Malmö Redhawks

The IF Malmö Redhawks (colloquially referred to simply as Malmö or by past abbreviation MIF) is a Swedish professional ice hockey team based in Malmö which plays in the SHL, with Malmö Arena as the venue for home games.

Malmö Redhawks
CityMalmö, Sweden
LeagueSwedish Hockey League
Founded28 February 1972 (1972-02-28)
Home arenaMalmö Arena
(capacity: 12,600)
Colors     
Owner(s)Malmö Redhawks Holding
General managerBjörn Liljander
Head coachTomas Kollar
CaptainFredrik Händemark
Websitemalmoredhawks.com
Franchise history
1947–1972Malmö FF Ishockey
1972–2001Malmö IF
2001–2004MIF Redhawks
2004–presentIF Malmö Redhawks
Championships
Le Mat Trophy1992, 1994
Current season

The history of the team dates back to 1947 as the ice hockey division of the now exclusively football club Malmö FF. In 1972 the team divested from Malmö FF, marking the start of the hockey association initially known as Malmö IF. The team name was changed to MIF Redhawks in 2001 and then to the present name IF Malmö Redhawks in 2004.[1] Officially the team goes by the name Ishockeyföreningen Malmö Redhawks (Ice Hockey Association Malmö Redhawks).[2][3] The current CEO is Patrik Sylvegård who represented the team during his senior playing career.

History

The team was inaugurated on 28 February 1972 as Malmö Ishockeyförening (Malmö Ice Hockey Association, or MIF) when the ice hockey division of Malmö FF was transitioned into an independent association.[1] The early history of the team was not very remarkable, spent in the lower divisions of Swedish hockey. Relegation to Division 2 in 1984 became the spark to a series of events including the departure of Nils Yngvesson who had been chairman of the association since its creation in 1972. The team only played one season in Division 2 before being promoted back to Division 1, where Malmö IF made what it referred to as "the biggest investment in Swedish sports history."[4]

The team's campaign to reach the top league failed that season, but in the 1989–90 season, the team finished first in both their autumn Division 1 group, as well as the Allsvenskan in the spring, and then won the Allsvenskan final 3–0 in games against MoDo to secure promotion to Elitserien (today called the SHL) for the first time. They would remain in the top flight for 15 seasons, a period that would bring two name changes (to MIF Redhawks in 1996 and to IF Malmö Redhawks[Note 1] in 2003), as well as two Swedish Championship titles, in 1992 and 1994, and the 1993 European championship.[5]

Mid 2000's downturn

At the end of the 2004–05 season, the Redhawks participated in the qualification series to stay in Elitserien, where they did not manage to secure one of the spots for staying up, and were relegated. Thus, as of the 2005–06 season, they played in the HockeyAllsvenskan, the second division hockey league in Sweden; at the end of the season, the top four teams played the qualification series with the bottom two teams of Elitserien. Malmö won the qualification round and played in Elitserien during the 2006–07 season.

In 2007, the Malmö Redhawks participated in a qualification series (Kvalserien) consisting of the top four teams of HockeyAllsvenskan and the bottom two teams from Elitserien, having finished 12th in the 2006–07 Elitserien season. Malmö were considered favourites alongside the second team from Elitserien, Skellefteå AIK, but failed to re-qualify for Elitserien, falling two points behind Södertälje SK. In 2008 the team once again managed to reach Kvalserien, and had a golden opportunity to advance to Elitserien, leading the series for a majority of rounds. The Redhawks, however, lost in overtime of the final round while their arch rivals, Rögle BK, claimed the Elitserien spot with a margin of two points by scoring twice in the last minute of play. The Redhawks only managed to get 2 points in the 2008 Kvalserien's last four rounds, despite having gotten 15 points after the first six games.

New arena and financial issues
Interior of Malmö Arena.

During the 2008–09 season, the Redhawks moved to the, at the time, newly constructed and inaugurated Malmö Arena, a top-modern sports and entertainment venue, located in Hyllie in the southern parts of Malmö.

