It wasn’t quite as big as winning double gold in Turin and Riga last year, but for Swedish hockey fans, the news I covered today in Vancouver is still something to celebrate. From IIHF.com: Sweden won the right to host the 2013 IIHF Championship at the IIHF Semi-Annual Congress today, beating out Belarus, the Czech […]

Lars Lindgren, whom the Vancouver Canucks hired as a European scout earlier this month, accomplished a lot of fine things during his playing career. The big Pitea native was a two-time Swedish League all-star defenseman and a mainstay on Vancouver’s blueline during the club’s 1982 march to the Stanley Cup finals. Unfortunately, as Steve Smith […]

I had the pleasure of covering the opening-day activities at the IIHF Semi-Annual Congress in Vancouver today. From IIHF.com: VANCOUVER, Canada — September 20 — As the IIHF Semi-Annual Congress kicked off in Vancouver, Canada today, perhaps the biggest news for hockey fans and member federations was the possibility of seeing the IIHF World Championship […]

Originally published on IHWC.NET in 2007 By Lucas Aykroyd Hockey players like to take it “one game at a time.” Fans, journalists, and hockey officials often look much further ahead. Admittedly, there are three IIHF World Championships yet to be completed before we can truly start thinking about what will take place at the 2010 […]

Originally published on IHWC.NET in 2007 By Lucas Aykroyd Going purely by the numbers, the best-ever performance by an Asian country at an IIHF World Championship was Japan’s sixth-place finish (in a four-way tie) in 1930. More recently, Japan could do no better than 14th place at the 1998 tournament. So there’s a long way […]

Originally published in The Hockey News in 2005 By Lucas Aykroyd I haven’t seen the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs since 1999. I missed such dramatic events as Keith Primeau’s quintuple overtime winner over Pittsburgh in 2000 and Minnesota’s 2003 rally from a 3-1 series deficit to eliminate Vancouver. But that’s OK, because […]

Originally published in Rinkside in 2003 By Lucas Aykroyd There’s no doubt about it. Serving as the President of the International Ice Hockey Federation can be a complex juggling act. After all, René Fasel doesn’t just oversee the development of hockey in 63 member nations. The 53-year-old Swiss native also bears the chief responsibility for […]

Originally published in Referee Magazine in 2005 By Lucas Aykroyd When the USA confronted the Soviet Union in the 1980 men’s Olympic hockey tournament in Lake Placid, the February 22 matchup was viewed as a case of David versus Goliath. The veteran Soviets were the reigning Olympic and world champions and had convincingly defeated a […]

Originally published in Medhunters Magazine in 2003 By Lucas Aykroyd The average doctor might balk at a last minute summons to work the week before Christmas in Bled, Slovenia. But Dr. George Nagobads was glad to accept when the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) told him a medical supervisor was needed for the obscure Division […]

Originally written in 2001 By Lucas Aykroyd Despite its reputation as a great sporting country, Australia isn’t known for its hockey prowess. The Aussies regularly capture Olympic gold medals in swimming and equestrian events and dominate the international scene in rugby and cricket. To most Australians, the word “hockey” evokes images of a grass pitch […]