Hammarby IF Ishockeyförening (or Hammarby Hockey) was a Stockholm-based professional ice hockey team that for most of its history played in Hovet. Hammarby IF started playing hockey in 1921, playing their first matches using a group of curious bandy players. Hammarby were giants in the early history of Swedish hockey, playing in Sweden's top league from the birth of Swedish organized hockey in 1922 until 1957. During that period, they were crowned Swedish champions eight times (1932, 1933, 1936, 1937, 1942, 1943, 1945, and 1951) in 13 attempts. The rest of their history was more modest, having qualified for play in Elitserien (Sweden's current top-tier league, now called the SHL) only twice, however during their entire existence, they never played in a lower league than the second tier.