Björklöven - the final verdict

The ridiculously long lasting saga on the Björklöven story has finally reached the end. A few weeks back, the Swedish Hockey Association came to the conclusion that their first decision regarding the future of the Umeå club would have to stand; they were forcibly relegated due to economical problems and although the club has come through them, the relegation still has to stand.

The Björklöven board of course took this through to appeal and the final verdict came the other day: The relegation stands. And rightly so. 

Although the club managed to survive, the economical dealings of last year was extremely irresponsible. It must have been clear after the first month or two of last season that the budget was blown out of the water. Instead of consolidating and  cutting costs, they did the opposite. With already big debts on board, an increasing wage bill and dwindling crowds, there was only one way it would all finish. It seems the board made the most of it while it lasted by making sure back room staff got more than their fair share of the spoils before the proverbial shit would hit  the fan.

 Onwards and upwards!

I don't envy the new board, but they should be both glad and proud they have managed to get the club through this and to the other side. A couple of years in a lower division might be what they need to rebuild everything from the inside out. They'll be back soon enough - enjoy division 1 while it lasts.

Part MMCXXVII of the Björklöven saga

Some fuckers just don't know when to give up. And for that, Björklöven should be eternally grateful. The club has officially  managed to avoid being wound up and will continue to exist in its current shape. The question is now Where?

As the club seized trading at the end of the season, Sundsvall was given their spot and was told they'd be playing in Allsvenskan the coming year. Sunsvall has of course been setting themselves a different budget and has been working to a completely different framework than had they not been promoted. It would not be fair or right in this late stage to backtrack and tell them to play in Division 1. This has of course had ramifications throughout the hockey league and it is hard to see where Björklöven will fit in.

There are a few obvious alternatives, all with their pros and cons;

• Björklöven is told they can stay in Allsvenskan. The division is extended by one team and more rounds will be played. This will create a scheduling nightmare (the first round has already been drawn) as well as an imbalanced division with an odd number of teams. This will then need to be rectified for next season and there will be another relegation spot.
• The club is relegated to division one. The above problems will be shifted downwards one division.
• The club is told to start from the bottom of the system. This will in effect kill the club off. The arena, owned by Umea municipality, will be too big to host regional division 4 games and the club will have to find another home. Getting back to a position where they would fill their old arena would take many years.

No doubt the Swedish Icehockey Association will find the most complicated and impractical solution to the problem. I am waiting in anticipation.

But how did this happen. The club was run down completely by the board and incredible amounts were paid out to staff and players in salaries even when it was known within the club that there was no more money to take from. Apparently, the wage bill was 1.4M SEK/month. Even though this is limited to 7.5 months of the year, it adds up to an awful lot of money for this level of hockey. I can see why KHL were flirting with them earlier in the season - at least they are up to speed in how to do it in the board room.

The undeath of a hockey team

First it was AIK who undeaded themselves by getting promoted to Elitserien, now it seems an outside chance that Björklöven might join the same exclusive club. No, they're not getting promoted. They're trying to undead themselves as well - and by all means, they don't seem too far off achieving it. Puckin' Hell had along with everyone else assumed that Björklöven was not only dead, but buried and slightly decomposed by now. Well, we were all wrong it seems. To paraphrase Mark Twain, it seems the reports of Björklöven's death has been somewhat exaggerated.

 

Apparently, the club has until May 12th to get their finances in order and businessmen, benefactors, companies and the public has managed to get a large proportion of the money needed for survival. In a last ditch attempt, the club is now issuing share options to get the last money. I will join the rest of all hockey lovers to wish them every success in this campaign.

Something is rotten in the state of Sweden

Silly season is under way, but I still find myself depressed and downbeat thinking about hockey, so I have stayed away from the blog and all my bookmarked websites for a while. Needless to say, it is impossible to cleanse my world completely from it, as the whacking of a black rubber thingee on frozen water is a fully integrated part of my everyday life. Try and aviod it, and you get caught out with a tackle from behind that knocks you out for twenty. That is just what has happened.

