IIHF history on display

100 Year Exhibition opened in Lausanne’s IOC Museum

27.09.2008
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Goalie icon Vladislav Tretiak and IIHF President René Fasel opened the 100 Year Exhibition at the IOC Museum in Lausanne. Photo: AR-Images/Richard Juilliart

LAUSANNE, Switzerland – Goaltending legend Vladislav Tretiak and IIHF President René Fasel were on hand to inaugurate the IIHF 100 Year Exhibition at the IOC Museum on Friday.

The opening of the exhibition was part of the IIHF Semi-Annual Congress which takes part in nearby Montreux this week.

The grand opening at the magnificent IOC Museum by Lake Geneva was attended by some 350 guests, most of them congress delegates. The 100 Year Exhibition displays not only the history of the IIHF, but it starts with the origins of the organized game going back to the first game played at Montreal’s Victoria Skating Rink on March 3, 1875.

By coincidence, the inaugural Victoria Cup (named after the Victoria Skating Rink) will be played on October 1 (New York Rangers vs. Metallurg Magnitogorsk) in Bern, which is just one hour’s drive from Lausanne.

In his exhibition opening speech René Fasel remarked on the historic irony that the centenary exposition is placed only some 40 minutes drive from the picturesque village of Les Avants where the first international IIHF (then LIHG) European Championship was organized in 1910. This event is widely considered as the birth of international ice hockey.  

Vladislav Tretiak, also President of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation, was the biggest celebrity taking part and many of the guests took the opportunity to have photos taken of them together with the goalie legend in front of the display honouring Tretiak as International Hockey’s Goaltender of the Century.

The Centennial All-Star Team was announced during the 2008 IIHF World Championship in Canada last spring where Tretiak was joined by defencemen Vyacheslav Fetisov (RUS), Borje Salming (SWE) and forwards Valeri Kharlamov (RUS), Wayne Gretzky (CAN) and Sergei Makarov (RUS) on this historic team.

All these six players had their own display with an original jersey and other artifacts.

The IIHF would like to thank the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto for their assistance in providing artifacts and other historic documentation to the exhibition.

By IIHF.com staff
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