Ice Hockey Wiki
Brynäs IF
Brynäs IF logo
City: Gävle, Sweden
League: SHL
Founded: 12 May 1912; 113 years ago (1912-05-12)
Home Arena: Monitor ERP Arena
Colors:               
General Manager: Johan Alcén
Captain: Johan Larsson

Brynäs IF is a Swedish professional ice hockey team from Gävle. The club currently plays in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), promoted from the HockeyAllsvenskan, the second tier of ice hockey in Sweden, following the 2023–24 season. The club played in the top-tier Swedish league from 1960 to 2023 (1960-75 called Division I, 1975-2023 called the SHL), a total of 63 seasons, longer than any other Swedish club, before suffering relegation for the first time in franchise history at the conclusion of the 2022–23 season. They have won the Swedish championship 13 times, second only to Djurgården with 16 wins. In the 2023/2024 Hockeyallsvenskan season Brynäs won promotion back to the SHL after beating Djurgården 4-0 in the final.

History[]

Brynäs IF was formed by Nils Norin, Ferdinand Blomkvist, and Thure Ternström on 12 May 1912[1] and began to play ice hockey in 1939. The club has also competed in soccer, athletics, bandy, swimming, and water polo.[citation needed] The team played in the hockey league's top flight from 1960 to 2023 and has won the Swedish championship 13 times, most recently in 2012.

Brynäs IF became the world's first ice hockey club to collaborate with the United Nations Program UNICEF, after signing a five-year contract with the organisation on 20 November 2013 (expiring in 2018).[2] On 3 June 2014, the club also signed a five-year contract with Gävle Municipality (expiring after the 2018–19 season). The municipality acquired the naming rights for the club's home arena and renamed it Gavlerinken Arena.[3] The latter collaboration also meant the municipality would pay the club to play with ad-free jerseys, starting in the 2014–15 season, as the only SHL team.[4] The arena is since September 2019 named Monitor ERP Arena.

In 2021, after finishing 13th (out of 14 teams) in the regular season, the team was forced to defend its SHL status for the first time since 2008, playing a best-of-seven series against the last-placed team, HV71, with home advantage. At the conclusion of the 2022–23 season, Brynäs was relegated from the SHL for the first time in franchise history, after losing the relegation playout series, 1–4, to the Malmö Redhawks.[5] They returned to the SHL after the 2023–24 season.

Season-by-season[]

This is a partial list, featuring the five most recent completed seasons. For a more complete list, see List of Brynäs IF seasons.

Season Level Division Record Attendance Notes
Position W–OTW–OTL–L
2020–21 Tier 1 SHL 13th 14–4–7–27 150
Play Out 2–1 Won 4–1 vs HV71
2021–22 Tier 1 SHL 10th 17–6–6–23 4,544
Eighth-finals 1–2 5,374 Lost 1–2 vs Örebro HK
2022–23 Tier 1 SHL 13th 16–4–6–26 6,357
Play Out 1–4 7,050 Lost 1–4 vs Malmö Redhawks
Decrease Relegated to HockeyAllsvenskan
2023–24 Tier 2 HockeyAllsvenskan 1st 33–5–3–11 6,442
Allsvenskan playoffs 12–1 7,109 Won in Quarterfinals, 4–0 vs Nybro Vikings
Won in Semifinals, 4–1 vs BIK Karlskoga
Won in Finals 4–0 vs Djurgårdens IF
Green Arrow Up promoted to SHL
2024–25 Tier 1 SHL 1st 26–8–3–15 7,700
Swedish Championship playoffs 10–7 7,873 Won in Quarterfinals, 4–2 vs Malmö Redhawks
Won in Semifinals, 4–1 vs Skellefteå AIK
Lost in Finals 2–4 vs Luleå HF

Players and personnel[]

Current roster[]

# Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace
29 Flag of Sweden Andersson, AxelAxel Andersson

D R 25 2024 Järna, Sweden
19 Flag of Sweden Bäckström, NicklasNicklas Bäckström

C L 38 2025 Valbo, Sweden
81 Flag of the United States Bellows, KiefferKieffer Bellows

LW L 27 2025 Edina, Minnesota, United States
15 Flag of Sweden Bertilsson, SimonSimon Bertilsson

D L 34 2020 Karlskoga, Sweden
45 Flag of Italy Clara, DamianDamian Clara

G L 21 2025 Brunico, Italy
61 Flag of the United States Delia, CollinCollin Delia

G L 31 2025 Rancho Cucamonga, California, United States
3 Flag of Sweden Djoos, ChristianChristian Djoos

D L 31 2024 Gothenburg, Sweden
14 Flag of Sweden Hägg, RobertRobert Hägg

D L 30 2025 Uppsala, Sweden
71 Flag of Sweden Jonsson-Fjällby, AxelAxel Jonsson-Fjällby

LW L 27 2025 Stockholm, Sweden
31 Flag of Sweden Källgren, ErikErik Källgren

G L 29 2024 Stockholm, Sweden
5 Flag of Czech Republic Kempný, MichalMichal Kempný

D L 35 2025 Hodonin, Czech Republic
28 Flag of Sweden Kinnvall, JohannesJohannes Kinnvall

D R 28 2022 Gävle, Sweden
52 Flag of the United States Kopacka, JackJack Kopacka

RW L 27 2023 Metamora, Michigan, United States
10 Flag of Sweden Larsson, JohanJohan Larsson

