Henrik Lundqvist, Zdeno Chara highlight IIHF’s Hall of Fame class for 2025

On Friday, the International Ice Hockey Federation announced its Hall of Fame Class for 2025. Headlining this year’s inductees are Slovakia’s Zdeno Chara, Henrik Lundqvist of Sweden, and former Canadian Women’s National Team star Vicky Sunohara.

Also being inducted this year will be Kim Martin-Hasson (Sweden), Frans Nielsen (Denmark), David Vyomy (Czechia) and Kai Hietarina (Finland), who is going to be honored in the builder category.

Lundqvist is one of the greatest goaltenders in NHL history and certainly the best Tre Kronor’s ever produced. Along with an exceptional career with the New York Rangers, which led to him being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2023, Lundqvist made many memorable appearances with Sweden on the international stage. From the Under-18s to the senior national team, he became one of the most decorated backstops in the country’s history, winning gold at the 2006 Turin Olympics, as well as the 2017 IIHF Men’s World Championship.

Certifiably the most decorated athlete in Slovakia’s history, Chara was one of the most formidable figures in hockey history. The 6-foot-9 blueliner played for his country at seven World Championships, the 2006 World Cup of Hockey (along with captaining Team Europe in 2016) and was a three-time Olympian. He won silver with Slovakia at the 2001 and 2012 World Championships, also captaining the team twice. On top of his international accolades, Chara won the Norris Trophy in 2012, becoming the second European captain in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup, accomplishing the feat with the Boston Bruins in 2011.

Sunohara made a name for herself with Team Canada at the inaugural IIHF Women’s World Championship in 1990 and was part of the first big wave of women’s hockey. Across her 17-year career representing her country, “the Wayne Gretzky of women’s hockey” won nine gold medals at the Women’s Worlds and was a key part of the 2002 and 2006 squads that captured gold at the Winter Olympics.

Nielsen was just the second Danish player to ever play in the NHL, making a name for himself with the New York Islanders and Detroit Red Wings. At the international level, he was vital in helping the national team earn promotion to the top division in 2002. Nielsen ended up appearing in nine Men’s Worlds with Denmark, also playing for the Danes at the 2022 Olympics, the first time the country qualified for the event.

Martin-Hasson entered the international stage as a 15-year-old with Sweden at the Women’s Worlds in 2001. She was part of a big surge of women’s hockey in Sweden, helping the nation medal favorites. In the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, she helped Tre Kronor take home bronze at the expense of rival Finland. Then, in Italy in 2006, she was a big part of Damkronor that pulled off the unlikely upset of the United States in the semifinals, marking the first time in any major international competition that a European team played in the gold medal game.

During Czechia’s strong play during the early 2000s, Vyborny was a key asset. He was on the team that won three consecutive gold medals at the Men’s Worlds from 1999 to 2001, winning five gold medals in all from 1996 to 2005. He also won bronze with the country formerly known as the Czech Republic at the 2006 Olympics, appearing in 12 World Championships and the 1993 and 1994 IIHF World Junior Championships.

Hietarinta is regarded as one of the key figures who helped the growth of ice hockey in Finland. He was the president of the Finnish Ice Hockey Association from 1984 to 1997, following that up with an 18-year stint on the organization’s board. For nine years, Hietarinta was a member of the Finnish Olympic Committee, as well as serving as a IIHF Council member from 1990 to 1998. A Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame 1998 inductee, Hietarinta saw his country win a World Championship in 1995 and a World Juniors gold in 1987.

The IIHF Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will take place on May 25, the final day of the 2025 Men’s World Championship in Stockholm, Sweden.