Modo Hockey

Modo Hockey
City	Örnsköldsvik, Sweden
League	Swedish Hockey League
Founded	1921
Home arena	Fjällräven Center
Colors	Red, white, green
Franchise history
1921–1963	Alfredshems IK
1964–86	Modo AIK
1987–present	Modo Hockey
Le Mat Trophy:	1979, 2007

main

Modo Hockey (or MODO with uppercase letters) is a professional ice hockey club in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. The club plays in Sweden's premier ice hockey league, the Swedish Hockey League (SHL; formerly Elitserien). They were founded in 1921 and have won two SHL championships; in 1979 and 2007. The team's home arena is the Fjällräven Center (previously known as Swedbank Arena) since 2006. Before then, the team played at Kempehallen, beginning in 1964.

History

Alfredshems IK and Modo AIK (1921–87)

The club was founded in 1921 as Alfredshems IK, however it existed without an ice hockey program until 1938. Twenty years later, in 1958, the club joined HockeyAllsvenskan, Sweden's highest division at the time. Alfredshems IK played under that moniker until 1963, when it was renamed Modo AIK after their main sponsor, industrial corporation Mo och Domsjö AB (commonly abbreviated MoDo). The following year, the club made the newly constructed Kempehallen their home arena. In 1975, Modo AIK joined the Elitserien as one of the premier league's original ten teams. Four seasons later, Modo AIK won their first regular-season championship in 1979, en route to defeating previous ten-time champion Djurgårdens IF to also capture their first Le Mat trophy as playoff champions.

Modo Hockey (1987–present)

In 1987, Modo AIK dropped the "AIK" suffix to the club's name, becoming known simply as Modo Hockey. After coming off its championship year in 1979, the club spent the majority of the 1980s with losing records. Coming out of the club's junior program, however, hometown stars Peter Forsberg and Markus Näslund played their rookie seasons with the senior team in 1990–91. Näslund went on to lead Modo Hockey in scoring as an eighteen-year-old in his second season with the club, while Forsberg became the first Modo player to win the Guldpucken as Swedish player of the year since Nils Johansson in 1964, capturing the title back-to-back in 1993 and 1994.

Former logo

With both Forsberg and Näslund having been chosen as first-round selections in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft, however, their time in Sweden was limited. Näslund departed for the NHL in 1993, while Forsberg remained to lead Modo to their second Elitserien playoff final in 1994, where they lost to Malmö IF. Soon after Forsberg's inevitable departure to the NHL in 1995, identical twin brothers Daniel and Henrik Sedin represented the next wave of young talent coming through the Modo system. At seventeen-years-old, they captured the Guldpucken together as co-recipients in 1999, while leading Modo to a 33-win season (in a 50-game schedule) for the club's second regular-season title. As second- and third-overall selections in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft, respectively, Daniel and Henrik left Modo for the NHL in 2000. Regardless, Modo became consistent contenders for the Le Mat trophy, appearing in three out of four playoff finals – losing all three – between 1999 and 2002.

Due to the 2004–05 NHL lockout, many former Modo stars returned to the team from the NHL, including Forsberg, Näslund, the Sedins and František Kaberle. Several foreign NHL players also signed with Modo, including Canadian defenceman Adrian Aucoin and American forward Dan Hinote. Swedish goaltender Tommy Salo (a product of VIK Västerås HK) joined as the starting goaltender. Despite a bolstered lineup, Modo finished sixth in the regular season.

Having played in Kempehallen as their home arena since 1964, Modo moved into the then newly constructed Swedbank Arena, which was partially funded by former star Forsberg and his father Kent, who was also a former club head coach. Modo returned to Elitserien supremacy that season, defeating Linköpings HC on April 14, 2007, to capture their second Le Mat trophy in franchise history. The championship-winning club featured the 2007 Guldpucken-recipient Per Svartvadet, team leading-scorer Per-Åge Skrøder and future NHL defenceman Tobias Enström. The return of Niklas Sundström, who had originally played with the club alongside Forsberg and Naslund in the early 1990s, bolstered Modo's roster as he finished second in team scoring in his first season back from the NHL. An approximate 8,000 fans were in attendance at the Swedbank Arena for Modo's first championship in 28 years.

In the 2008–09 season the team finished ninth in Elitserien, thus missing the playoffs. In the 2009–10 season, Forsberg returned to play for Modo on a conditioning-basis to prepare for an anticipated return to the NHL after having been inactive for a season due to injury. With Näslund back in Sweden, having retired after the 2008–09 NHL season, he correctly predicted that Forsberg would not return to the NHL and finish the season with Modo instead. Several days later, on November 17, 2009, Näslund announced he was coming out of retirement to also rejoin Modo with Forsberg. The announcement crashed the Modo web server as a result of the heavy volume of people visiting the site. As a board member of the club, Näslund also announced he would play without a salary, along with Forsberg. Despite Näslund's and Forsberg's return to Modo, the team finished ninth and thus missed the playoffs for the second consecutive year. After the 2009–10 season, Näslund retired again, and Forsberg left Modo again. After Näslund's second retirement, he was named the general manager of Modo.

In the 2010–11 season the team were closer to relegation to HockeyAllsvenskan than since 1990. The team finished last in Elitserien after a very tight battle in the bottom of Elitserien and thus were forced to play in Kvalserien for the first time since 1990 (the team survived the 1990 Kvalserien). After the 2011 Kvalserien's ninth round, Modo and Södertälje both had 17 points. Modo and Södertälje met each other in Fjällräven Center in the final round, for a game that directly decided which team would be relegated to HockeyAllsvenskan. Modo won the game 2–0 and thus stayed in Elitserien for the 2011–12 season. Nearly two weeks later, Peter Forsberg was named an assistant general manager of the Modo organization. Just a day later, on April 21, 2011, Modo Hockey's then head coach Charles "Challe" Berglund was forced to leave the club.

On May 2, 2011, Ulf Samuelsson, who had been an assistant coach in the National Hockey League (NHL), was named the head coach of Modo Hockey, a position he held for two seasons.

Season-by-season results

This is a partial list of the last six seasons completed by Modo. For the full season-by-season history, see List of Modo Hockey seasons. Code explanation; GP—Games played, W—Wins, L—Losses, T—Tied games, GF—Goals for, GA—Goals against, Pts—Points. Top Scorer: Points (Goals+Assists)

Season	League	Regular season								Post season results	Top scorer (regular season)
		Finish	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
2006–07	Elitserien	3rd	55	24	21	10	159	140	85	Won Swedish Championship, 4–2 (Linköpings HC) in the finals
2007–08	Elitserien	3rd	55	26	22	7	153	150	90	Lost in quarterfinals, 1–4 (Timrå IK)
2008–09	Elitserien	9th	55	20	27	8	153	177	72	Did not qualify
2009–10	Elitserien	9th	55	16	20	19	161	150	74	Did not qualify
2010–11	Elitserien	12th	55	17	25	13	147	153	70	Saved in relegation series (Kvalserien)
2011–12	Elitserien	8th	55	19	22	6	146	147	79	Lost in quarterfinals, 2-4 (Skellefteå AIK)

External links

• MODO Hockey Official Site

Preceded by Skellefteå AIK	Swedish ice hockey champions 1979	Succeeded by Brynäs IF
Preceded by Färjestads BK	Swedish ice hockey champions 2007	Succeeded by HV71