I attended a friends wedding and as the brother of the bride is as much of a hockey fanatic as I am we obviously got into a conversation about the upcoming world championships and the season just gone. He's got it all sorted. Albeit he's Slovakian and usually only have an outside chance of seeing any medals on the international scene (I know, they still manage to beat Sweden every time, so I should keep stumm), his domestic side has defended their title. Košice beat local rivals Bratislava and you could see the excitement and joy in his face as he described the finals in detail.

After he finished he looked at me and told me he'd followed Leksand's results over the web. What is wrong with this Swedish ice hockey? How many years in a row have you won your division - 3? 4? And they still don't let you up? That seems completely fucked mate! I have never heard of a similar system anywhere. Why don't they change it?

As we downed another Sambuca, I nodded in agreement. Yeah, it is fucked. Then was going to explain what went wrong, and after a few seconds I found myself talking about economy, TV money, the struggles of several of the teams in the second tier to stay alive, and that's when it hit me like a face-slap from an over ripe herring. Talking about Swedish domestic ice hockey invariably develops into a discussion of figures and numbers. To talk Swedish ice hockey, you really need a university degree in advanced economics. And as any map will show you, Leksand, Umeå, Almtuna and Västerås is a very long way from Oxford, Cambridge or Yale.

In fact, it has indeed proven way too far away from Umeå, as Björklöven has seized to exist. The Swedish Champions from 1987 has been declared bankrupt. Björklöven fostered players such as Ulf Dahlén and Calle Johansson and I regarded them as one of the original 'Big' clubs with tradition and culture not many can match. It is truly an indication of how bad the state of Swedish ice hockey really is when a club like Björklöven disappears.

As I said, my friend has got it sorted. When he talks ice hockey, it is simply about what happens on the ice. That's the game I grew up with. That's the game I love! Could we have it back please Mr Loob?

HockeyAllsvenskan - The Good and The Bad

We are reaching the end of the normal season and Hockeyallsvenskan will be divided in qualification leagues at either end of the table. Even though there are still a few games to go with some very important matches to be played, I'll take a look at the surprises and disappointments of the league.

The Biggest Surprises

1. Bofors IK
   The team has really improved over the last few seasons. For first making themselves known as the most boring/negative team in the country who were  only surviving because of the loan players from Färjestad, Bofors has become an attractive team to watch and still being very hard to break down. A fantastic start of the season has bee cancelled out by the inevitable 'blip'. A small squad that is very sensitive to injuries has been their undoing. If they can keep the prominent players in the team for next season and add some width, they will be very strong indeed.
2. Almtuna IS
   Another team that has been working hard, just away from the spotlight of the bigger teams. Jonas Rönnqvist and Bert Robertsson has worked purposefully with the team and have every player and every unit working for each other. And it's working well. Automatic qualification to Kvalserien is a real prossibility.
3. AIK
   Some might be surprised I am putting AIK, who had a fantastic season last year on my surprises list. Well, I disagree - and this page is my universe, so I can do what I want. AIK did have a fantastic season last year, but I suspected they would be exposed  after the great season they had last year. Their success was built on a solid defence but with Dick Tärnström getting one year older (read 'one year slower'),  and their new signings looking distinctly average, I thought their time would be up. I was right. 'Dicken' is one year slower, and the signings have not been as successful as some would have thought. What has happened is that the other team members have stepped up. A lot. Players like Bång, Sandberg and Gynge are now undoubtedly among the best in the division and would arguably be an asset to any team in elitserien. However, I don't think it will be enough to get promoted, especially since the team still mixes great performances with outright embarrassing ones, but in Kvalserien anything can happen.
   
   
   

This is the way to do it Rönnqvist style. Amazingly it seems to work...

...and the disappointments

1. Björklöven
   The club is once again dragged into the relegation battle. The name, the history and the budget is for a team fighting at the other end of the table, but something has gone seriously wrong in Umeå. Should the club manage to stay in Allsvenskan at the end of the season, I expect to see some major changes with more than a few heads rolling. But at the moment that is a big 'should' that needs to be resolved before thinking about anything else.
2. Västerås IK
   Again a club that were not only looking to challenge for Kvalserien, but to get there as a top 3 team. Nothing has been wrong with the budget or the resources - there can really be no excuses for the failure. As the results have improved over the last few weeks, will it be enough to secure coaches Claes Lindbom's and Fredik Nilsson's contract for next year. I seriously doubt it.
3. Leksands IF
   It's hard to argue this case with the club looking at its third consecutive top spot finish in AS, but I think there are some major issues in the club this season compared to before. The team largely consists of a top division squad, but the public has been treated to division 3 hockey. The lack of ability to kill off a game and to dominate teams seem odd considering the large budget. Will it be enough to go to Elitserien? Not until they learn to beat teams like Borås anyway.