On 29 January 2009, while still playing in HockeyAllsvenskan, the team released all its contracted players due to financial debt and in order to avoid bankruptcy.[6] The players were made free to find and sign with other teams. By then the Redhawks were ranked 10th in the league with only one month of games remaining to play, instead of the top three or seven required for Kvalserien and possible Elitserien qualification. The team finished 8th and thus missed the playoffs, although the team was just one point short from reaching the playoffs.

Failures to reach Kvalserien and started efforts

Malmö finished fifth in HockeyAllsvenskan in the 2009–10 season and thus reached the playoffs, which was an improvement over last season. The Redhawks started the playoffs by knocking out Bofors IK in two straight games, and the Redhawks were now set to face Almtuna IS for a series that would decide which team would be HockeyAllsvenskan's fourth one in Kvalserien. The Redhawks beat Almtuna 2–1 at home in the first game, but lost the two following games (which the Redhawks played on away ice) and thus were eliminated from the playoffs. In the 2010–11 season, things went worse as the Redhawks failed to reach the playoffs, finishing 8th and four points short from a playoff spot.

On 28 January 2011, during the 2010–11 season, the Redhawks announced that they had agreed to a 3-year 70-million SEK ($10.6 million USD) deal with businessman Hugo Stenbeck. The goal with the deal was to get Malmö Redhawks back to Elitserien.[7]

Malmö's efforts to reach Elitserien started immediately prior to the 2011–12 season. Several players from higher divisions, including Hannu Toivonen, Daniel Josefsson, J. D. Forrest, Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre and Linus Klasen, joined the team. When Linus Klasen joined the team on 17 May 2011, he was immediately appointed the team's captain. Linus Klasen's three-year contract included an annual salary of 4 million SEK ($0.6 million USD), which made Klasen the best paid ice hockey player in Sweden at that time.[8]

The season started well with a top-three spot in the league after a couple of months, but after falling down to sixth place with 47 points, at that time 10 points away from the third Kvalserien spot, Redhawks then-head coach Leif Strömberg was fired on 10 December 2011. He was replaced by the team's then-assistant coach Ulf Taavola. Patrik Sylvegård was acquired as the team's new assistant coach.[9][10] After continuing to struggle throughout January, the Malmö Redhawks improved in February, and managed a seventh-place finish in the league, which was enough for a playoff spot.[11] In the Playoff round, Malmö finished second due to inferior goal difference than Rögle BK, and therefor did not qualify the 2012 Kvalserien.[12]

Reconstruction

In early 2012, Malmö Redhawks stated that the financial situation needed to be reviewed, after Hugo Stenbeck had withdrawn from the organisation. They filed for economic reconstruction on 11 April 2012. The filing was granted the following day. The team re-negotiated the most expensive player contracts in order to reduce the total salary cap from 30 million SEK down to 18 million.[13]

On 17 May 2012 it was announced that Malmö Redhawks and Hugo Stenbeck had agreed that Stenbeck would help buy out Linus Klasen and Hannu Toivonen due to their expensive contracts.[13]

After the 2011–12 season, Patrik Sylvegård was appointed CEO and sports director, and Redhawks profile Mats Lusth was acquired as the new assistant coach. A Sports Committee was also created, which includes people with strong connection to Malmö Redhawks.[14][15] Ulf Taavola continued as head coach like the previous season when he took over Leif Strömberg. Malmö Redhawks had to sign a lot of new players. The players who remained from last season were Pontus Sjögren, Emil Carnestad, Stefan Lassen, Alexander Ribbenstrand, Robin Alvarez, Lukas Eriksson, Magnus Häggström, Tomas Kollar and Roger Olsson.

The Malmö Redhawks started the 2012–13 season bad, and after 17 games played, the team had only taken 21 points,[16] which was far from even a playoff spot towards Kvalserien. Eventually, the team began a massive boost, which went through the month of November without a single loss after regulation time, and took a total of 24 out of 27 points that month. As a result of the great effort in November, the Redhawks were located in fifth place in the league by early December. In January, the team began a losing streak and lost eight games in a row. The team finished in ninth place, which was the worst placing the team had since the large investments during the late 1980s.[17] In Malmö, the season was over on March 2, when the regular season was finished.

