Kristianstads IK, or simply Kristianstad, () is a Swedish

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

club based in

Kristianstad Kristianstad ( , ) is a Urban areas in Sweden, city and the seat of Kristianstad Municipality, Scania County, Sweden with 41,198 inhabitants in 2023. Since the 1990s, the city has gone from being a garrison town to a developed commercial city, ...

. It plays in

Hockeyallsvenskan HockeyAllsvenskan (previously Allsvenskan and SuperAllsvenskan) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league, and the second-highest league in the Swedish ice hockey system, after the Swedish Hockey League, SHL. Since the 2009–10 season, t ...

, the second tier, having been promoted to that level for the first time in history in 2019. The team is nicknamed the "Wild Kings". In 2018–19 it had an average attendance of 1017, the fifth highest of the 47 teams in Hockeyettan, and the second highest for a sports team based in Kristianstad, after IFK Kristianstad.

History

The first hockey team in

was the hockey section of

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

club Åsums BK. The team originally played

rink bandy Rink bandy is a variant of the larger sport of bandy. Unlike bandy which is played on a large bandy field, rink bandy is played on significantly smaller ice hockey-sized ice rinks. While a bandy field is about the same size as a football pi ...

from 1954 and started playing hockey in 1959. Its first game was against Tyringe SoSS that year. It played its home matches in an outdoor venue in Norra Åsum. In 1962, it defeated the Danish national team by 7–3 in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

as part of the opponent's preparations for that year's World Championship. The team was dissolved in 1966 due to lack of funds from the main club and decreasing commitment from key people. Kristianstads IK was founded on July 22 of the same year. It played at an outdoor venue until 1969, when it moved into the newly completed Kristianstads ishall. Current

Columbus Blue Jackets The Columbus Blue Jackets (often simply referred to as the Jackets) are a professional ice hockey team based in Columbus, Ohio. The Blue Jackets compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern C ...

head coach John Tortorella played for Kristianstad in the 1981–82 season. In 1996–97 Kristianstad played in the qualification (Kvalserien) to the second tier for the first time. It failed to achieve promotion after losing the decisive game away against

Rögle BK Rögle BK (Rögle Bandyklubb) is a Swedish professional ice hockey club from Ängelholm that has been playing in the SHL since the 2015–16 season. Rögle has previously played in the SHL (previously named Elitserien) in 1992–1996, 2008–20 ...

. In 2000, due to financial troubles, it became the first sports club in Sweden to undergo

debt restructuring Debt restructuring is a process that allows a private or public company or a sovereign entity facing cash flow problems and financial distress to reduce and renegotiate its delinquent debts to improve or restore liquidity so that it can continu ...

. The club was relegated to the fourth level in 2003 but promoted back to the third level two years later. In 2006–07, Kristianstad reached the decisive playoffs for qualification to Kvalserien for

HockeyAllsvenskan HockeyAllsvenskan (previously Allsvenskan and SuperAllsvenskan) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league, and the second-highest league in the Swedish ice hockey system, after the Swedish Hockey League, SHL. Since the 2009–10 season, t ...

, but was defeated by Väsby IK. In March 2013, it underwent a second debt restructuring. In 2013–14 and 2015–16 the team reached the final playoff round for Kvalserien, but lost against Piteå HC and Södertälje SK, respectively. In 2016–17 it qualified for Kvalserien, but finished third and was not promoted to HockeyAllsvenskan. In the following season it was beaten by

VIK Västerås HK Vik or VIK may refer to: Places Finland * Viikki, a neighbourhood of Helsinki, known as Vik in Swedish Iceland * Vík í Mýrdal, a village in southern Iceland Iran * Vik, Iran, a village in Zanjan Province, Iran Norway *Vik, Buskerud, a vill ...

in the final playoff round. In early 2019, the

Swedish Tax Agency The Swedish Tax Agency () is a government agencies in Sweden, government agency in Sweden responsible for national tax collection and administering the Population registration in Sweden, population registration. The agency was formed on 1 January ...

requested that the club be declared bankrupt due to unpaid debts. It paid the debts before the date of the bankruptcy hearing, and the request was withdrawn. In the same season the team reached Kvalserien again and was promoted to HockeyAllsvenskan for the first time after winning away against Almtuna IS in

overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...

in the decisive last-round game. In the following season, Kristianstad finished 13th out of 14 teams in HockeyAllsvenskan, and were to play in Kvalserien to try to avoid relegation. However, Kvalserien was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and there was no results-based promotion or relegation. In 2020–21, Kristianstad finished last in the league and had to play a play-out series against 13th-placed Väsby; it won the series by 3 games to 2 and avoided relegation.

Colours and logo

Kristianstad plays in green home jerseys. Since 2016 it has used orange as a secondary colour as part of the promotion ''Den Orangea Staden'' ("the orange city"), a cooperation with IFK Kristianstad (men's

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

), Kristianstad HK (women's handball), Kristianstad FC (men's

), Kristianstads DFF (women's association football) and Kristianstad Predators (

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

). Kristianstad has two logos, the club logo and a secondary logo. It has used the club logo on the jerseys since 2013, having previously used the secondary logo for that purpose.

Honoured players

Three players have their jerseys hanging in the rafters in Kristianstads ishall: forwards Roger Persson (1992–2001) and Jonas Svensson (1987–1989, 1992–1993, 1994–2003) and defenceman Per Schlyter (1988–1998, 1999–2002, 2003–2004).

Season-by-season

References

External links

Official websiteTeam profile on Eliteprospects.com
{{HockeyAllsvenskan Sport in Kristianstad Ice hockey clubs established in 1966 1966 establishments in Sweden Ice hockey teams in Skåne County HockeyAllsvenskan teams 20th-century establishments in Kristianstad County