 (C)

C L 33 2022 Lau, Sweden
37 Flag of Sweden Lejon, HugoHugo Lejon

RW R 20 2024 Västerås, Sweden
23 Flag of Sweden Lindblom, OskarOskar Lindblom

LW L 29 2024 Gävle, Sweden
27 Flag of Sweden Norlinder, MattiasMattias Norlinder

D L 25 2025 Kramfors, Sweden
36 Flag of Sweden Ölund, LinusLinus Ölund

 (A)

C L 28 2019 Gävle, Sweden
47 Flag of Sweden Pettersson, LucasLucas Pettersson

C L 19 2025 Örnsköldsvik, Sweden
18 Flag of Sweden Rödin, AntonAnton Rödin

 (A)

RW L 35 2019 Stockholm, Sweden
41 Flag of Canada Scott, GregGreg Scott

C R 37 2019 Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
33 Flag of Sweden Silfverberg, JakobJakob Silfverberg

RW R 35 2024 Gävle, Sweden
8 Flag of the United States Trivigno, BobbyBobby Trivigno

LW L 26 2024 Setauket, New York, United States
20 Flag of the United States Vesel, TylerTyler Vesel

C R 31 2023 Duluth, Minnesota, United States

Updated 22 August 2025[6][7]

Team captains[]

Head coaches[]

  • Axel Svensson (1943–1944)
  • Conny Eriksson (1954–1957)
  • Arne Backman (1960–1961)
  • Nils Bergström (1961–1963)
  • Herbert Pettersson (1963–1966)
  • Börje Mattsson (1966–1967)
  • Nils Bergström (1967–1969)
  • Tommy Sandlin (1969–1977)
  • Rolf Andersson (1977–1979)
  • Lennart Johansson (1979–1980)
  • Tord Lundström (1980–1981)
  • Lennart Johansson (1981–1982)
  • Stig Salming (1982–1987)
  • Tord Lundström (1987–1988)
  • Staffan Tholson (1988–1991)
  • Tommy Sandlin (1991–1996)
  • Göran Sjöberg (1996–1998)
  • Roger Melin (1998–2002)
  • Esko Nokelainen (2002)
  • Gunnar Persson (2002–2004)
  • Tomas Jonsson (2004)
  • Roger Kyrö (2004–2005)
  • Wayne Fleming (2005–2005)
  • Leif Boork (2005–2007)
  • Olof Östblom (2007–2008)
  • Tomas Thelin (2008)
  • Leif Boork (2008)
  • Niklas Czarnecki (2008–2011)
  • Tommy Jonsson (2011–2014)
  • Thomas Berglund (2014–2017)
  • Roger Melin (2017)
  • Tommy Sjödin (2017–2018)
  • Magnus Sundquist (2018–2020)
  • Peter Andersson (2020–2021)
  • Mikko Manner (2021-2023)
  • Ove Molin (2023)
  • Niklas Gällstedt (2023–)

Club records and leaders[]

Individual season records[]

  • Most Goals in a season: Tom Bissett, 40 (1998–99)
  • Most Assists in a season: Jan Larsson, 43 (1998–99)
  • Most Points in a season: Lars-Göran Nilsson, 62 (1970–71)
  • Most Penalty Minutes in a season: Tommy Melkersson, 118 (1996–97)
  • Most Points in a season, defenseman: Pär Djoos, 48 (1998–99)

Scoring leaders[]

These are the top-ten point-scorers in SHL history. Figures are updated after each completed SHL regular season.[8][9]

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

Points
Player Pos GP G A Pts P/G
Lars-Göran Nilsson F 425 273 257 530 1.25
Håkan Wickberg F 363 253 241 494 1.36
Tord Lundström F 367 261 232 493 1.34
Ove Molin RW 772 192 295 487 .63
Jan Larsson C 598 189 281 470 .79
Stefan Karlsson F 428 252 140 392 .92
Anders Huss C 574 189 183 372 .65
Andreas Dackell RW 524 132 217 349 .67
Tommy Sjödin D 681 117 198 315 .46
Hans Lindberg F 246 209 105 314 1.28

Trophies and awards[]

Team[]

Le Mat Trophy

  • 1963–64, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1979–80, 1992–93, 1998–99, 2011–12

Individual[]

Coach of the Year

Guldhjälmen

Guldpucken

Håkan Loob Trophy

Honken Trophy

Rinkens Riddare

Rookie of the Year

References[]

  1. Martin Alsiö (April 2004). De allsvenska klubbarnas födelsedagar (sv). Bolletinen.
  2. Brynäs IF och UNICEF i unikt samarbete (sv). Brynäs IF (20 November 2013).
  3. Gävle kommun går in som huvudpartner till Brynäs IF (sv). Brynäs IF (3 June 2014).
  4. Brynäs spelar med reklamfria ställ (sv). Gefle Dagblad (6 June 2014).
  5. Emil Eiman Roslund, Nils Rahm. "Brynäs åker ur SHL", SVT Sport, 23 March 2023. Retrieved on 23 March 2023. (Swedish) 
  6. A-laget > Spelartrupp (sv). www.brynas.se (2025-08-22).
  7. Eliteprospects.com - Brynäs. www.eliteprospects.com.
  8. Brynäs ‑ All-Time SHL Leaders. QuantHockey.com (22 March 2019).
  9. All-Time Stats for Brynäs.

External links[]

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