Vålerenga Ishockey (; abbreviated as VIF) is a Norwegian professional ice hockey team based in Oslo, Norway. Vålerenga has been the dominant force in Norwegian hockey since the 1960s, claiming 26 national championships and 29 regular season titles. Their old home arena, located in central-eastern Oslo, was Jordal Amfi, built for the 1952 Winter Olympics. In 2020, Vålerenga moved in to their new arena at Jordal.
The team's interim head coach is former NHL player and club legend, Espen "Shampo" Knutsen, with Joachim Svendsen as his assistant.
History
Early days
Although the parent club Vålerengens Idrettsforening was founded in 1913, the history of Vålerenga Ishockey starts in 1947, when the junior team participated in the national junior championships for the first time. In the 50s, the junior team won the national junior championships five years in a row.
First dynasty (1960–1973)
Vålerenga won their first national championship in 1960, taking over the throne from local rivals Gamlebyen. More championships were won in 1962 and 1963. From 1965 to 1971, Vålerenga won the championship seven times in a row, a feat not repeated in Norwegian hockey since. Notable players from this era include Arne "Mikkel" Mikkelsen, Steinar "Bjølle" Bjølbakk, Tor "Jern-Gustav" Gundersen, and notably, Roy "Sleipern" Jansen. Another title was added in 1973, but this also marked the end of the first dynasty as the club faced a generational change.
A new generation (1982–1994)
Ten years went by before Vålerenga could celebrate another championship, in 1983. A new generation had emerged, and players such as Jim Marthinsen, Roy Johansen, Geir Myhre, Tor Helge "Totto" Eikeland, Bjørn Kolsrud, Arne Billkvam and Jon Magne Karlstad would go on to become club legends. In 1988, Vålerenga won their 15th title. The next season saw the debut of Espen Knutsen, who would later become the first Vålerenga product to play in the National Hockey League.
Recent era
This marked the start of another dynasty for Vålerenga and the club added several more titles in the 1990s. Kent Forsberg became head coach in 1994 and invited his son Peter and Markus Näslund to play a friendly match for the club during the lockout season in the NHL. The 20th national championship was won in 1999. Notable players from this era include Morten Ask, Kenneth Larsen, and Kjell Richard "Ricky" Nygaard, along with Swedish imports such as Johan Brummer, Patric Englund and Niklas Gällstedt. Six more championships were added after 2000, the last being won in 2009. Vålerenga were in talks to join the Kontinental Hockey League in 2014, but the plans didn't go through.
Vålerenga's home arena through six decades, Jordal Amfi, was demolished in January 2017 and replaced by new arena, completed in the fall of 2020 after construction delays.
Season-by-season results
This is a partial list of the last ten seasons completed by Vålerenga. For the full season-by-season history, see List of Vålerenga Ishockey seasons.
