Växjö Lakers

Växjö Lakers Hockey Club (often referred to as the Växjö Lakers or VLH) is a Swedish professional ice hockey club from Växjö in Sweden. The club play at the Vida Arena and plays in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL; formerly Elitserien), the top-level league of Swedish ice hockey, and made its debut there in 2011–12. Since entering the SHL the club has become known as one of the premier SHL clubs, winning the Le Mat Trophy as Swedish national Champions four times in 2015, 2018, 2021 and 2023 (the most of any SHL clubs since their promotion).[1] Forwards Erik Josefsson and Robert Rosén are the only players to be a part of all four Championship-winning teams.

Växjö Lakers
CityVäxjö, Sweden
LeagueSwedish Hockey League
Founded1997
Home arenaVida Arena
Colors     
General managerHenrik Evertsson
Head coachJörgen Jönsson
CaptainErik Josefsson
Websitevaxjolakers.se
Championships
Le Mat Trophy2015, 2018, 2021, 2023
Current season

History

The club was founded in 1997, after Växjö HC went bankrupt that year. Växjö Lakers originally played in Växjö Ishall as their home arena, but prior to the 2011–12 season they moved to Vida Arena. The construction of the Vida Arena was finished in summer 2011.

The club began play in the 1997–98 season. Starting in Division 4, four divisions below the Elitserien/SHL, Växjö worked its way to HockeyAllsvenskan within 6 years, being promoted 3 times. With a perfect record in the 2003 HockeyAllsvenskan Kvalserien, the club qualified for HockeyAllsvenskan. Sensationally, during their debut season in HockeyAllsvenskan, the club acquired Shjon Podein, an NHL-merited North American player who played 699 NHL games and won the Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche in 2001. The acquirement was described as "årets värvning" (acquirement of the year) by some people.[2] During Podein's years in Växjö he became a crowd favorite.[3] Prior to the following season, the 2004–05 season, the team also acquired Brad DeFauw, another NHL-merited North American player who played 9 NHL games and 154 AHL games. Both Shjon Podein and Brad DeFauw left the team after the 2004–05 season.

The club would spend 8 seasons in HockeyAllsvenskan and, during that time, reach the Kvalserien qualification for Elitserien three times. Växjö did not manage to promote to Elitserien in the 2009 and 2010 respective Kvalserien qualifications, but after winning the 2010–11 HockeyAllsvenskan season for the first time in club history and earning a third consecutive trip to Kvalserien, Växjö secured promotion to the top-tier league Elitserien in the eighth round (of ten) in the 2011 Kvalserien. The team finished the 2011 Kvalserien with 26 points, which is a record in the Kvalserien history.

The team formerly used red, yellow and blue as its colours, both in the team's logo and the team's jerseys. On 18 April 2011 it was announced that the club had changed the colours of their jerseys to blue and orange prior to the 2011–12 season.[4] At that time it was also announced that the club's logo had been changed to an orange shield containing the name of the club beneath a lion holding a crossbow – an image from the Småland coat of arms.

Elitserien/Swedish Hockey League
Växjö's home venue Vida Arena.

The club's first game in the Elitserien league was played on 13 September 2011, losing 0–2 to Frölunda HC in front of an outsold Scandinavium. Two days later, the club historically took their first points in Elitserien, beating Luleå HF on away ice 3–2 in a shootout, despite trailing by two goals in the third period.[5] Their first home game was played on September 17, against Linköpings HC, in front of an outsold Vida Arena. Linköping won the game 4–2. Former Växjö Lakers crowd favorite Shjon Podein watched the game in the arena.[6] Their first home points and regulation-time win came on September 27, when the Lakers won 4–1 against Modo Hockey.[7] The Lakers' first shutout came on away ice when Modo were beaten 2–0 on 25 October 2011.[8]

Växjö Lakers played the first Småland derby game in Elitserien history, which was on away ice against reigning regular-season champions HV71, on 8 October 2011 in front of an outsold Kinnarps Arena—exactly 7,000 spectators—in Jönköping.[9] Växjö Lakers came out on top with a 3–2 victory in a shootout. Växjö Lakers forward Mike Iggulden scored three penalty shot goals in the game, two of them counted in the statistics.[10]

Season-by-season record
Season Level Division Record Avg.
home
atnd.		 Notes
Position W-T-L
W-OT-L
This list features the five most recent completed seasons. For prior seasons, see List of Växjö Lakers seasons.
2017–18 Tier 1 SHL 1st 34–6–2–10 4,658
Swedish Championship playoffs — 12–1 5,629 Won finals, 4–0 vs Skellefteå AIK
2018–19 Tier 1 SHL 7th 22–3–10–17 4,691
Eighth-finals — 2–0 4,579 Won 2–0 vs Örebro HK
Swedish Championship playoffs — 1–4 5,223 Lost in quarterfinals, 1–4 vs Luleå HF
2019–20 Tier 1 SHL 10th 20–26–4–2 4,835
Swedish Championship playoffs — — — Playoffs cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
2020–21 Tier 1 SHL 1st 34–11–6–1 —
Swedish Championship playoffs — 11–3 — Won finals, 4–1 vs Rögle BK
2021–22 Tier 1 SHL 5th 28–17–5–2 3,691
Swedish Championship playoffs — 0–4 Lost in quarterfinals 0–4 vs Frölunda HC
2022–23 Tier 1 SHL 1st
Swedish Championship playoffs — Won finals, 4–1 vs Skellefteå AIK

