Ringerike

Ringerike Ishockeyklubb plays as Ringerike Panthers, in black, yellow and white, and has spent five decades shuttling between Norway's top flight and the 1. divisjon without ever landing a national title in either the top league or the Norwegian Cup.

The pattern repeats: promotion, a spell among the elite, then a drop back down, and Panthers regroup and try again. In 2018 they went up after finishing second in the 1. divisjon and beating Kongsvinger in the qualification tournament. Between those campaigns the club marked fifty years in 2023, still playing out of Schjongshallen, a rink that holds 600 and has never needed to be bigger for a town this size.

Dennis Ryttar arrived in 2016 and wore the captain's armband through the promotion years that followed. The chairman, Tor Frithjov Nerby, and head coach Martin Boork.

What Panthers have instead of silverware in the top flight is a set of grudges from the Norwegian hockey heartland: Storhamar Hockey, Lillehammer and Gjøvik, all opponents Ringerike has met on the way up or down between divisions.