ended first in their section, which would have meant a promotion to division 3 A. For quite some years division 3 in practical terms had been divided into "two divisions in one", consisting of division 3 A with the twelve best teams and division 3 north and south with twelve more teams each below, with promotion and relegation in between. This was, however, the last season with this system. Had it been kept, Bajen Fans would have been promoted to the division 3 A, but due to this league restructuring the remaining (fewer) teams in the league were now only to be divided into a north and a south section, with Bajen Fans now in the northern one. The team once again won all their games and also their section, and as a result, they reached the 2011 Kvalserien qualification tournament for the Division 2. With 4 wins and an undefeated streak in 6 games, the team promoted to the fourth-tier league Division 2 prior to the 2011–12 season. The team was placed in the Stockholm södra section of the Division 2. They failed to promote to the third-tier Division 1 in 2011–12, but managed to do so in the 2012–13 season.

Hammarby IF

Following the successful promotion to Division 1, the level of hockey which the former Hammarby club would have been playing following the bankruptcy, the club rejoined the Hammarby IF umbrella organization and retook the name "Hammarby Hockey" in May 2013.[2] The club's first season back in upper-tier hockey playing as Hammarby finished modestly, with a 7th-place finish in the 10-team group D in the autumn, followed by a 3rd-place finish in the 6-team spring series. The team managed to avoid relegation in a season which saw Division 1 contract from 53 to 47 teams.

In the 2014 off-season, Division 1 was reorganized as Hockeyettan. Hammarby started their inaugural season of Hockeyettan East in the gutter with 2 points in their first 5 games, and just 2 wins in their first 13 games. This included a 4–2 opening night loss to Visby/Roma HK at Hovet in front of 3,482 spectators.[13] The team finished strongly however with four straight regulation wins to finish 9th of 12 teams, with an 8–3–11 record.[14]

Bajenkvällen

Since their first season as Bajen Fans IF, the club has played one game each year between 2009–2018 and in 2020 in the spring at Hovet (known as "Bajenkvällen"), the former Hammarby Hockey's home arena.

Date Opponent Result Attendance Ref.
2009–02–20 Flemingsbergs IK Win 7–1
(2–1, 5–0, 0–0)		 4,220 [15]
2010–02–26 Västerhaninge IF Win 10–2
(2–0, 4–2, 4–0)		 4,895 [16]
2011–02–27 Östervåla IF Win 12–4
(2–1, 6–1, 4–2)		 5,085 [17]
2012–02–03 MB Hockey Loss 1–3
(0–1, 1–1, 0–1)		 8,094 [17][18]
2013–02–02 Sollentuna HC Loss 1–2
(1–0, 0–0, 0–2)		 7,717 [17]
2014–01–31 IFK Tumba Hockey Loss 3–5
(0–3, 2–1, 1–1)		 5,942 [17]
2015–02–07 Väsby IK Loss 2–4
(2–1, 0–1, 0–2)		 4,682 [19]
2016–01–30 Sollentuna HC Win 2–1
(0–0, 1–1, 1–0)		 3,054 [20]
2017–01–28 IF Vallentuna BK Win 4–1
(1–0, 2–1, 1–0)		 3,187 [21]
2018–01–27 Nyköping Gripen Win 3–2
(1–1, 1–1, 0–0, 0–0, 1–0)		 3,187 [22]
2020–02–01 Enköpings SK HK Loss 1–3
(0–0, 1–2, 0–1)		 2,105 [23]

