Nybro Vikings

Nybro Vikings IF is an ice-hockey club from Nybro in Sweden. The team was playing in the second highest league in Sweden, HockeyAllsvenskan, for seven years from 2002 to 2009. The team was relegated to the third division, Division 1, during the 2008-2009 season after finishing only 15th in the regular season and only third in the following qualification series with six teams, two from Hockeyallsvenskan and four from Division 1.

The team currently plays in Victoriahallen, which takes about 3000 spectators, though it has very rarely filled the whole arena. Victoriahallen is the fourth oldest ice hockey arena in Sweden, finished 1963. 1984 the arena was rebuilt, but there are plans to build a new arena in Nybro.

History
The ice hockey club in Nybro was founded 1939 as "IK Ymer", which 1955 joined the same organisation as the football club Nybro IF, and therefore also carried that name until 1998 when it became independent from the football club Nybro IF. The club also has played two season in the highest league during the season 1968–69 and 1969–70. The probably most famous ice hockey player with Nybro as his motherclub in modern days is Fredrik Olausson, who for example won the Stanley Cup with Detroit Red Wings. Another famous player from Nybro is Björn "Böna" Johansson who played 113 games for the Swedish national ice hockey team between the years 1972 and 1976 and is therefore the player with the 87th most games for the Tre Kronor. There he played 5 IIHF World Championship's and 1 Canada Cup. He played for Nybro IF from 1968 to 1971, after which he played 6 seasons for Södertälje SK in Elitserien and later returned to Nybro where he ended his career between 1977 and 1983.

Kvalserien till Hockeyallsvenskan 2009
In the qualification series to Hockeyallsvenskan, Kvalserien till Hockeyallsvenskan, which Nybro Vikings had to go through after a season that went terribly wrong, Nybro only finished third out of six and also failed to stay in the second division. Therefore the team will be playing in the third division instead, Division 1. Normally, two teams will qualify from this qualification serie to play in Hockeyallsvenskan, but since it was decided that Hockeyallsvenskan should be diminished from 16 to 14 teams until the season 2009-2010, only one team would qualify this season.

The results for Nybro Vikings and standings were as the following:

Nybro Vikings-Valbo 5-3

Nybro Vikings- Asplöven 8-0

Tingsryd- Nybro Vikings 4-2

Nybro-Örebro HK 1-2

Huddinge-Nybro Vikings 2-4

Nybro Vikings-Huddinge 6-3

Örebro HK-Nybro Vikings 4-2

Asplöven- Nybro Vikings 1-4

Valbo- Nybro Vikings 1-5

Rk Team GP W T L GF:GA TP

1 Örebro HK  10  6  3  1  35:21  23 (From Division 1, qualified for Allsvenskan)

2 Tingsryds AIF  10  6  1  3  33:22  20  (From Division 1, failed to qualify)

3 Nybro Vikings IF  10  6  0  4  39:23 18 (From Allsvenskan, relegated to Division 1)

4 Huddinge IK  10  4  2  4  35:37  14  (From Allsvenskan, relegated to Division 1)

5 Asplöven HC  10  3  1  6  21:41  11  (From Division 1, failed to qualify)

6 Valbo HC  10  1  1  8  22:41  4  (From Division 1, failed to qualify)

Rk= final ranking. GP= Games played. W=Wins T= Ties L=Losses GF= Goals for GA=Goals against TP= Total points

Supporters
The supporter club of Nybro Vikings is called Viking Support.

The squad
All players in Nybro Vikings (season 2009/2010):

Goalkeepers:

Jonas Sparring (new)

Troy Davenport (new) Defencemen:

Andreas Sandell

9 Andreas Holfelt 14 Kalle Ekelund (unsure)

19 Weston Tardy (unsure)

33 Michael Irani Forwards:

Alexander Kovalonok (new)

Marcus Mellström (new)

6 Andreas Dahlberg (unsure)

10 Jarno Honkonen

11 David Algulin

17 Marcus Kvillner

21 Bobby Williams(unsure)

22 Staffan Lundblad 24 Fredrik Näslund (unsure)

26 Andreas Elofsson

27 Fredrik Strid

36 Jonny Ågren

38 Henric Gustavsson

91 William Quist Coaches:

Torgny Bendelin (new)

Tomas Venturi (new)

Before the 2009-2010 season, Nybro doesn't have many players contracted and many will leave. A new coach has been declared though, and it will be Torgny Bendelin and Tomas Venturi taking over. The ones above marked "unsure", are the ones who haven't signed a new contract with the club yet, but haven't signed one with another club either, thus their status for next season is still unsure. Players who already have left are removed from the list, whereas players who are staying or have already joined the team from another club are added to the list.