ThePaul Loicq Award is presented annually by theInternational Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) to honour a person who has made "outstanding contributions to the IIHF and internationalice hockey".[1] Named afterPaul Loicq, who was president of the IIHF from 1922 until 1947, it is the highest personal recognition given by the world governing body of ice hockey.[2] The award is presented during the annualIIHF Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
List of recipients of the Paul Loicq Award:
| Year | Recipient | Nation | Contributions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998[3] | Wolf-Dieter Montag |  Germany | IIHF chief medical officer andInternational Olympic Committee medical advisor who oversawdoping in sport testing and advocated for athlete safety[4] |
| 1999[3] | Roman Neumayer | Germany | German Ice Hockey Federation sport director from 1970 to 1986, and IIHF technical director from 1986 to 1996,[5] who developed theIIHF Hall of Fame[6] |
| 2000[7] | Vsevolod Kukushkin |  Russia | Russian journalist and translator who traveled with theSoviet Union national ice hockey team reporting on international ice hockey, and IIHF Hall of Fame committee member[8][9] |
| 2001[10] | Isao Kataoka |  Japan | Japan Ice Hockey Federation executive director and vice-president, who grew ice hockey in Japan and organized hockey at the1972 Winter Olympics and1998 Winter Olympics[10] |
| 2002[11] | Pat Marsh |  Great Britain | British Ice Hockey Association secretary from 1972 to 1987, and secretary to IIHF presidentBunny Ahearne, who worked more than 20 years in the IIHF offices[11] |
| 2003[12] | George Nagobads |  United States | US men's national team physician at five Winter Olympics, andchief medical officer forUSA Hockey from 1984 to 1992,[12] who served on the IIHF medical committee for 20 years,[13] working to eliminate doping in sport[14] |
| 2004[15] | Aggie Kukulowicz |  Canada | Russian-language interpreter for theCanada men's national team at the 1972Summit Series and1974 Summit Series,[16] who was later an interpreter for the IIHF at theIce Hockey World Championships, theCanada Cup, and theSuper Series from 1975 to 1993[17] |
| 2005[3] | Rita Hrbacek |  Austria | Forty years of organizing international ice hockey as secretary, then secretary general of theAustrian Ice Hockey Association, and as an IIHF secretary[18][19] |
| 2006[20] | Bo Tovland |  Sweden | General manager of theSweden men's national team at seven Ice Hockey World Championships, three Winter Olympics and three Canada Cup tournaments, who wasSwedish Ice Hockey Association vice-chairman and sat on several IIHF committees[21] |
| 2007[22] | Bob Nadin | Canada | Supervisor ofon-ice officials at theWinter Olympic Games from 1976 to 2012,[23] responsible for training and evaluating officials, and writing, updating, and interpreting internationalice hockey rules.[24][25] |
| 2008[26][27] | Juraj Okoličány |  Slovakia | Supervisor of on-ice officials and avideo goal judge during ten Ice Hockey World Championships, the2002 Winter Olympics and2006 Winter Olympics, and 45 other IIHF competitions[26][27] |
| 2009[28] | Harald Griebel | Germany | Sports marketing businessman promoting the Ice Hockey World Championships and qualifying tournaments forice hockey at the Olympic Games[29] |
| 2010[30][31] | Lou Vairo | United States | Amateur Hockey Association of the United States coaching director,[32]USA Hockey director, and IIHF coaching committee member, who coached national men's teams for theUnited States,Netherlands, andItaly[33] |
| 2011[34][35] | Yuri Korolev | Russia | Ice Hockey Federation of Russia vice-president[35] and IIHF coaching committee chairman, who led research for theSoviet Union national team that won seventeen Ice Hockey World Championships and seven Olympic gold medals[34] |
| 2012[36] | Kent Angus | Canada | Nike, Inc. representative and supplier of IIHF teamhockey jerseys for 49 Ice Hockey World Championships, four Winter Olympics, and more than 75,000 hockey jerseys.[36][37] |
| 2013[38] | Gord Miller | Canada | Play-by-playsportscaster for theIIHF World Junior Championship, Ice Hockey World Championships, andIIHF Women's World Championship[39][40] |
| 2014[41] | Mark Aubry | Canada | Chief medical officer of the IIHF andHockey Canada, andInternational Olympic Committee medical commission member, who advocates forconcussion and safety awareness[42][43] |
| 2015[44][45] | Monique Scheier-Schneider |  Luxembourg | Luxembourg Ice Hockey Federation secretary and IIHF council member who managed theLuxembourg men's national team and oversaw the2010 Winter Olympics Women's ice hockey tournament and2011 IIHF Women's World Championship[44][45] |
| 2016[46] | Nikolai Ozerov | Russia | Leading Soviet Union sports commentator from the 1950s to 1980s, who covered ice hockey at eight Olympics and thirty Ice Hockey World Championships[46] |
| 2017[3] | Patrick Francheterre |  France | French Ice Hockey Federation director,France men's national team general manager, and IIHF council member[47] |
| 2018[48][49] | Kirovs Lipmans |  Latvia | Latvian Ice Hockey Federation president,Latvian Olympic Committee executive member, and IIHF committee member, who increased ice hockey rinks in Latvia and saw theLatvia men's national team qualify for the top tier of the World Championships[48][49] |
| 2019[50] | Jim Johannson | United States | USA Hockey executive and general manager of the US men's national team, who grew hockey in the United States and saw its national teams won a 64 medals in IIHF competitions[51] |
| 2020/2022[52][a] | Zoltán Kovács |  Hungary | Hungarian Ice Hockey Federation general secretary and vice-president, who oversaw growth of hockey in the country and theHungary men's national junior team earn promotion to Division I of theIIHF World U20 Championship[52][54] |
| 2023[55] | Kimmo Leinonen |  Finland | IIHF director of public relations and marketing from 1995 to 2007, who was general secretary of the 2012 and 2013 Ice Hockey World Championships co-hosted in Finland and Sweden, and helped establish the IIHF Hall of Fame[55][56] |
| 2024[57] | Anatolii Brezvin |  Ukraine | Ice Hockey Federation of Ukraine president, who oversaw establishment of a nationalyouth hockey championship, and created a Ukrainian women's championship, entered theUkraine women's national team into the World Women's Championship, and oversaw hosting 17 IIHF events in Ukraine[58] |
| 2025[59][60] | Jon Haukeland |  Norway | InauguralNorwegian Ice Hockey Association sport director and later its general secretary, central to establishment of player development programs and increasing participation and ice rinks in the country,[61] and coordinated theEuro Ice Hockey Challenge[62] |
Isao Kataoka passed away on Wednesday. He was 79 years old. In 2001 Kataoka was the recipient of the Paul Loicq Award presented annually by the IIHF to a person who has served the IIHF in an extraordinary manner promoting the sport of ice hockey worldwide in 2001. The former Executive Director and Vice President of the Japan Ice Hockey Federation and recent President of the Hokkaido Ice Hockey Federation played an important role in preparing and organizing many IIHF tournaments in Japan, many of them in his hometown of Sapporo. He also contributed greatly to the success of the 1972 Olympic Winter Games in Sapporo and the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano. With all of his experience and knowledge of the game of ice hockey, ha managed these great events perfectly and helped the organizers prepare facilities to the great satisfaction of the participants. Kataoka's enthusiasm and aspiring attitude in the development of ice hockey administrators and officials of the next generation was greatly appreciated and respected by the ice hockey family in and outside of Japan.[permanent dead link]