Frederikshavn White Hawks

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The Frederikshavn White Hawks are a Danish professional ice hockey team playing in the top Danish ice hockey league currently called the AL-Bank Ligaen. The team is based in the town of Frederikshavn on the east coast of Northern Jutland, Denmark, and is run by the Frederikshavn Ishockey Klub (F.I.K).

[edit] History

The White Hawks were founded in 1964 and have won the Danish title twice (1989, 2000) and have been runners-up twice (1999, 2008).

[edit] Recent history

2007/08

In 2008 they progressed to the final after finishing the regular season seeded 8th (the first team in Danish league history to do so) knocking top seed Rødovre out in the first best of 7 series in the 7th game by scoring two late goals to win by 1. They beat SønderjyskE in the semi final series, but lost the final in five games to the then reigning champions Herning.

2008/09

2009 saw them seeded 7th. If not for the bankruptcy of Hvidovre they would have finished 8th and probably faced Herning and forced their local rivals AaB out of the finals by 1 goal differential. However Hvildovre's bankruptcy left an open slot for AaB and put the White Hawks up a place to face Rødovre (second seed) again in the quarter finals. This was also a very close series with the White Hawks winning three games over the much favored Rødovre, and pushing them to game 7 again. Rødovre won game 7 fairly easily, but the decisive moment was really Rødovre's overtime win in game 4, without which the White Hawks would have progressed after winning game 6. Rødovre went on to lose the semi finals to SønderjyskE who beat Herning in the finals.

2009/10

The 09/10 season was a Jekyll and Hyde one for The White Hawks, they were virtually unbeatable at home yet struggled to take points away. Despite this they finished the regular season in a very impressive 3rd behind the 2 favorites SønderjyskE & AaB. 3rd giving them home advantage in the quarter finals they choose to play Rødovre again for the 3rd straight year. Some experts doubted they could progress saying "The White Hawks can't win away so all Rødovre needs to do is win 1 game away and they will win the series". This series would turn out to be another classic, Rødovre won the first 2 games despite the White Hawks dominating the first, the 3rd game saw an impressive come from behind win by The White Hawks. The series was really decided with the White Hawks away win in the 4th game, a game that saw a goal scored by White Hawks goalkeeper Frederik Andersen. Andersen had tried to score in game 3 after Rødovre pulled their keeper but just missed, in game 4 he made sure of his aim and scored in the empty net. The White Hawks went on to win a close game 5 and then game 7 easily. They were then put out in the semifinals after just 4 games by a dominant SønderjyskE who progressed to easily beat AaB in the finals in only 4 games to claim another championship. The White Hawks lost the bronze playoff to Herning and finished 2009/10 in 4th.

[edit] Current State

2009 brought financial problems to all Danish ice hockey clubs, this led to The White Hawks playing the 2009/10 with only 1 true foreign player Steve Birnstill (Piroutek & Jokinen are considered virtually local). The club tackled the financial problems with the launch of "Project 2014" which amongst other things states the clubs intent to focus more on local talent. This saw many young talented local players get a lot of ice time in 2009/10. The project has begun well with the club finishing the 2009/10 in 3rd place (4th after playoffs) and with money in the bank. At time of writing (pre 2010/2011 season) the club has still only 2 true foreign players on the books, Jake Morissette and Andrew Brennan both from the now defunct Amarillo Gorillas have joined the team.

[edit] Interesting Rivalry

The White Hawks have a strong rivalry with Denmark's biggest ice hockey club "AaB ishockey" from the city of Aalborg around 54 km south from Frederikshavn. This is an interesting yet slightly strange rivalry to the outside observer due to AaB ishockey being a team run by the football club "AaB" who are the most northern top flight Danish football club and are therefor fairly strongly supported in Northern Jutland towns such as Frederikshavn. Thus there are some White Hawks fans who find themselves supporting the football club that runs their ice hockey arch rivals. This strong rivalry has also led many White Hawks fans to place their football allegiance with other further afield football clubs with no ice hockey affiliations such as Randers FC.