Frisk Tigers

The Frisk Tigers are the ice hockey division of IF Frisk Asker, a Norwegian sports club whose members also participate in football. Officially, the hockey section is registered as IF Frisk Asker - Ishockey, but the club usually refers to itself as the Frisk Tigers or simply Frisk. They are based in the municipality of Asker and play their home games in Askerhallen. Their team colours are green, red and white; originally these were orange and blue.

The Frisk Tigers are currently members of the highest Norwegian ice hockey league, Eliteserien (or GET-ligaen for sponsorship reasons). They have won the Norwegian Ice Hockey Championship three times, most recently in 2002, and the League Championship five times, last in the 2007–08 season. Before the 2000s, the Tigers' most successful period was in the 1970s, during which they won all their previous titles.

History
Frisk is one of the oldest ice hockey clubs in Norway dating back to 1935. For most of the early years the club did alright, playing mostly in the lower regional leagues. In 1968 the club was set for a great new era. Farmer Bjørn Mortensen wished to give something back to the community by building an indoor ice rink in Asker. It was the first of its kind in the Oslo area, and gave the club a tremendous lift.

Askerhallen was opened on 31 August 1969, and led to a series of events that would bring Frisk to the pinnacle of Norwegian Ice Hockey in only a few years. In Asker the facilities was first class, but playing material scarce. In Oslo, a club called Tigrene, had the exact opposite problems, so the two clubs decided to merge. Frisk immediately rose to become one of the top teams in the league.

In May 1972 disaster struck, as the Askerhallen was badly damaged in a fire. Mortensen however wished to continue his commitment, and have the arena rebuilt. The new Askerhallen was opened in 1973.

The seventies proved to be the most successful years for Frisk. Winning the Norwegian championships in 1975 and 1979.

Through the eighties Frisk stayed in the top flight, and excelled at producing talented hockey-players. Led by inspirational coach Barry Smith they made a new appearance in the play off finals in 1986. On the most however they failed to make any real impact and economical problems led the club into recession and finally relegation in the mid nineties. A merger with local club Holmen, under the name of Asker Hockey proved unsuccessful and in 1995 Frisk was back in the top league on their own feet.

With local backing and gaining popularity the club went into the new millennium as one of the best teams in the league. In 2002 Frisk could finally celebrate their third Norwegian championship, after beating the Storhamar Dragons in a very exciting final.

After having accomplished the mission, Frisk did not manage to rebuild the same drive, and for the next few seasons results slowly deteriorated. Still having one of the best youth academies in Norwegian hockey Frisk work hard to rejoin the uppermost echelons with limited resources.

Season-by-season results
''This is a partial list of the last five seasons completed by the Tigers. For the full season-by-season history, see List of Frisk Tigers seasons.''

Current roster
As of 30 March 2010.

Head coaches

 * Barry Smith 1984–1986
 * Henry Hamberg 1996–1998
 * Serge Boisvert 1998–2003
 * Ulf Weinstock 2003–2004
 * Jan Votruba 2004–2005
 * Esa Tikkanen 2005–2006
 * Patrik Christer Ross 2006–2007
 * Sune Bergman 2007–2010

Notes and references

 * http://www.getligaen.no