Torriani Award

The Torriani Award is given annually by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) to an ice hockey player with an "outstanding career from non-top hockey nation". It was inaugurated in 2015, and is awarded alongside the annual IIHF Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the Ice Hockey World Championships. It is named for Bibi Torriani, who played internationally for the Switzerland men's national ice hockey team.^[1][2] Recipients of the Torriani Award are inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame into their own category, separate from other players, referees and builders.^[3]

When the award was first announced, IIHF president René Fasel was quoted as saying; "we wanted to create a trophy which honours players for a great international career irrespective of where they played. Nowadays, with NHL players and international players often being the same, we feel that there are so many top players to honour. Still, we wanted to ensure we recognized players who didn’t necessarily win Olympic and World Championship medals but who still had remarkable careers. As a result, we created the Torriani Award, and Lucio Topatigh is a very worthy first recipient".^[1]

Recipients

Year	Recipient	Nationality
2015[1]	Lucio Topatigh	Italy
2016[4]	Gábor Ocskay	Hungary
2017[5]	Tony Hand	Great Britain
2018[6]	Jesper Damgaard	Denmark
2019[2]	Konstantin Mihailov	Bulgaria
2020/2022[7][lower-alpha 1]	Ron Berteling	Netherlands
2023[9]	Viktor Szélig	Hungary
2024[10][11]	Dezső Varga	Romania

See also

• Paul Loicq Award

Notes

1. The presentation of the award during the 2020 IIHF World Championship, was delayed until the 2022 IIHF World Championship due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Berteling received the award during the class of 2020/2022 IIHF Hall of Fame induction.^[8]

References

1. "Hall of Fame Class of 2015". IIHF. 2015. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
2. Podnieks, Andrew (6 February 2019). "Hall of Fame Class of 2019 named". International Ice Hockey Federation. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
3. "IIHF Hall of Fame". International Ice Hockey Federation. 2021. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
4. Clinton, Jared (18 December 2015). "Fedorov, Bondra, Quinn headline 2016 IIHF Hall of Fame class". The Hockey News. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
5. Podnieks, Andrew (25 April 2017). "A league of their own: IIHF Hall of Fame names 20th induction class". IIHF. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
6. "Blake, Chelios, Alfredsson, Lehtinen elected to IIHF Hall of Fame". NHL.com. 1 December 2017. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
7. Podnieks, Andrew (4 February 2020). "Legends join IIHF Hall of Fame". International Ice Hockey Federation. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
8. Potts, Andy (29 May 2022). "Hall of Fame celebrates new recruits". International Ice Hockey Federation. Retrieved 29 May 2022.
9. Podnieks, Andrew (9 December 2022). "IIHF honours international mix for Hall of Fame '23". International Ice Hockey Federation. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
10. "Varga Dezső (Dezideriu), legenda hocheiului românesc, în Hall of Fame". Romanian Ice Hockey Federation (in Romanian). 16 January 2024. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
11. "Hochei: Fostului internaţional român Desideriu Varga îi va fi decernat premiul Richard Torriani". Monitorul de Vrancea (in Romanian). Focșani, Romania. 18 January 2024. Retrieved 15 May 2024.