HC Vita Hästen

HC Vita Hästen is a Swedish hockey club, based in Norrköping, which was founded following the bankruptcy of a previous club called IK Vita Hästen. The team plays in HockeyTrean, the fifth tier of the Swedish ice hockey system, as of the 2023–24 season.

HC Vita Hästen
City	Norrköping, Sweden
League	HockeyTrean
Founded	1967
Home arena	Himmelstalundshallen
Colours	Red, white
Head coach	Anders Olsson

The current team was founded as Norrköping Hockey immediately following the bankruptcy of the previous club. Norrköping Hockey soon merged with Skärblacka IF to form NSH-96, which soon thereafter took the name Hästen Hockey. Years later, in 2007, the club retook the name "Vita Hästen", but were required by the league to use "HC Vita Hästen" rather than "IK Vita Hästen" to avoid confusion with the first incarnation of "Vita Hästen".^[1] The name "Vita Hästen" literally translates to "[The] White Horse".

The previous club, IK Vita Hästen, was a merger in 1967 of the ice hockey sections of rivaling teams IFK Norrköping and IK Sleipner. The merged club was formally called "IF IFK/IKS" but mostly referred to simply as "Norrköping" in the league tables in newspapers and such. However, since IFK Norrköping played in white jerseys and Sleipner was the name of a horse (Norse god Odin's horse), the team soon got the nickname "vita hästen", i e "the white horse". By 1973, this name was so commonly used that it was chosen as the actual club name.^[2]

Former Detroit Redwings Defensemen Jonathan Ericsson played a season for HC Vita Hasten in the 2001-2002 season.

Season-by-season

Season	Level	Division	Record		Avg. home atnd.	Notes	Ref.
			Position	W-T-L W-OT-L
2004–05	Tier 3	Division 1D	8th	16–4–16	848		[3]
2005–06	Tier 3	Division 1D	3rd	19–5–12	685		[3]
2006–07	Tier 3	Division 1D	4th	18–6–12	494		[3]
		Division 1D (spring)	1st	5–0–1	215
2007–08	Tier 3	Division 1D	1st	22–2–3	819	First season as HC Vita Hästen	[3]
		AllEttan Mellan	4th	6–4–4	1,425
2008–09	Tier 3	Division 1E	2nd	21–2–0–4	1,213		[3]
		AllEttan Södra	5th	7–0–1–6	1,395
2009–10	Tier 3	Division 1E	3rd	16–0–2–9	1,004		[3]
		AllEttan Södra	2nd	8–2–2–2	2,153	Bye to Playoff 2
		Playoff to HA qualifier	Round 2 Round 3	1–1–0–0 1–0–1–1	2,212	Won 2–0 in games vs Hudikvalls HC Lost 1–2 in games vs Tingsryds AIF
2010–11	Tier 3	Division 1E	1st	20–4–0–3	1,260		[3]
		AllEttan Södra	1st	10–2–1–1	2,096	Bye to Playoff 3
		Playoff to HA qualifier	Round 3	2–0–0–0	3,170	Won 3–0 in games vs Enköpings SK HK
	HockeyAllsvenskan qualifier		6th	1–1–1–7	1,823
2011–12	Tier 3	Division 1E	1st	23–1–2–1	1,210		[3]
		AllEttan Södra	1st	11–1–1–1	2,003	Bye to Playoff 3
		Playoff to HA qualifier	Round 3	1–0–1–1	2,950	Lost 1–2 in games vs Karlskrona HK
2012–13	Tier 3	Division 1E	1st	21–3–1–2	1,542		[4]
		AllEttan Södra	1st	10–0–1–3	1,762	Bye to Playoff 3	[5]
		Playoff to HA qualifier	Round 3	1–1–0–0	3,580	Won 2–0 in games vs Kiruna IF	[6]
	HockeyAllsvenskan qualifier		4th	4–1–1–4	2,315		[7]
2013–14	Tier 3	Division 1E	1st	18–2–4–3	1,267		[8]
		AllEttan Södra	1st	9–1–2–2	1,998	Bye to Playoff 3	[9]
		Playoff to HA qualifier	Round 3	1–1–0–0	3,729	Won 2–0 in games vs Visby/Roma HK	[10]
	HockeyAllsvenskan qualifier		1st	6–2–1–1	3,772	Promoted to HockeyAllsvenskan	[11]
2014–15	Tier 2	HockeyAllsvenskan	8th	19–6–5–22	2,986	Qualified for playoffs	[12]
		Playoffs	2nd	3–1–1–0	4,365	Qualified for SHL qualifiers	[13]
	SHL qualifying playoff		—	0–4	4,251	Lost 0–4 in games vs MODO	[14]

References

1. Daagh, Johny. "Klartecken för Vita Hästens namnbyte". NT.se.
2. "HC Vita Hästen details". Eurohockey.com. Retrieved 2022-10-08.
3. "Historical DB". Swedish Ice Hockey Association.
4. "2012–13: Division 1 E". Swedish Ice Hockey Association.
5. "2012–13: AllEttan Södra". Swedish Ice Hockey Association.
6. "2012–13: Playoff till Allsv. kval". Swedish Ice Hockey Association.
7. "2012–13: Kval till HockeyAllsvenskan". Swedish Ice Hockey Association.
8. "2013–14: Division 1 E". Swedish Ice Hockey Association.
9. "2013–14: AllEttan Södra". Swedish Ice Hockey Association.
10. "2013–14: Playoff till Allsv. kval". Swedish Ice Hockey Association.
11. "2013–14: Kval till HockeyAllsvenskan". Swedish Ice Hockey Association.
12. "HockeyAllsvenskan: 2014–15: HockeyAllsvenskan". Swedish Ice Hockey Association.
13. "HockeyAllsvenskan: 2014–15: Slutspelsserien". Swedish Ice Hockey Association.
14. "SHL: 2014–15: Direktkval till SHL". Swedish Ice Hockey Association.

External links

• Official website (in Swedish)