IF Björklöven

Two clubs from the same city put their hockey sections together on 15 May 1970, IFK Umeå and Sandåkerns SK, and out of that merger came the team Umeå has followed since. The birch leaf on the jersey was not new even then — IFK Umeå had worn one since 1956 — but the name Björklöven only became official for the 1971–72 season.

The single season that still gets talked about is 1987, when Löven beat Färjestads BK 3–2 in the final series to take the Swedish Championship. They had been close before, losing the 1982 final to AIK and the 1988 final again to Färjestads, but the title itself came only the once. What followed was a long stretch outside the top flight, broken by a promotion in 2013 and then two lost promotion finals, to Timrå IK in 2021 and to HV71 in 2022, before Löven won HockeyAllsvenskan outright and beat BIK Karlskoga 4–0 in the playoff to go back up to the SHL for the first time in 25 years.

Visionite Arena in the Teg district has changed its name more times than the team has changed its colours; green and yellow have stayed constant since the birch leaf first went on the shirt. Across town the fixture that still decides bragging rights in Västerbotten is against Skellefteå AIK, a derby neither side plays down.

Of the retired numbers hanging in the arena, it is Patrik Sundström's #17 people mention first — a Umeå player who went on to an NHL career and whose jersey the club took out of circulation once he was done with it.