{| class="wikitable"
|bgcolor="#D0E7FF"|<small>Norwegian Champions</small>
|bgcolor="#FFE6BD"|<small>Regular Season Champions</small>
|bgcolor="#ddffdd"|<small>Promoted</small>
|bgcolor="#FFCCCC"|<small>Relegated</small>
|}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; font-size: 95%"
|-
!rowspan="2"|Season
!rowspan="2"|League
!colspan="9"|Regular season
!rowspan="2"|Postseason
|-
!GP
!W
!L
!OTW
!OTL
!GF
!GA
!Pts
!Finish
|-
!2013–14
|Eliteserien
|45
|32
|8
|2
|3
|195
|95
|103
|bgcolor="#FFE6BD"|1st
|align="left"|Lost in Finals, 2–4 (Stavanger)
|-
!2014–15
|Eliteserien
|45
|24
|15
|2
|4
|182
|129
|74
|5th
|align="left"|Lost in Semi-finals, 0–4 (Stavanger)
|-
!2015–16
|Eliteserien
|45
|21
|16
|6
|2
|122
|98
|77
|5th
|align="left"|Lost in Semi-finals, 1–4 (Lørenskog)
|-
!2016–17
|Eliteserien
|45
|20
|16
|4
|5
|135
|111
|73
|5th
|align="left"|Lost in Quarter-finals, 2–4 (Frisk Asker)
|-
!2017–18
|Eliteserien
|45
|18
|17
|5
|5
|144
|132
|69
|5th
|align="left"|Lost in Quarter-finals, 1–4 (Lillehammer)
|-
!2018–19
|Eliteserien
|48
|32
|7
|3
|6
|196
|102
|108
|bgcolor="#FFE6BD"|1st
|align="left"|Lost in Semi-finals, 2–4 (Frisk Asker)
|-
!2019–20
|Eliteserien
|45
|22
|16
|4
|3
|125
|107
|77
|3rd
|align="left" rowspan="2"|Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
|-
!2020–21
|Eliteserien
|25
|16
|7
|0
|2
|84
|67
|50
|4th
|-
!2021–22
|Eliteserien
|42
|20
|10
|6
|6
|147
|102
|78
|4th
|align="left"|Lost in Quarter-finals, 2–4 (Storhamar)
|-
!2022–23
|Eliteserien
|45
|25
|8
|7
|5
|162
|100
|94
|3rd
|align="left"|Lost in Semi-finals, 2–4 (Storhamar)
|-
!2023–24
|EliteHockey Ligaen
|45
|31
|10
|2
|2
|190
|121
|99
|3rd
|align="left"|Lost in Finals, 1–4 (Storhamar)
|-
!2024–25
|EliteHockey Ligaen
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|}
Source:
Head coaches
- Jan Molberg, ?-1953
- Georg Hebæk, 1953-?
- Tor Gundersen, 195?-197?
- Lennart Johansson, 1983-1984
- Lennart Åhlberg, 1984-1987
- Erik Ask, 1987-1990
- Geir Myhre, 1990-1993
- Kent Forsberg, 1994-1995
- Staffan Tholson, 1995-1997
- Roy Johansen, 1997-2001
- Petter Thoresen, 2001-2004
- Knut Jørgen Stubdal, 2004-2006
- Espen Knutsen, 2006-2016
- Roy Johansen, 2016-
Honours
- Norwegian Champions (26): 1960, 1962–3, 1965–71, 1973, 1982, 1985, 1987–8, 1991–3, 1998–9, 2001, 2003, 2005–7, 2009
- Regular Seasons (30): 1961–62, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1979–80, 1981–82, 1984–85, 1987–88, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1995–96, 1997–98, 1998–1999, 1999–00, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2006–07, 2009–10, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2018–19
Individual all-time records
Statistics for regular season only.
- – current active player
<!--PLEASE DO NOT UPDATE STATISTICS MID-SEASON, AS IT CREATES MORE PROBLEMS THAN IT SOLVES, AND WIKIPEDIA'S PURPOSE IS NOT TO PROVIDE UP-TO-THE-MINUTE STATISTICS. PLEASE SAVE THE UPDATING OF STATISTICS UNTIL THE END OF THE REGULAR SEASON AND/OR PLAYOFFS.-->
Scoring leaders
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+ style="background:#FFFFFF; border-top:#0A4E9F 5px solid; border-bottom:#EE2722 5px solid;"|Points
|-
! class=unsortable|Player
! class=unsortable|Seasons
! class=unsortable|Pos
!
!
!
!
!
