Fasel was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Before that, Šatanov signaled a quick goal by Rusom – PRAVDA.sk

The incumbent President of the International Hockey Federation (IIHF), René Fasel, was inaugurated to the IIHF Hall of Fame on Friday.

In honor of René Fasel, a hockey exhibition took place in St. Petersburg on Thursday. Slovaks Miroslav Šatan, Ladislav Nagy and Martin Štrbák were also present in the world selection jersey.

This happened at a special ceremony at the IIHF Congress in St. Petersburg, the day before the term of office of the 71-year-old Swiss official expires.

Fasela, who was the longest-serving head of world hockey in its 111-year history, was elected to the Hall of Fame by a unanimous verdict by the IIHF Historical Commission.

He is the only person who was introduced to the hockey hall this year. Normally, a player or official must wait at least two years after leaving the Hall of Fame after leaving the service, but in the case of Fasel, the commission has made an exception.

Photo: Robert Hüttner, Pravda

hockey, Rene Fasel, IIHF chief René Fasel.

“It is a significant privilege. My family is here with me, it’s hard not to be emotional at the moment and stay cool, “Fasel said at the farewell to the 27-year presidency. During this time, the number of IIHF members increased from 50 to 81.

“I’m not leaving hockey, I promise you. You won’t get rid of me. I love you all, thank you very much, “the official IIHF website quoted him.

Fasel is a dentist by profession, as a player who joined the Swiss club HC Friborg-Gottéron in 1960–1972, and subsequently became a referee.

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He also performed in this capacity at Thursday’s farewell exhibition in St. Petersburg. He has been president of the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation since 1985 and was elected head of the IIHF in 1994.

The election of the new president will take place on Saturday, the Danish Henrik Bach Nielsen, the Czech Petr Bříza, the Belarusian Sergei Goncharov, the German Franz Reindl and the Frenchman Luc Tardiff are running for a seat after the outgoing Fasel.

In addition to the president, the delegates of the semi-annual IIHF congress will also elect other executive positions, especially the new members of the IIHF Council, to which the president of SZĽH Miroslav Šatan is also running.

The exhibition also included Šatan, Nagy and Štrbák

A hockey exhibition took place on Thursday in honor of Fasel. In the Jubilee Sports Palace, the legends of Russia opposed the legends of world choice. Slovaks Miroslav Šatan, Ladislav Nagy and Martin Štrbák were also present in the world selection jersey.

The Jubilee Palace hosted the 2000 and 2016 Ice Hockey World Championships. Before the match, Finn captains Finn Jari Kurri and Vyacheslav Fetisov both spoke about Fasel’s work over the past decades in popularizing ice hockey around the world and building bridges between nations.

Famous jazz saxophonist Igor Butman then played the anthems of Russia and the IIHF, then exchanged the saxophone for a hockey stick and joined Russian legends on the ice.

Fasel appeared on cue near the post, and steered it past the goalie.

Several great players from the past appeared on the ice, such as Pavel Dacjuk, Alexander Mogilny, Igor Larionov and Alexei Kasatonov in the Russian team, the teammates of Slovak hockey players were Petr Bříza, Jiří Šlégr and Esa Tikkanen, among others. The match ended in a draw 4: 4.