The IIHF Hall of Fame is pleased to announce its Class of inductees for 2025. The seven new members include one Builder, Kai Hietarinta (FIN), and six Players. Two had sensational careers in the women’s game, Kim Martin-Hasson (SWE) and Vicky Sunohara (CAN). They will be joined by four equally accomplished men—Zdeno Chara (SVK), Henrik Lundqvist (SWE), Frans Nielsen (DEN), and David Vyborny (CZE).
 
The IIHF Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will take place on medal day at the 2025 Men’s World Championship in Stockholm, Sweden, 25 May 2025.

Zdeno Chara (SVK)

  

Zdeno Chara is one of the most accomplished athletes in Slovakia’s history. He played in three Olympics (2006-14), seven Men’s World Championships (1999-2012), and two World Cups (2004-16), and in the NHL he played in more games than any defenceman in league history. At 6’9”/2.06m, he was an intimidating presence, perhaps the physically strongest player the game has ever known. He was quick in his own end and a force offensively, and he played an effective game for more than a quarter century. Chara captained the Boston Bruins to the Stanley Cup in 2011, only the second European to do so, and he won two silver medals with Slovakia at the Worlds, in 2000 and 2012. He wore the “C” for the Slovaks at the 2010 and 2014 Olympics as well as at the Worlds in 2001 and 2012. In the NHL, he played 24 seasons with four teams, principally the Bruins, captaining them for all of his 14 seasons. Chara won the James Norris Trophy in 2009 and was named IIHF Directorate Best Defender in 2012.

Kai Hietarinta (FIN)

  

Kai Hietarinta was president of the Finnish Ice Hockey Association from 1984 to 1997, after which he was a board member of the Finnish Ice Hockey Foundation until 2015. He also served on the board of the Finnish Olympic Committee from 1984 to 1993. In addition, he was a Council member at the IIHF for eight years (1990-1998) and was inducted into the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame in 1998. But it was as president of the FIHA that Hietarinta had his greatest impact, developing top international teams that took Finland to the top for the first time at several events. Among the many medals Finland won under his leadership, three stand out: Finland’s first ever Olympic medal (silver, 1988), first Men’s World Championship gold medal (1995), and first World Junor gold (1987). When he assumed the presidency, the country had 12 indoor arenas. By the time he stepped down, that number exceeded 100.

Henrik Lundqvist (SWE)

 

Henrik Lundqvist, “Hank,” is a legend in Sweden and in New York, where he spent his entire NHL career. In Tre Kronor colours, few goalies have had a career as long, as consequential, and as expansive, as Lundqvist. He played at every level for Sweden, starting with the U18 in 2000 (bronze), continuing with two World Junior Championships (2001, 2002), 33 games over five Men’s World Championships (2004-19—gold 2017, silver 2004), three Olympic Winter Games (gold 2006, silver 2014), and the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. Of course, his crowning glory is that gold medal at the Turin Olympics in 2006, when the Swedes beat arch-rivals Finland, 3-2, in the gold-medal game. In the NHL, Lundqvist was drafted an improbably low 205^th overall by the Rangers in 2000. He played all 15 seasons with the Rangers, winning 459 games, the most by a European goalie. He was the first goalie in NHL history to start his career with seven seasons of 30 or more wins, and he won the Vezina Trophy in 2012.

Kim Martin-Hasson (SWE)

 

Kim Martin-Hasson started her career with the national team at age 15, playing at the Women’s World Championship in Minneapolis. Over the next 13 years she was the de facto number-one goalie on the team, playing at eight Women’s Worlds and four Olympics. Martin-Hasson backstopped Sweden’s two greatest teams. In 2006, she led Damkronor to the biggest upset in women’s hockey history, a 3-2 shootout win over the United States in the semi-finals of the 2006 Olympics. Not surprisingly, she was named IIHF Directorate Best Goalie of the tournament. Four years earlier, she had helped Sweden win bronze at Salt Lake, defeating Finland, 2-1, in the game for third place. Finland had won all previous bronze medals, except 2001, and Sweden’s program had been in disarray. Martin-Hasson helped rejuvenate the program almost overnight.

Frans Nielsen (DEN)

 

Frans Nielsen had an exceptional international career with Denmark and was just the second Dane to play in the NHL after Poul Popiel (who was born in Sollested but moved to Canada as a child). Nielsen made his national team debut in 2002, in Division I, and was part of the historic team that earned promotion to the top level for the first time since 1949. Thereafter, Nielsen played in nine top-level Men’s Worlds, accruing 26 points in 56 games between 2003 and 2022. Such was his reputation that even though he came from a small hockey country, the New York Islanders drafted him 87^th overall in 2002. He remained in Europe a further four years, joining the Isles in 2006. Over the next 16 years, Nielsen played in 925 NHL games with the Islanders and Detroit, earning a reputation as one of the best defensive forwards and also as one of the most successful players in the newly-introduced shootout. Nielsen’s crowning glory was playing at the 2022 Olympics, the first time Denmark had ever qualified for the quadrennial event.

Vicky Sunohara (CAN)

 

Canadian Vicky Sunohara was part of the first wave of women’s hockey superstars who helped establish the Women’s World Championship as an annual IIHF event. During her incredible 17-year career she won a total of nine gold medals and two silvers in eleven career events, and she averaged a point a game while leading Canada’s offence (54 points in 56 Olympics and Women’s Worlds games). Sunohara played on the inaugural team in 1990 in Ottawa, winning gold. She also played NCAA hockey with Northeastern and Canadian university hockey with her hometown University of Toronto. A leader and a winner, Sunohara was an integral part of Team Canada’s dominance during the first decade and a half of IIHF women’s hockey.

David Vyborny (CZE)

 

David Vyborny played during the glory days of the Czechs’ dominance in IIHF competition. He was part of the team’s historic run of three consecutive gold medals at the Men’s Worlds (1999-2001) and won five gold medals in a ten-year span (1996-2005). In all, he played in 12 World Championships in addition to the 2006 Olympics (bronze), 2004 World Cup, and two World Junior Championships (1993, 1994). Vyborny also had a lengthy and successful career in the NHL, playing 543 games with Columbus over a seven-year period (2000-08).