Hegen, Irbe, Nieminen, Krutov and Fagerlund inducted into IIHF Hall of Fame

The IIHF announced the 2010 IIHF Hall of Fame inductees as selected by the IIHF Hall of Fame selection committee.

In the Players' category:
Dieter Hegen (West Germany / Germany)
Arturs Irbe (Soviet Union / Latvia)
Riika Nieminen-Välilä (Finland)
Vladimir Krutov (Soviet Union / Russia)

In the Builder's category:
Rickard Fagerlund (Sweden)

The committee also announced that Lou Vairo (United States) will be awarded the Paul Loicq Award, for outstanding contributions to the IIHF and international ice hockey. The Paul Loicq Award is named after the Belgian who was the IIHF President for 25 years (1922-1947).

Visit IIHF.com for bios of the 2010 IIHF Hall of Fame inductees. Click on this link for a complete list of all inductees. The IIHF Hall of Fame, which was introduced in 1997, now boasts 160 hockey greats from 22 countries.

The induction ceremony will take place on May 21, 2010 in Cologne, Germany at the 74th IIHF World Championship (May 7 – 23).

"I would like to congratulate the IIHF Hall of Fame committee and its chairman Tony Rossi again on a first-rate selection," said IIHF President René Fasel. "Riika Nieminen, the outstanding girl from Nagano 1998, is the first women inducted that hails from outside of North America."

"With Vladimir Krutov now all the players from the famous Soviet "Green Unit" will be in the IIHF Hall and going to Germany I am sure that Dieter Hegen's very deserving selection will be an appreciated story."

"A very unusual thing happened when I was visiting Vancouver this week and Arturs Irbe happened to be in town with the Washington Capitals where he is the goaltending coach. This gave me a unique opportunity to tell someone directly about him being selected. I am very happy for Arturs. He was the first true Team Latvia superstar."

"I was privileged to get to know both Rickard Fagerlund and Lou Vairo and it always a great feeling to honour people who devoted their entire lives to the game. It will be great pleasure for me to induct the five greats to the IIHF Hall of Fame and present Lou Vairo with the Paul Loicq Award in Cologne this coming spring." 

Note: Riika Nieminen-Välilä will become the fourth women inducted to the IIHF Hall of Fame after Angela James and Geraldine Heaney (both Canada) and Cammi Granato (United States). All three were inducted in the IIHF's centennial year 2008.