The Norwegian Ice Hockey Association (in Norwegian, ''Norges Ishockeyforbund'' (NIHF) is the governing body of all

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

sledge hockey Sledge hockey, also known as Sled hockey in American English, and Para ice hockey in international competition, is an Parasports, adaptation of ice hockey for players who have a physical disability. The sport was invented in the early 1960s at a ...

and in-line hockey in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. NIHF has its office at

Ullevaal Stadium Ullevaal Stadion () is an all-seater football stadium located in Oslo, Norway. It is the home ground of the Norway national football team, and the site of the Norwegian Cup Final. From its opening in 1926 to 2009 it was the home ground of ...

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

. The current president is

Tage Pettersen Tage Pettersen (born 25 July 1972) is a Norwegian politician. He was elected representative to the Storting from the constituency of Østfold for the period 2017–2021 for the Conservative Party, and re-elected for the period 2021–2025. ...

, who replaced Gerhard Nilsen in 2018. The current head coach of

Team Norway The Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports ( NIF), commonly known as the Norwegian Sports Confederation () is the umbrella organization for sport in Norway. It is the largest volunteering organization in Norway, ...

is Petter Thoresen who has coached the team since 2016. The logo of the NIHF has a

polar bear The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a large bear native to the Arctic and nearby areas. It is closely related to the brown bear, and the two species can Hybrid (biology), interbreed. The polar bear is the largest extant species of bear ...

in its centre spot. The national team is also nicknamed ''Isbjørnene'' ("The Polar Bears").

History

NIHF was founded September 18, 1934 and has been a member of the

International Ice Hockey Federation The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; ; ) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 84 member countries. The IIHF maintains the IIHF World Ranking based on international ice hockey to ...

since January 20, 1935. The first President of the NIHF was Rolf Gjertsen from the club Trygg. The first vice president was Ludvig Christiansen, also from Trygg. The ten teams that founded the NIHF were:

Forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

Furuset Furuset is residential and suburban area, situated in the northeast of Oslo, Norway. It was a separate borough of Oslo up to January 1, 2004, when it became part of the new borough of Alna. Furuset is a suburb in eastern Groruddalen The Gror ...

Gjøa ''Gjøa'' is a museum ship and was the first vessel to transit the Northwest Passage. With a crew of six, Roald Amundsen traversed the passage in a three-year journey, finishing in 1906. History Construction The square-sterned sloop o ...

, Hasle, Holmen,

Strong Strong may refer to: Education * The Strong, an educational institution in Rochester, New York, United States * Strong Hall (Lawrence, Kansas), an administrative hall of the University of Kansas * Strong School, New Haven, Connecticut, United ...

, Trygg, NTHI,

Trond Trond is a Norwegian male given name. The base of the name, Tron'r (Þróndr or Þrándr), is Old Norse and means "to grow and thrive" (þroásk)17785 peoplein Norway have Trond as their first name, making it the 23rd most used name (2008). The na ...

and

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is ...

. The inaugural game was played at Furuset Stadion on January 4, 1935, between Gjøa and Furuset. Gjøa won 5–0. The referee was Johan Narvestad. Norway has yet to win a medal during its twelve appearances at the Olympic games. Their best result was in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

when they finished in 8th place. In the

1980 Winter Olympics The 1980 Winter Olympics, officially the XIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Lake Placid 1980, were an international multi-sport event held from February 13 to 24, 1980, in Lake Placid, New York, United States. Lake Placid was elected ...

, the team competed in the top division for the first time since 1952. They lost their first four games of the tournament to

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

(11–0),

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

(10–4),

USA The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

(5–1) and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

(7–1), and then came from behind to tie

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

(3-3) for a point in the standings. Today, Norway competes in the top tier for the World Championships.

NIHF Awards

The NIHF annually awards the

Golden Puck Guldpucken (''The Golden Puck'') is awarded annually to the ice hockey player of the year in Sweden. It is similar to the NHL's Hart Memorial Trophy. Originally it was awarded to a player in the Swedish hockey system, the top-level ice hockey lea ...

award to the best male Norwegian born hockey player. The similar award for women is the Valemon trophy, which has been awarded twice. Each year the NIHF hands out the His Rojal Majesty's Cup to the winner of the playoffs of the

Eliteserien Eliteserien () is a professional association football league in Norway and the highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Norwegian First Division ...

, and the winning team becomes Norwegian Champions.

Polar Bear Trophy

The Polar Bear Trophy is an

award An award, sometimes called a distinction, is given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An award may be d ...

given out by the federation to Norwegian ice hockey players who have played a minimum of 50 official games for the Norwegian national ice hockey team. Counting as official games are games played at the

IIHF World Championships The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), first officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics. The IIHF was created in 1908 while the E ...

, the

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held i ...

and qualification games to the two aforementioned tournaments. Friendly games are not counted. Referees who have officiated a minimum of 30 games at the Winter Olympics or IIHF World Championship (Elite and Division 1) at either the senior or the junior level are also eligible for reception. The NIHF board may also award the trophy to builders who have shown an extra ordinary dedication to Norwegian ice hockey.

Notable executives

Tore Johannessen Tore Johannessen (2 April 1922 – 5 January 2005) was a Norwegian ice hockey referee and sports administrator. As a referee, he officiated at both the Ice Hockey World Championships and the Winter Olympic Games, and later served as president ...

, president (1956–1964) *

Jon Haukeland Jon Norman Haukeland (born 18 March 1953) is a Norwegian ice hockey coach and administrator. He was the first sport director of the Norwegian Ice Hockey Association, and was later its general secretary. He was central to establishment of player ...

, sport director and general secretary

References

External links

*
Official sledge hockey website
{{Authority control Ice hockey in Norway

Ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

1934 establishments in Norway National members of the International Ice Hockey Federation Ice hockey governing bodies in Europe Sports organizations established in 1934