Charity Starts at Home

Leif Strömberg and Leksand really has taken the old proverbial 'Charity starts at home' to heart. On evidence of last night, Chairty now starts in Ejendals.

It must feel good to be so good.

Leaves about to drop?

There is a major crisis at Björklöven; the team has only managed to take six points from their last 13 games and are now facing a real battle to stay in Allsvenskan. Many fans will be happy to learn that sporting director Arto Sirviö has decided to leave the Umeå outfit at the end of the season, but is the timing to announce this the best? Well, maybe for him as the risk of him being marched out of his house and hung from the nearest tree has been apparent for some time. We will undoubtedly find out in the next few weeks.

Hand over the mike, dude.

While Björklöven is dropping like a rock, Troja/Ljungby has got a bit of wind under their sails and has claimed some impressive scalps recently - Leksand, Bofors and Borås, to mention a few. Sundsvall  is also quietly maintaining their points harvest. With ten games to go, the battle to stay up looks more uncertain than the battles at the top end of the table.

Round Up: Mora on fire!

Mora IK took thir ninth (!) consecutive win when they ripped apart Malmö on away ice. The final result was 4-1 to the guests. Mora is now in the final automatic qualification spot for Kvalserien. Harald Lückner has done a brilliant job with this young team and has surprised most experts with their performance of late. Malmö on the other hand has shown very patchy form lately and needs to improve if they are to avoid having to go through the play offs for a place in Kvalserien. It might help that they are finally getting rid of goal tender Jani Hurme who has not only been one of the most expensive players in the league, but also a complete liability once he has been on the ice. A reported salary of around SEK 310.000/month is now taken away from the expenses account at Redhawks. I'd happily open a door for a few days per month for 3x20 minutes for less than that. Percy, call me!

Good bye and thank you for the fish!

In the mid-season final, injury hit Leksand beat Växjö comprehensively with 8-3. This will give LIF a little bit of breathing space at the summit. Off the ice rumours are rife the club is about to sign a forward (center?) of some some statue. As always with Leksand in the rumour mill, more or less realistic names are branded around. Suffice to say, one the day arrives, we shall all find out.

In the fight for the play off spots, Bofors secured in important result by grabbing the extra point following a penalty shoot out at Borås. Borås  now has six points up to play off place and Bofors are now pleased not to have to feel them breathing down their neck.

At the other end of the table, Sunsvall lost important points after ending up on the wrong side of a 6-3 score at Björklöven and Oskarshamn looks on the money for relegation after losing at home against demotion rivals Troja/Ljungby 3-0.

There is still much to go of the season, but the table seems to divide up in clear sections. However, any team getting on a streak like Mora is currently would quickly move up the table. One thing is for sure, the league is tighter than it has ever been and teams keep dropping and taking points from each other like never before. Is this a sign of the strength of the league, or is it because the top teams are weaker than in recent years? I guess we will find out in Kvalserien.

Nordic Trophy, or how to do sports the Loob way

The little fat guy is at it again. Sticking his dirty little fingers where they don't belong. Now, Håkan Loob has appeared in Umeå, the home of Björklöven, to investigate the possibility of them joining him and his clan of retards in the 'Nordic Trophy' investigation. This is supposedly a future league with teams from Sweden and Finland, a kind of permanent extension of the current Nordic Trophy, possibly [read 'most likely'] as a nordic conference of KHL - oh yes, we must not forget the token teams from Norway and Denmark.

So what has this got to do with the struggling Swedish second tier outfit from Umeå?

Well, apparently they might be thinking about building a new stadium - or 'events facility' as the man from the council proudly said. 

Ok, but surely a new arena does not mean you qualify for this league. There are more than 20 teams in Sweden who are better at the moment.

Ok, here's where the Loob-logic comes in; they want a team from northern Sweden in this league.  