SHL comeback

This was Malmö's eighth consecutive season in HockeyAllsvenskan, which is the second-highest league in Sweden. In the regular-season from 11 September 2014 to 26 February 2015 Malmö finished in third place which meant they qualified for 2015 Slutsspelsserien against Leksands IF. Coming into game seven it was tied 3-3 and the game was played on Leksand's arena Tegera Arena, after a hard-fought game Malmö Redhawks won 4-2 with one goal being with empty net. Winning against Leksands IF meant that Malmö now played in SHL.[18]

Since the comeback to the top flight, the team has managed to reach the semi-final in 2017 and 2018, and an additional quarter final in 2019.[19][20][21]

Season-by-season record

This is a partial list of the last five seasons completed by the Redhawks. For the full season-by-season history, see List of Malmö Redhawks seasons

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, OTL = Ovetime Losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against

Season Regular Season Post–Season Ref.
League GP W L OTL Pts GF GA Finish Playoffs GP W L OTL Pts GF GA Finish
2018–19SHL52212011821361256thPlayoffs5140—922Quarter-finals[22]
2019–20SHL5225216771311309thPlayoffsPlayoffs cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic[23]
2020–21SHL5223272671231519thPlayoffs2011—58Eighth-finals[24]
2021–22SHL52212386713415312thDid not qualify————————[25]
2022–23SHL52205376113315614thDid not qualify————————[26]

Players and personnel

Current roster
No. Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace
90 Canada Lance Bouma F L 33 2021 Provost, Alberta, Canada
23 Sweden Christoffer Forsberg (A) F L 29 2015 Östersund, Sweden
63 Sweden Fredrik Händemark (C) F L 30 2021 Björbo, Sweden
6 Sweden Theodor Johnsson D R 20 2022 Helsingborg, Sweden
16 Denmark Matias Lassen D L 27 2018 Rødovre, Denmark
11 Denmark Markus Lauridsen D L 32 2020 Gentofte, Denmark
7 Denmark Oliver Lauridsen D L 34 2020 Gentofte, Denmark
14 Sweden Carl-Johan Lerby D L 26 2021 Trelleborg, Sweden
72 Sweden Daniel Marmenlind G L 25 2021 Uppsala, Sweden
31 United States Brandon Maxwell G L 32 2023 Winter Park, Florida, United States
73 Sweden Adam Ollas Mattsson D L 27 2019 Stockholm, Sweden
8 Sweden Johan Olofsson F R 29 2017 Arvika, Sweden
95 Sweden Carl Persson F L 28 2018 Kristianstad, Sweden
9 Sweden Kim Rosdahl RW R 27 2022 Malmö, Sweden
47 Sweden Joakim Ryan D L 30 2021 Rumson, New Jersey, United States
26 Canada Thomas Schemitsch D R 26 2022 Thornhill, Ontario, Canada
34 Sweden Carl Söderberg F L 38 2021 Malmö, Sweden
51 Sweden Emil Sylvegård (A) F L 30 2018 Malmö, Sweden
18 Sweden Marcus Sylvegård F R 24 2021 Malmö, Sweden
3 Finland Nuutti Viitasalo D R 24 2023 Raisio, Finland
10 Sweden William von Barnekow F L 20 2020 Malmö, Sweden
24 Sweden Anton Wahlberg C L 18 2021 Malmö, Sweden
96 Sweden Lukas Wernblom F L 23 2022 Örnsköldsvik, Sweden
35 Sweden Adam Werner G L 26 2022 Mariestad, Sweden
17 Sweden Pathrik Westerholm F L 31 2020 Karlskrona, Sweden
27 Sweden Ponthus Westerholm F R 31 2020 Karlskrona, Sweden

Last updated on 24 February 2023[27][28]