Players and personnel

Current roster
No. Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace
62 Sweden Manuel Ågren LW L 29 2022 Oskarshamn, Sweden
70 Sweden Adam Åhman G L 24 2021 Västervik, Sweden
32 Sweden Lukas Bengtsson D R 29 2022 Stockholm, Sweden
86 Denmark Joachim Blichfeld RW R 25 2022 Frederikshavn, Denmark
2 Sweden Oskar Cederqvist C R 20 2022 Skara, Sweden
8 Sweden Ludvig Claesson D L 31 2021 Ljungsarp, Sweden
21 United States Brian Cooper D L 29 2022 Anchorage, Alaska, United States
37 Sweden Glen Gustafsson C L 25 2021 Stockholm, Sweden
28 Sweden Hugo Gustafsson C L 23 2021 Södertälje, Sweden
7 Sweden Hardy Häman Aktell D L 25 2020 Kåge, Sweden
89 Canada Jayden Halbgewachs LW L 26 2022 Emerald Park, Saskatchewan, Canada
60 Sweden Erik Josefsson (C) C L 36 2008 Gislaved, Sweden
26 Sweden Joel Kellman C L 29 2021 Karlskrona, Sweden
55 Finland Miika Koivisto D L 33 2019 Vaasa, Finland
11 Finland Kalle Kossila C L 30 2022 Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
19 Sweden Amil Krupic D L 28 2021 Halmstad, Sweden
33 Finland Emil Larmi G L 27 2021 Lahti, Finland
4 Canada Keegan Lowe D L 30 2022 Greenwich, Connecticut, United States
27 Sweden Martin Lundberg (A) F L 33 2017 Skellefteå, Sweden
41 Sweden Ludvig Nilsson LW L 29 2019 Stockholm, Sweden
94 Sweden Joel Persson (A) D R 29 2020 Kristianstad, Sweden
22 Germany Tobias Rieder C L 30 2021 Landshut, Germany
87 Sweden Robert Rosén (A) C R 36 2020 Alvesta, Sweden
15 United States Dan Sexton RW R 36 2022 Apple Valley, Minnesota, United States
46 Czech Republic Jakub Štancl LW L 18 2022 Prague, Czech Republic
9 Sweden Victor Stjernborg C/LW L 20 2020 Malmö, Sweden

Updated 4 March 2023[11][12]

Team captains

Honored members
Växjö Lakers retired numbers
No. Player Position Career No. retirement
14Stefan NilssonF1990–1991, 1997–2003–
38Johan MarkussonRW2005–2014–

Club records and leaders

Scoring leaders

These are the top-ten point-scorers of the Växjö Lakers since their promotion to the SHL in the 2011–12 season. Figures are updated after each completed season.[13]

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

Points
PlayerPosGPGAPtsP/G
Robert RosénC386111168279.72
Liam ReddoxLW3867278150.39
Richard GyngeC1917276148.78
Joel PerssonD20328112140.69
Erik JosefssonC5556865133.24
Tuomas KiiskinenLW2065872130.63
Cory MurphyD2082889117.56
Tomi KallioRW2044373116.57
Emil PetterssonC131415899.75
Andrew CalofC125435093.74

Trophies and awards

Team

Le Mat Trophy

  • 2014–15, 2017–18, 2020–21, 2022–23

Individual

Coach of the Year

  • Sam Hallam: 2017–18

Honken Trophy

Rookie of the Year

References
  1. Anders Feltenmark (24 April 2015). "Växjö Lakers HC svenska mästare" (in Swedish). Swedish Ice Hockey Association. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
  2. "Änderson om avund" (in Swedish). LakersLakejer.net. 2003-11-04. Retrieved 2011-06-25.
  3. "Shjon Podein har landat i Växjö" (in Swedish). Sveriges Radio'. 2004-10-19. Retrieved 2011-06-25.
  4. "Orange revolution i Växjö Lakers" (in Swedish). Smålandsposten. 2011-04-18. Archived from the original on 2012-07-22. Retrieved 2011-04-21.
  5. Jonas Gustavsson (2011-09-15). "Kallio fixade historisk vinst" (in Swedish). Växjö Lakers Hockey. Retrieved 2011-09-15.
  6. Jonas Gustavsson (2011-09-16). "Invigningsöverraskningen: Podein på plats i VIDA Arena" (in Swedish). Växjö Lakers Hockey. Retrieved 2011-09-16.
  7. Jonas Gustavsson (2011-09-27). "Första segern i VIDA Arena". Växjö Lakers Hockey. Retrieved 2011-10-02.
  8. Jonas Gustavsson (2011-10-25). "Seger – och första nollan" (in Swedish). Växjö Lakers Hockey. Retrieved 2011-10-25.
  9. Bosse Johander (2011-10-08). "Historiskt derby i Småland" (in Swedish). Sveriges Radio. Retrieved 2011-10-08.
  10. Per Johansson (2011-10-08). "Iggulden straffade HV71 i smålandsderbyt" (in Swedish). Växjö Lakers Hockey. Retrieved 2011-10-08.
  11. "Växjö Lakers roster" (in Swedish). Växjö Lakers. 2023-03-04. Retrieved 2023-03-04.
  12. "Eliteprospects.com - Växjö Lakers". Eliteprospects.com. Retrieved 2023-03-04.
  13. "Växjö Lakers - All Time SHL leaders". quanthockey.com. 2019-05-31. Retrieved 2019-05-31.
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