Storhamar Hamar

About club

Storhamar Hockey has been one of the leading clubs in Norwegian hockey for the last 30 years, winning the national championship seven times (1995, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2018).

Hockey came to Hamar in the mid fifties and in 1957 it got its own branch of Storhamar Idrettslag (Sports club). Despite being upstarts and having quite a modest infrastructure, the hockey team took big strides fast. By 1963, they reached the second level of Norwegian hockey. Playing outdoors on naturally frozen ice, they started to lag behind clubs from bigger cities, so, in 1981, a new arena, Storhamar Ishall, was opened and the club celebrated with a second ascension into the top level, where it has remained ever since.

Even though Storhamar was among the top teams throughout the late eighties and early nineties, they struggled to make the absolute summit, regularly finishing second in the league and going out in the semis of the playoffs. When it was announced that neighbouring Lillehammer would host the 94 Olympics, the lobbyists tried to get one of the arenas in Storhamar. The plan succeeded and in December 1992 they moved in to the new building. This helped the club and the sport immensely, as people now could watch the games in comfort and with a great view. The club's revenues grew drastically and soon the biggest names in the Norwegian game were knocking on the door. At the end of the first season, the elusive first trophy was secured when the league championship came to Hamar. In the next few years, Storhamar went from being a contender to a dominant force.

After winning its sixth title in 2008, recurring economic problems forced the club to make cuts, and for few seasons had to content with mid-table finishes. After another crisis in 2013-14, everything turned around. A group of local businessmen saved the immediate future of the club, and the rest was secured with a love affair between the fans and a very exciting group of players and the club is now a dominant force in Norwegian hockey along with the Stavanger Oilers.

In 2015-16, the team qualified for the Champions Hockey League and surprisingly won its group after winning three of four games against Sparta Prague and Geneve-Servette. After then beating Red Bull Salzburg in the Round of 32, Storhamar finally went down to TPS Turku in the Round of 16 after a tough battle. Two years later, the team returned to the summit of Norwegian hockey, finishing first in the regular season and then going all the way through the playoffs to capture its seventh national title.