BIK Karlskoga
| BIK Karlskoga | |
|---|---|
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| Greatest successes | |
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| Club information | |
| history |
IFK Bofors (1943–1963) IF Karlskoga / Bofors (1963–1978) Bofors IK (1978–2012) BIK Karlskoga (since 2012) |
| Location | Karlskoga , Sweden |
| Nickname | Bofors IK |
| Club colors | blue White |
| league | HockeyAllsvenskan |
| Venue | Nobel halls |
| capacity | 6,460 seats |
| executive Director | Stefan Bengtzén |
| Head coach | Sam Hallam |
The BIK Karlskoga (also Bofors IK ) is a Swedish ice hockey team from Karlskoga , Sweden since 1999 in the second-highest professional league, the HockeyAllsvenskan plays. The team has played 16 seasons in Sweden's top division so far . The club plays its home games in the Nobelhallen .
history
The ice hockey department of IFK Bofors was founded in 1943 and a year later the first game against FK Degerfors took place that Bofors lost 4-1. However, the IFK won their first home game in Karlskoga 6-2 against Degerfors. A year later, in 1945, regular play began in the lowest division, Division III. Bofors won the regional group in this league and was therefore allowed to move up to Division II in 1945.
At the end of the 1946/47 season, the IFk Bofors took part in qualifying games for Division I, with a new attendance record of 1500 spectators being set up. In the following years, the club played mostly in Division II and at the end of the 1951/52 season managed to move up to the Allsvenskan , Sweden's top division at the time. In November 1955, the Borforsrinken , one of the first artificial ice surfaces in Sweden, was inaugurated. In 1963 the merger with Karlskoga IF followed and the association was officially called IF Karlskoga / Bofors from then on , but was also often abbreviated to KB 63 . At the end of the 1963/64 season, he was relegated to Division II and it was not until the early 1970s that he was promoted again. In 1978 the ice hockey department split off from the entire club and was henceforth called Bofors IK . In the 1980s, the now pure ice hockey club played mainly in the second division, before relegation to the third division I followed in the early 1990s.
In 1999 they were promoted back to the second division, where the club has held since then. From 2001 onwards the nickname Bobcats was chosen for marketing reasons , so that the first team has been running as the Bofors Bobcats since then.
Well-known former players
- Christian Berglund
- Bengt-Åke Gustafsson
- Niklas Sjokvist
- Emil Kåberg
- Marius Holtet
- Johan Larsson
- Rory Rawlyk
Home ground
From 1955 the club played its home games on one of the first artificial ice rinks in Sweden, the Boforsrinken . The opening of the ice rink was carried out on November 5, 1955 by Helge Berglund (then President of the Swedish Ice Hockey Federation ), the opening game against Leksands IF ended 6: 1.
In 1972 the Nobelhallen was opened, a building complex consisting of an ice rink, sports hall, swimming pool, bowling alley and fitness studio. The ice rink, which had a capacity of 6,500 spectators, has since served as the home ground of Bofors IK. The construction costs for the entire complex amounted to 13 million Swedish kronor . In addition to the league games, the ice rink regularly hosted international matches for the Swedish national team, as well as several Elitserien finals and the 1979 junior ice hockey world championship .
In addition to the Bofors IK, the Karlskoga HC also plays its home games in the hall, so that a total of 2 men's teams and over 275 junior players use the building.
Individual evidence
- ↑ boforsik.com, Historia ( Memento from July 18, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Helge Berglund ( Memento from February 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ boforsik.com, Nobelhallen ( Memento from July 18, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
