IIHF Renames World Junior MVP

Watching the World Junior Hockey Championship regardless of how Team Canada did for me personally it was the end result that made me smile.

As many know I have been active both as a player, an official as well as worked in other areas of the game for several years all of which have been for the most part rewarding.

Dating back to the 80ties I was fortunate to obtain my Level Six which was the highest level an official could reach under the program at that time.

For me personally it was sort of a pleasant achievement for what I had worked to get along with other officials at that time.

I have worked with Dave Andrews who went on to become the President of the American Hockey League as well as Bob Nicholson who became the President of Hockey Canada.

Both got their start working with the BC Amateur Hockey Association in Victoria and along with others put together a program to develop and grow officiating in the province.

Recognition by the IIHF took far too long, but they finally gave him the tribute he truly deserved on the International stage.

Enjoy the read:

Hockey Canada has announced the eight current and former athletes who have been elected by their peers to form its new National Team Athlete Committee.

The committee, which will represent the voice of Hockey Canada’s high-performance athletes across men’s, women’s and para hockey, will meet quarterly at a minimum and be empowered to make recommendations to Hockey Canada on issues that impact their fellow national team athletes.

Billy Bridges, Michael Mastrodomenico, Tyler McGregor, Bailey Mitchell (Bram), Markus Phillips, Alyssa Regalado, Kyle Turris and Kendra Woodland will each serve multi-year terms.

“Hearing from our athletes directly is critical to ensure that we are delivering the best possible experiences for our national teams, and we cannot wait to learn from the eight representatives on this new committee throughout their terms,” said Jonathan Goldbloom, chair of the Hockey Canada Board of Directors. “Gillian Apps and Amanda Fowler from our board invested a lot of time to help launch this initiative, and we are appreciative of their contributions that have led us to today’s announcement.”

To be eligible to run for election, athletes had to have competed for Canada at a world championship sanctioned by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) or World Para Ice Hockey (WPIH) within the last eight years.

“The athlete voice is so important to all national sport organizations, and the creation of this committee is an exciting step to further strengthen the connection between Hockey Canada and our national teams,” said Katherine Henderson, president and chief executive officer of Hockey Canada.

She continued “We are grateful that Gillian, Amanda and their colleagues on the board have been so supportive of this committee, which will benefit all of our national team athletes.”

The election, which was overseen by AthletesCAN and scrutineered by a third-party organization, took place in fall 2024 and included votes from athletes who represented Canada in the last five years at an IIHF or WPIH championship.

To learn more about Hockey Canada, please visit HockeyCanada.ca, or follow along through social media on Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok.