Last weekend, in Saint Petersburg, Russia, the new governing body of the international federation was elected during the biannual congress.
These elections had a Belgian touch, by the way. Vice-Chairman of the RBIHF Hub van Grinsven was elected as IIHF auditor. This means that he will be involved in governance and processes within that federation.
The top position that had to be filled was, of course, that of chairman. In an exciting battle, President Luc Tardif (1953) of the French Ice Hockey Federation was elected to succeed Swiss René Fasel, becoming the fourteenth president in the history of the IIHF and the federation receiving a new president for the first time in 27 years.
Luc Tardif is also no stranger to the Belgian ice hockey world. In the 1970s he played two seasons in Belgium (1975/1976 & 1976/1977) for the now defunct Royal Brussels Ice Hockey & Skating Club that operated from Vorst Nationaal, before moving to France and playing for Chamonix and Rouen.
Petr Briza was elected senior vice president, while Bob Nicholson (Americas), Aivaz Omorkanov (Asia and Oceania) and Henrik Bach Nielsen (Europe and Africa) were elected vice presidents for the regions. The two female members of the IIHF council, Zsuzsanna Koblenheyer and Marta Zawadzka, were re-elected. The remaining positions went to Heikki Hietanen, Anders Larsson, Pavel Bure, Raeto Raffainer and Andra Gios. German Federal President Franz Reindl and Viesturs Koziols were also elected as members of the IIHF Council.
The election day then continued with the election of remaining members of Internal Auditors. Hub van Grinsven therefore had the honor of taking a seat on this prestigious committee. Van Grinsven, a board member of the RBIHF for many years, has also been a board member of the BeNe-League since its foundation and was also active as a board member at Geleen Eaters (NED) in the past.
(Photo: white arrow: Luc Tardif, courtesy of Alain Zwickel)