photo: Andre Ringuette/IIHF
The IIHF honoured four men and two teams this morning at its annual Contributors’ Awards in downtown Stockholm. Polish forward Leszek Laszkiewicz received the Richard “Bibi” Torrinai Award; Norway’s Jon Haukeland was given the Paul Loicq Award; Paul Graham of Canada was given the IIHF Media Award; and, Jim Aldred, a Canadian but now longtime resident of Portugal, was given the Johan Bollue Award.
As well, the Danish teams of 2002 and 2003 World Championship fame were honoured with the Milestone Award, as were the 2006 Swedish Olympic and Men’s Worlds teams.
Laszkiewicz played in 18 IIHF World Championships at various levels, including at the top level in 2002, the last time Poland was in the top pool before last year, when he was the team’s general manager.
“My entire life has been about ice hockey,” he began. “I would like to thank my family, for making so many sacrifices over the years. I have been able to experience the unique culture of ice hockey around the world. Playing for my country has given me great pride, and there have been many ups and downs that I wouldn’t trade for anything. Being able to continue to work for the national team after I finished playing allows me to continue my passion for ice hockey.”
Haukeland has been involved in hockey in Norway for more than 40 years. He was unable to attend the ceremony, but he was represented by Petter Salsten, a former player and currently the General Secretary of the Norwegian Ice Hockey Association. He read Haukeland’s speech, which said in part, “This is not only a personal milestone but also a time to reflect on a journey that has given me far more than I ever imagined. Ice hockey has been my passion and my profession ever since I started at the Norwegian Ice Hockey Association back in 1981. Player development has always been near and dear to my heart. I have witnessed young players from all corners of Norway growing up with dreams in their eyes and fire in their hearts. To me, that has always been the most rewarding part.”
Graham was the guiding force at TSN for decades, getting games on TV, and then more games. Promoting the World Juniors, and then the full slate of top-level IIHF tournaments. Some games, and then all games. The progress has been staggering.
“My first official IIHF event was in 1990 in Ottawa, the first ever Women’s World Championship. Producing that was a great thrill…Eight years later, sticking with the women, I was lucky enough to produce the gold-medal game at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano...My first World Juniors was in 1992 in Fussen, Germany. We talk about today’s technology, well, back then we had only five cameras for that tournament, and we only televised five games that went back to Canada.”
“A special shout out," he continued, "to the many men and women, talented, behind-the-scenes people, who deliver incredible pictures and sounds of these incredible games. We’re always focused on the players on the ice, as we should be, but there are a whole bunch of people behind the scenes making sure that the everything comes off without a hitch. Whether it be working many long hours in May, or being away from your family over Christmas at the World Juniors.”
Aldred moved from Toronto to Portugal and has been working hard for years to develop hockey in that country. But his dream is to build a regulation-size arena, a dream that is not far away, he believes. “It’s in the works now. I see in the near future there will be a full-size rink in Portugal. There will probably be one just outside of Lisbon, and there will be another one, we’re hoping, in Porto. But the one in Lisbon could be coming in the next eight to nine months. We need a rink. You can’t develop the game without one.”
In the meantime, Aldred is doing what he can to promote the sport and get kids interested. He and his wife, Cristina, however, are an army of two, and it’s not always easy. “We use word of mouth, social media, schools, show them the game, get them on the ice, and then they talk to their friends who come out. We go out to a lot of schools,” Aldred explained of his recruiting.
The Danish teams held a major celebration in Herning during the preliminary round, but today they were represented by captain Jesper Damgaard and coach Mikael Lundstrom. Of course, they accepted their Milestone Award with greater pride than expected because their current team will be playing tonight for a place in the gold-medal game.
“Danish players were very special in that time, and I think they still are,” Lundstrom began. “When I became head coach of the national team, I met with Jesper and Kim Staal, and asked them what they expected from me. They said, we need to enjoy ourselves. We need to have fun and enjoy the atmosphere during games and practise…When we played in Tampere, we had one result, a 2-2 draw against Canada. We played most of the third period in our own end, but we held on in a good way and it was 2-2. This was the only point that Canada lost during the championship. After that, the possibilities in Denmark for hockey opened. The country had always been dominated by football and handball, but now hockey joined the culture of the people. This meant we could start programs with young players.”
The Sweden contingent for their Milestone presentation was impressive. It included coach Bengt-Ake Gustafsson, Anna Liv (representing her late husband, Stefan Liv), Henrik Zetterberg, Niklas Kronwall, Mikael Samuelsson, Kenny Jonsson, and Jorgen Jonsson, all of whom played on both the Olympic gold-medal team and World Championship gold-medal team in 2006.