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| Arne Billkvam || 1977–1996 || RW || 531 || 268|| 223 || 491 || 0.92
|-
| style="text-align:left;background:#CCFFCC"| Tobias Lindström || 2013- || C || 419 || 228 || 239 || 467|| 1.11
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| Roy Johansen || 1976-1994 || C || 416 || 228 || 212 || 440 || 1.05
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| Marius Rath || 1986-2003 || LW || 465 || 181 || 256 || 437 || 0.93
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| Øystein Olsen || 1990-2008 || C || 500 || 224 || 211 || 435 || 0.87
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| Lars Erik Lund || 1996–2011 || D || 506 || 130 || 269|| 399 || 0.78
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| Kenneth Larsen || 1996-2009<br>2012 || LW || 492 || 149 || 229 || 378 || 0.76
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| Vegar Barlie || 1990-2007 || C || 491 || 159 || 216 || 375 || 0.95
|-
| style="text-align:left"| Morten Ask || 1998–2003, 2005<br>2010-11, 2012-2019 || C || 391 || 109 || 251 || 360 || 0.92
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| Petter Thoresen || 1986–1992 || RW || 221 || 184 || 183 || 367 || 1.66
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| Bjørn Kolsrud || || D || 279 || 173 || 170 || 343 || 1.22
|}
Most league matches
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+ style="background:#FFFFFF; border-top:#0A4E9F 5px solid; border-bottom:#EE2722 5px solid;"|Matches
!width=150px| Player
! Career
! Matches
|-
|align=left| Brede Frettem Csiszar
|align=left| 2006-2019
|503
|-
|align=left| Jon Magne Karlstad
|align=left| 1977–1994
|548
|-
|align=left| Arne Billkvam
|align=left| 1977–1996
|531
|-
|align=left| Jim Marthinsen
|align=left| 1975–1994
|509
|-
|align=left| Lars Erik Lund
|align=left| 1996–2011
|506
|-
|align=left| Øystein Olsen
|align=left| 1990–2008
|500
|-
| align=left| Kenneth Larsen
|align=left| 1996-2009<br>2012
|492
|-
|align=left| Roy Jansen
|align=left| 1966–1984
|484
|-
|align=left| Jonas Oppøyen
|align=left| 2007–2022
|466
|-
|align=left| Marius Rath
|align=left| 1986–2003
|465
|-
|align=left| Kjell Rickard Nygård
|align=left| 1996-2010
|457
|}<small>Last updated: 25 March 2023</small>
Notable players
thumb|Roy "Sleipern" Jansen played 484 regular season games for Vålerenga between 1966 and 1984.
- Alexander Bonsaksen
- Anders Fredriksen
- Anders Myrvold
- Arne Billkvam
- Atle Olsen
- Björn Bjurling
- Blake Evans
- Brede Frettem Csiszar
- Brendan Brooks
- Brian Ihnacak
- Bård Sørlie
- Chris Mason
- Christian Chartier
- Daniel Sørvik
- Einar Bruno Larsen
- Erik Follestad Johansen
- Espen "Shampo" Knutsen
- Evan Cheverie
- Frank Vestreng
- Gavin Morgan
- Geir Hoff
- Geir Myhre
- Greg Day
- Ilkka Kaarna
- Jan-Roar Fagerli
- Jim Marthinsen
- Jiri Latal
- Johan Åkerman
- Johan Brummer
- Jon-Magne Karlstad
- Justin Donati
- Jørgen Karterud
- Ken Andre Olimb
- Kent Nilsson
- Lars Erik Lund
- Lars Haugen
- Marius Rath
- Mark McCutcheon
- Martin Laumann Ylven
- Mathis Olimb
- Mathias Trygg
- Mats Rosseli Olsen
- Mats Trygg
- Mats Zuccarello
- Morten Ask
- Sigurd Thinn
- Tommy Marthinsen
- Travis Brigley
- Per-Ragnar Bergkvist
- Petter Thoresen
- Patric Englund
- Patrick Coulombe
- Patrick DesRochers
- Regan Kelly
- Roy Jansen
- Roy Johansen
- Scott Hartnell
- Serge Boisvert
- Sergei Pushkov
- Simon Gamache
- Sondre Olden
- Stig Johansen
- Tommy Kiviaho
- Tyler Donati
- Vegar Barlie
- Vladimir Machulda
- Øystein Olsen
References
External links
- Official website
- "Klanen", the organized Vålerenga Supporters Club
- "101%", an online fanzine
- Updated team rosters