Leksands IF Dam

Leksands Idrottsförening, abbreviated Leksands IF or LIF, is a semi-professional ice hockey team in the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL). They play in Leksand, a town in the western-central Swedish province of Dalarna, at Tegera Arena. Until 2021, the organisation ran a second women's side, called Leksands IF Dam 2, which competed in the Damettan Västra.

History

The women's section of Leksands IF was founded in 1998. The 2008 season saw a leap in success for the club, as it earned promotion to the Riksserien, and saw Cecilia Östberg and Klara Myrén become the first two Leksands players to represent the Swedish national women's team. In 2012, the club finished in 7th place, and was forced to compete in the relegation playoffs, but managed to keep its place in the SDHL.

In 2016, the club hired former Leksands men's youth player Alexander Bröms as head coach for the women's side, despite him having no previous coaching experience. He would hold the role until his departure in 2018 to coach the women's national under-18 team.

In 2017, multiple Leksands players publicly voiced dissatisfaction at the way the organisation was treating the women's side, including the fact that women's players received no salary and were being forced to clean up the arena's stands after men's games. Despite club chairperson Åke Nordström promising to improve conditions, after six months the players had only been provided with some exercise gear and a team-branded training bag.

In April 2018, Leksands goaltender Leon Reuterström publicly came out as transgender, and retired from the SDHL to pursue his medical transition. Later that summer, long-time club forward and third-leading scorer in club history, Iveta Koka, left the club to sign with AIK IF. Despite losing Koka, the club made several big signings ahead of the 2018–19 season, including Swedish international Anna Borgqvist and Canadian Danielle Stone. After beginning the season with a 9–0 victory over SDE Hockey, Leksands finished in 4th place in the SDHL, the second best result in club history. The club still failed to make it past the playoff quarterfinals, however, and both Borgqvist and Stone left the club after just one year. Long time defender and second-highest all-time in games played for the club Sofia Engström left the Leksands that summer as well, after the club had gone months without offering any players (nor the head coach) a contract extension following the team's elimination in the playoffs. The club dropped to 8th place in the 2019–20 SDHL season.

Season-by-season results

''This is a partial list of the most recent seasons completed by Leksands. 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)

Players and personnel

2024–25 roster

Coaching staff and team personnel
* Head coach: Joakim Engström
* Assistant coach: Göran Tärnlund
* Goaltending coach: Filip Myrskog
* Conditioning coach: Karin Reichel
* Equipment managers: Kent Arvidsson

Team captaincy history

* Sofia Engström, 2008–2014
* Elin Lundberg, 2014–2019
* Hanna Sköld, 2019–2022
* Abby Thiessen, 2022–23
* Anna Purschke, 2023–24
* Courtney Vorster, 2024–

Head coaches

* Daniel Ljung, 2007–08
* Ulf Hedberg, 2008–2011
* Magnus Svensson, 2011–12
* Christer Siik, 2012–2014
* Jens Nielsen, 2014–15
* Christer Sjöberg, 2015–16
* Alexander Bröms, 2016–2018
* Ulf Hedberg, 2018–19
* Lars Stanmark, 2019–2021
* Mathias Olsson, 2021–22
* Jordan Colliton, 5 May 2022 – 22 November 2023
* Joakim Engström, 22 November 2023 –

Franchise records and leaders

All-time scoring leaders

The top-ten regular season point-scorers (goals + assists) of Leksands IF through the 2023–24 season.

References

External links

*
* Team information and statistics fro
Eliteprospects.com

{{SDHL, state=collapsed

Leksands IF
Ice hockey clubs established in 1998
Ice hockey teams in Dalarna County
Swedish Women's Hockey League teams
Women's ice hockey in Sweden
Women's ice hockey teams in Europe
20th-century establishments in Dalarna County
1998 establishments in Sweden