+ Long, impatient wait over
Team captain and homegrown product Axel Ottosson, sharpshooter Fredrik Forsberg and passing genius Marcus Nilsson have finally made an entire city go "bananas".
Sports director Per Kenttä got the team-building right, coach Magnus Bogren, in his first season, will probably be canonized.
Columnist Karl Sundström puts it into words in Västerbottens-Kuriren:
"For an entire generation of Umeå residents, the Elitserien - as our parents still call the series - is a place that we children of this time and this city have only experienced through stories."
Now it's becoming a reality.
+ So it began
Björklöven was formed in 1970 after a merger of IFK Umeå and Sandåkerns SK. Björklöven has played 15 seasons in the top league (Elitserien/SHL).
+ Legendary Swedish Championship gold team
Björklöven's heyday occurred during the 1980s when the club played in three Swedish Championship finals and the crowning achievement came in 1987 when "Lions" defeated Färjestad 3–1 in matches (best-of-five) and took the club's only Swedish Championship gold to date.
The team included Tre Kronor profiles such as goalkeeper Göte Wälitalo, defenders Peter Andersson, Roger Hägglund and Calle Johansson and forwards such as Mikael Andersson, Ulf Dahlén, Peter Sundström and goal machine Tore Ökvist. Hans "Virus" Lindberg was the coach.
+ Economic crisis leads to forced demotion
If the Swedish Championship gold medal is the club's proudest moment, the forced relegation from Allsvenskan to Division 1 in 2010 was the low point. The Umeå team was hit by a financial crisis, was declared bankrupt - but managed to avoid it - and the Swedish Ice Hockey Association's licensing board made the decision to forcibly relegate the club. It took two seasons in Division 1 before the team was back in Hockey Allsvenskan.
+ Turned off the light - stopped the worst fight in history
Björklöven and Skellefteå are like cat and dog, and now the hot Västerbotten derby is resurfacing at the highest level for the first time since the 1988-89 season.
At the teams' meeting on November 6, 1980, what has been called the worst fight in Swedish ice hockey history broke out. It broke out during the warm-up in Skellefteå's home arena and almost all the players were involved. Skellefteå's Kjell-Arne Vikström and Björklöven's Peter Edström started it all. The players pummeled each other for 20 minutes - until a janitor turned off the lights in the hall. By then, the police were also on their way onto the ice.
