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Växjö’s motto is “We dream big and we work hard”.
And nobody does it better: four SM golds in eight years.
All we can do is stand up and bow in respect to the Great Power.
Also read: Växjö Lakers win SM gold in ice hockey in 2023 – beat Skellefteå in the final
Yes, here we are again.
On the ice, the Växjö Lakers celebrate another SM gold and Erik Josefsson lifts another SM trophy. It’s been exactly eight years and one day since the Växjö Lakers won their first gold medal.
Then team captain Erik Josefsson lifted the trophy
Now Le Mat’s fourth indentation is lifted skyward. Boy Gislaved steps up into the ranks of the truly greats in Swedish ice hockey when it comes to national success.
Alvesta’s son, Robert Rosen, has captured four gold medals with the same club.
Växjö’s result is unprecedented in modern hockey history.
Viccho Lakers, ladies and gentlemen. The ugly duckling.
A club that has hardly had a single product of its own in the team since moving to the SHL. Fellow Ross reminded me that Jeremias Augustin is the only one, but he left the club again in 2014, a year before the gold rush.
He had a unique continuity on the leader’s side
A club that has been cynically accused of not having a supportive culture, of being plastic and a foreign legionnaire, has once again proven itself to be the best in elite sport: winning matches and trophies.
This is how Henrik Evertsson expressed it in an interview with his colleague Christopher Bergstrom.
“For me, it’s about winning with a group. I don’t care where that group is born? Who cares? There are 25 good people doing something together, and if one of them happens to be born in Saskatchewan, or in Alvista, or in Stortorget in Vacshaw…it won’t I care a lot.”
While players from around the world came and went, Växjö operated with a continuity and development in the leadership side that no other Swedish club had approached.
How many coaches and sporting directors do you think Vaakshaw has worked with since Jan Karlsson was fired in 2012?
I counted to eight and then listed everything: head coach, assistant coach, athletic director and goalkeeper coach.
Eight people in total in eleven years.
Eight leaders is the same number that, for example, a club like Brynäs can cut in one season.
Four finals and many gold medals. Many clubs need ten finals to come close to this golden harvest.
Many clubs don’t even make it to the SM final.
It is not really possible to comprehend the success story of Smålandsklubben. Newcomer to the SHL in 2011. To the playoffs three years later (semifinals) and then the first gold on April 23, 2015.
There were some question marks ahead of the season
So that was eight years ago and a day ago. Toma Keiskinen’s historic golden goal against Skellefteå at the time was no accident.
on the contrary.
It was the beginning of a dynasty we haven’t experienced in modern Swedish ice hockey.
Now she has come fourth gold in eight attempts. In 2020, as most people will remember, the playoffs were canceled when the Corona pandemic swept the world.
Before this season, there were question marks.
Wasn’t the front side too spread out?
Will the goalkeeper’s side survive?
And not least: How will things fare for Vacchu without three-time gold coach Sam Hallam?
Sporting director Henrik Evertsson has shown definitively that Växjö is much more than Hallam. The idea of the game, daily hard work and precision is something that the club owns and runs.
Not something an individual coach takes with him in and out of the club when he comes and goes.
Laughs all the way to the trophy locker
Jörgen Jönsson managed the Växjö identity in the best possible way.
Robert Rosen and Eric Josephson have been a part of all the gold medals and for me, they embody the club better than anyone else.
Rosén, with his skills, intelligence and ability to control pace, is the very prototype of the Växjö way of playing hockey.
Loyalist leader Josefsson picked up where Johan Markusson left off and has a unique ability to bring the group together.
But there is a lot to celebrate in this case. Sporting director Henrik Evertsson, of course. Fredrik Helgren, who has been back as coach since there was elite activity at Växjö.
Goalkeeping coach Andreas Andersson, who, year after year, works wonders with goalkeepers.
Växjö goes its own way. Växjö is not like everyone else.
Not everyone needs to like Växjö.
“We dream big and work hard” – this is how everyone else can talk and laugh.
Henrik Evertsson, laughing all the way to the trophy cabinet.