Honored members
Malmö Redhawks retired numbers
No. Player Position Career No. retirement
1Peter LindmarkGoaltender1988–978 November 2011
5Roger NordströmGoaltender1983–9816 February 2015
18Patrik SylvegårdRight wing1987–9921 September 2000
21Jesper MattssonCenter1991-95
1998-04
2010-12		29 February 2020
25Kaj OlssonLeft wing1975–86—
66Mats LusthDefense1988-93
1996-00		12 January 2017

Notable alumni

See also

Notes
  1. Ishockeyföreningen Malmö Redhawks (Ice Hockey Association Malmö Redhawks)

References
  1. "Grundandet". malmoredhawks.com (in Swedish). Malmö Redhawks. Archived from the original on 11 December 2011. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  2. "Ishockeyföreningen Malmö Redhawks Pensionsstiftelse". stiftelsemedel.se. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  3. "Prioritet Finans tecknar sponsoravtal med Malmö Redhawks". Prioritet Finans. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  4. "90-TALSSATSNINGEN". Malmö Redhawks. Archived from the original on 2014-03-22.
  5. "Malmö". Eliteprospects.com.
  6. "Babyhawks frälser Malmö". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). 2009-02-13. Retrieved 2009-02-13.
  7. "Hugo Stenbeck köper Redhawks". Sydsvenskan (in Swedish). 2011-01-28. Archived from the original on 2011-01-31. Retrieved 2011-05-17.
  8. "Linus Klasen klar för Malmö". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). 2011-05-17. Retrieved 2011-05-17.
  9. Martin, Nathalie (2011-12-10). "Ny huvudtränare" (in Swedish). Malmö Redhawks. Archived from the original on 2012-04-06. Retrieved 2011-12-10.
  10. Martin, Nathalie (2011-12-26). "Patrik Sylvegård ny assisterande tränare" (in Swedish). Malmö Redhawks. Archived from the original on 2012-05-16. Retrieved 2011-12-27.
  11. Winnberg, Christian (2012-03-02). "Malmö Redhawks säkrade förkvalserieplatsen" (in Swedish). Malmö Redhawks. Archived from the original on September 4, 2012. Retrieved 2012-03-02.
  12. "Klasen: "En skandal för svensk hockey"". Expressen. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  13. Martin, Nathalie (2012-05-17). "Hugo Stenbeck och Malmö Redhawks eniga" (in Swedish). Malmö Redhawks. Retrieved 2012-05-18.
  14. "Ny VD och sportchef för Malmö Redhawks Ishockey AB" (in Swedish). Malmö Redhawks. 2012-03-14. Archived from the original on 2012-03-17. Retrieved 2012-03-14.
  15. "Mats Lusth ny tränare för Malmö Redhawks" (in Swedish). Malmö Redhawks. 2012-03-19. Archived from the original on 2012-03-27. Retrieved 2012-03-25.
  16. "Malmö hetast av alla". 30 November 2012.
  17. "Ny Redhawksförlust - Sport - Sydsvenskan-Nyheter Dygnet Runt". Archived from the original on 2013-03-05.
  18. "Malmö klart för SHL efter en jätterysare". Aftonbladet. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  19. Lindbäck, Elisabeth. "Därför är Redhawks i en historisk semifinal". Expressen. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  20. Fagerlund, Frida; Friberg, Mattias. "Skrällen: Malmö klart för semifinal". Aftonbladet. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  21. Svensson, Johan. "Malmös uttåg får perspektiv". Expressen. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  22. Swedish Ice Hockey Association: 2018–19: SHL
  23. Swedish Ice Hockey Association: 2019–20: SHL
  24. Swedish Ice Hockey Association: 2020–21: SHL
  25. Swedish Ice Hockey Association: 2021–22: SHL
  26. Swedish Ice Hockey Association: 2022–23: SHL
  27. "Malmö Redhawks roster". Eliteprospects. Retrieved 2023-02-24.
  28. "Truppen". Malmö Redhawks. Retrieved 2023-02-24.
  29. "Insider". www.businessinsider.co.id. Archived from the original on 2014-09-16.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Malmö Redhawks.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.