Season-by-season
Year Level Division Record
Position W-T-L
W-OT-L
2008–09 Tier 7 Division 4 Västra 1st 15–0–1 Increase Promoted to Division 3 [15]
2009–10 Tier 6 Division 3 Södra 1st 24–0–0 League restructuring:
Hammarby promoted to Division 3A, which was abolished prior to 2010–11		 [15]
2010–11 Tier 5 Division 3 Norra 1st 22–0–0 [15][17]
Division 2 qualifier 1st 4–2–0 Increase Promoted to Division 2
2011–12 Tier 4 Division 2 Södra 1st 9–1–2–2 [15][17][18]
Alltvåan 3rd 11–1–3–6
Division 1 qualifier D 3rd 1–1–1–3
2012–13 Tier 4 Division 2 Södra 1st 11–1–1–1 [15][17]
Alltvåan 3rd 12–1–3–5
Division 1 qualifier D 1st 5–0–1–0 Increase Promoted to Division 1
2013–14 Tier 3 Division 1D 7th 9–1–2–15 First season as "Hammarby Hockey" [17]
1D continuation 3rd 8–1–2–4
2014–15 Tier 3 Hockeyettan East 9th of 12 8–1–2–11 [24]
Hockeyettan East (spring) 5th of 8 6–0–1–7 [25]
2015–16 Tier 3 Hockeyettan East 6th of 12 9–1–4–8 [26]
Hockeyettan East (spring) 2nd of 8 10–0–1–3 [27]
Hockeyettan playoffs — 0–2 Eliminated in round 1 by IF Troja/Ljungby (0–2 in games)
2016–17 Tier 3 Hockeyettan East 6th of 12 11–2–1–8
Hockeyettan East (spring) 4th of 7 6–0–1–5
a. ^ Only matches in LW-Hallen, i.e. excluding matches played in Hovet

References
  1. Käck, Andreas. Aftonbladet. "De ökade takten – i ett helt dygn"
  2. Norsberg, Linus. Aftonbladet. "Nu kan fansens klubb bli Hammarby IF igen".
  3. Sunnervik, Linus. Expressen. "Hammarby hockey är på väg att återuppstå".
  4. "Bajen Fans Ishockeyförening – Södra Stockholms tyngsta hockeylag » Arkiv » Hammarby IF Ishockeyförening är tillbaka". bajenfanshockey.se. Archived from the original on 2013-06-12.
  5. Bengtsson, Jan. Svenska Dagbladet. "Hammarby vill lämna Hovet"
  6. "Bajen Fans Ishockeyförening – Södra Stockholms tyngsta hockeylag » Arkiv » Styrelsen: Vi vill bygga en hall på Kärrtorp". Archived from the original on 2014-01-18. Retrieved 2013-03-19.
  7. Sveriges Radio: Hammarby Hockey kan tvingas lämna Hovet 17 September 2005
  8. Aftonbladet: Hammarby Hockey begärs i konkurs. 4 October 2007
  9. Dagens Nyheter: Hammarby avstår kvalserien. 26 February 2008.
  10. Svenska Fans: Hammarby Ishockey i konkurs. 16 April 2008.
  11. Svenska Fans: En hockeyförening bildas - Bajen Hockey IF. 15 May 2008.
  12. HIF Hockey Historia: 2008/2009.
  13. "Hif - Vis (2-4)".
  14. "HockeyEttan Östra | stats.swehockey.se".
  15. "Hammarbys hockeyhistoria".
  16. "Bajenkvällen - Reflektioner och kommentarer" (in Swedish). Bamsingarna. 27 February 2010. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
  17. "Official Statistics". Swedish Ice Hockey Association.
  18. Expressen: Bajenfesten - 8000 i publiken på Hovet (2013–02–04)
  19. "Hammarby IF IF - Väsby IK HK game summary". Swedish Ice Hockey Association.
  20. "Hammarby IF IF - Sollentuna HC game summary". Swedish Ice Hockey Association.
  21. "Hammarby IF IF - IF Vallentuna BK game summary". Swedish Ice Hockey Association.
  22. "Hammarby IF - Nyköpings HF Ungdom game summary". Swedish Ice Hockey Association.
  23. "Hammarby IF - Enköpings SK HK game summary". Swedish Ice Hockey Association.
  24. "HockeyEttan Östra | stats.swehockey.se".
  25. "HockeyEttan Östra vår | stats.swehockey.se".
  26. "2015–16 Hockeyettan East series". Swedish Ice Hockey Association.
  27. "2015–16 Hockeyettan East Spring series". Swedish Ice Hockey Association.
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