Linköping HC

Every Linköping season carries the Östgötaderby, the fixture against Vita Hästen from nearby Norrköping. The club itself grew out of a split: in 1976 the ice hockey section of the multi-sport BK Kenty broke away after thirty years under that roof, and the new team took the ice as Linköpings HC, shortened to Linköping HC only in 2019.

Promotion to the top flight came first in 1999–2000, and it did not hold — Linköping went down before winning the qualifying round in 2001 and returning for good the following season. It has stayed in the Swedish Hockey League ever since.

The name most attached to the club is Magnus Johansson, who played sixteen seasons across three separate spells and still holds the records for games and assists; his number 7 hangs retired alongside four others. Håkan Karlsson remains the all-time leading scorer. The team plays as Cluben — "the club" — at Saab Arena, called Cloetta Center before the naming rights changed hands in 2014 and Stångebro Ishall before that.

What Linköping has not done, across two runs at the final, is win the Le Mat Trophy itself.