Fine, but surely Skellefteå, MoDo, Timrå or Luleå would be the more obvious contenders - they are at least in the top league in Sweden.  

Yeah, you would think so, but according to the Loob-logic, this is irrelevant. It's all depending on the size of the town, its infrastructure and the fact that Umeå has a 'different economic climate' than the rest of the region.  

Aha...

That's hockey the Loob way; it doesn't fucking matter what goes on on the ice, all that matters is that they can have fat prawn sandwiches with beluga caviare and a 1972 Chateau Lafite Rothschild to swallow it all down with in the board room. And, of course, an infrastructured heli-pad so they can get home in time for CSI.

Good game!

Are people really so blind that can't see what this man and his cronies are up to? Personally, I am shitting myself.

Don't take me wrong, I am not against some kind of Nordic Trophy. Sweden and Finland has a long standing rivalry in sports and this could be an idea. However, when Loob claims the TV money will be around SEK 60.000.000 (compared to 29.000.000 currently in Elitserien and a meagre 1.500.000 in Allsvenskan), he has clearly not understood the market. Sweden is by far the biggest market for hockey out of the four nations considered. In Norway and Denmark, hockey is a marginal sport at the best. Finland has a market, but economically it is much smaller than it's western neighbour. To double the money I think is a very optimistic calculation - at least if he gets his wish through for a closed league without relegation etc.

But that won't matter for most of us. We either won't have the 'economic climate' or 'infrastructure' to be part of the chosen ones. No one has informed us that putting the puck in the back of the net no longer matters. Maybe I'm just a bit conservative, but I say we continue with this old way of doing sports for the time being.

In the case of my beloved Leksand, I don't think we have the 'economic climate' suitable for the new league. The infrastructure is most certainly below the worthiness of the big shots, not to mention the size of the town (has anyone told Loob size doesn't matter - it is what you do with it that counts...He, if anyone, should  know that...). And it seems we're not the only ones with these problems - apparently any team outside a big city is not qualified for having a decent ice hockey team. But in Europe we have this weird tradition, a team belongs where it is, not that franchise crap that NHL has established. Now, can't we all stand up and hold hands and sing... We Shall Not Be Moved.

But seriously, can someone please stop this man before he causes any permanent damage?

I told you so...

Following the home defeat against Troja. Björklöven has decided to make some changes in the back room - Kari Eloranta steps down to assistant coach, and his former assistant, Peter Andersson, has been told to operate the coffe machine and spread butter on the toast. Taking over as main coach is Jocke Fagerwall. Yes, it is the same man they sacked 377 days ago. Inspired move by the board room!

It's going to look different this time around, sir!

I am not questioning his appointment as he most certainly will scrape up more pints than his predecessor. However, it does seem our friends from Umeå are lacking vision and money. Is this not a prefect time to get someone in who can actually take the club forward - under Fagerwall, they struggled to qualify for the play-offs. Surely a club of Björklövens statue wants more than this.

Eloranta living on borrowed time?

The demise of the once famous Björklöven from Umeå has over the last few seasons become more cemented. Reported economical problems and unrest among the supporters who clams the board is running the club into the ground. However, noting has hit the classic club harder than the results on the ice this season. With only 18 points from their first 20 games, the club finds themselves at the foot of the table, with only IK Oskarshamn lower, two points behind. Leksand legend Kari Eloranta is at the helm and must be checking that his CV is in order - Björklöven is today hosting Troja/Ljungby, currently placed just above their opponents (on goal difference only). If Eloranta's men fail to win this game, I expect the Finn to be finding himself unemployed by tomorrow. 

Good tasch tho...

This wouldn't really surprise me - Eloranta's career as a coach has been anything but successful; after taking over at Mora IK in February 2008, they dropped from Elitserien to Hockeyallsvenskan. He's now finding himself at the hot seat in Björklöven at the beginning of what must be one of their worst starts to a season ever. I'd like to say 'Onnea' for this afternoon. Regardless of the result in this game, I'd eat my laptop (with all the accessories) if he's still at 'löven at the end of the season. Let's make it a bet. Any takers?

UPDATE: Troja/Ljungby won 3-2 after penalties.