“That was a very special year,” Gustafsson said, “but when we had the players we had, I knew we had a chance to do something special. And when Detroit lost in the NHL playoffs, we were able to get some more players who were able to give us something a little extra. It was unbelievable how it worked out.”
As well, the Danish teams of 2002 and 2003 World Championship fame were honoured with the Milestone Award, as were the 2006 Swedish Olympic and Men’s Worlds teams.
Laszkiewicz played in 18 IIHF World Championships at various levels, including at the top level in 2002, the last time Poland was in the top pool before last year, when he was the team’s general manager.
“My entire life has been about ice hockey,” he began. “I would like to thank my family, for making so many sacrifices over the years. I have been able to experience the unique culture of ice hockey around the world. Playing for my country has given me great pride, and there have been many ups and downs that I wouldn’t trade for anything. Being able to continue to work for the national team after I finished playing allows me to continue my passion for ice hockey.”
Haukeland has been involved in hockey in Norway for more than 40 years. He was unable to attend the ceremony, but he was represented by Petter Salsten, a former player and currently the General Secretary of the Norwegian Ice Hockey Association. He read Haukeland’s speech, which said in part, “This is not only a personal milestone but also a time to reflect on a journey that has given me far more than I ever imagined. Ice hockey has been my passion and my profession ever since I started at the Norwegian Ice Hockey Association back in 1981. Player development has always been near and dear to my heart. I have witnessed young players from all corners of Norway growing up with dreams in their eyes and fire in their hearts. To me, that has always been the most rewarding part.”
Graham was the guiding force at TSN for decades, getting games on TV, and then more games. Promoting the World Juniors, and then the full slate of top-level IIHF tournaments. Some games, and then all games. The progress has been staggering.
“My first official IIHF event was in 1990 in Ottawa, the first ever Women’s World Championship. Producing that was a great thrill…Eight years later, sticking with the women, I was lucky enough to produce the gold-medal game at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano...My first World Juniors was in 1992 in Fussen, Germany. We talk about today’s technology, well, back then we had only five cameras for that tournament, and we only televised five games that went back to Canada.”
“A special shout out," he continued, "to the many men and women, talented, behind-the-scenes people, who deliver incredible pictures and sounds of these incredible games. We’re always focused on the players on the ice, as we should be, but there are a whole bunch of people behind the scenes making sure that the everything comes off without a hitch. Whether it be working many long hours in May, or being away from your family over Christmas at the World Juniors.”
Aldred moved from Toronto to Portugal and has been working hard for years to develop hockey in that country. But his dream is to build a regulation-size arena, a dream that is not far away, he believes. “It’s in the works now. I see in the near future there will be a full-size rink in Portugal. There will probably be one just outside of Lisbon, and there will be another one, we’re hoping, in Porto. But the one in Lisbon could be coming in the next eight to nine months. We need a rink. You can’t develop the game without one.”
In the meantime, Aldred is doing what he can to promote the sport and get kids interested. He and his wife, Cristina, however, are an army of two, and it’s not always easy. “We use word of mouth, social media, schools, show them the game, get them on the ice, and then they talk to their friends who come out. We go out to a lot of schools,” Aldred explained of his recruiting.
The Danish teams held a major celebration in Herning during the preliminary round, but today they were represented by captain Jesper Damgaard and coach Mikael Lundstrom. Of course, they accepted their Milestone Award with greater pride than expected because their current team will be playing tonight for a place in the gold-medal game.
“Danish players were very special in that time, and I think they still are,” Lundstrom began. “When I became head coach of the national team, I met with Jesper and Kim Staal, and asked them what they expected from me. They said, we need to enjoy ourselves. We need to have fun and enjoy the atmosphere during games and practise…When we played in Tampere, we had one result, a 2-2 draw against Canada. We played most of the third period in our own end, but we held on in a good way and it was 2-2. This was the only point that Canada lost during the championship. After that, the possibilities in Denmark for hockey opened. The country had always been dominated by football and handball, but now hockey joined the culture of the people. This meant we could start programs with young players.”
The Sweden contingent for their Milestone presentation was impressive. It included coach Bengt-Ake Gustafsson, Anna Liv (representing her late husband, Stefan Liv), Henrik Zetterberg, Niklas Kronwall, Mikael Samuelsson, Kenny Jonsson, and Jorgen Jonsson, all of whom played on both the Olympic gold-medal team and World Championship gold-medal team in 2006.
“That was a very special year,” Gustafsson said, “but when we had the players we had, I knew we had a chance to do something special. And when Detroit lost in the NHL playoffs, we were able to get some more players who were able to give us something a little extra. It was unbelievable how it worked out.”