Norwegian Ice Hockey Association

The Norwegian Ice Hockey Association (NIHF) is the governing body of all ice hockey, sledge hockey and in-line hockey in Norway.

NIHF has its office at Ullevaal Stadium in Oslo.

Current president is Mr. Ole Jakob Libæk, and current Secretary General is Mr. Jon Haukeland.

Current head coach of Team Norway is Mr. Roy Johansen who has coached the team since 2001 and signed a two-year contract extension before the 2008 IIHF World Championships. Prior to the 2007/08 season former Team Norway and San Jose Sharks coach George Kingston was hired as the head coach of the NIHF's women's team.

The logo of the NIHF has a polar bear in its centre spot.

History
NIHF was founded September 18, 1934 and has been a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation since January 20, 1935.

The first President of the NIHF was Rolf Gjertsen from the club Trygg. The first vice president was Ludvig Christiansen, also from Trygg. The ten teams that founded the NIHF were: Forward, Furuset IF, Gjøa, Hasle, Holmen, Strong, Trygg, NTHI, Trond and Trondheim.

The first game was played at Furuset Stadion January 4, 1935 between Gjøa and Furuset IF. Gjøa won 5-0. The referee was Johan Narvestad.

In the Olympic games, Norway has competed nine times, but hasn't won any medals. Their best result was in 1972 when they finished in 8th place. During this time, the Norwegian team was known to let up a lot of goals, which kept them from winning a lot of games. In the 1980, the team competed in the top division for the first time since 1952. They started off by facing Czechoslovakia, who was known as the second best team in the world and had received the silver medal four years earlier. The Czechs dominated the game and won 11-0. Their next game was against West Germany, who had won the bronze in the 1976 tournament. The West Germans also ran up the score to a 10-4 victory. So far, the Norwegians had been outscored 21-4 by their opposition and continued to struggle with losses against USA (5-1) and Sweden (7-1). Their last game was the only bright spot in the tournament, as they came from behind to tie Romania 3-3 and give themselves a point in the standings.

Today, Norway competes in the top division for the World Championships and finished 11th out of 16 teams in the 2009 tournament.

NIHF Awards
The NIHF annually awards the Golden Puck award to the best male Norwegian born hockey player. The similar award for women is the Valemon trophy, which has been awarded twice.

Players who have played 50 official games (Olympics and Olympic qualification games, as well as IIHF World Championship games for Team Norway receive the Polar Bear Trophy from the NIHF.

Each year the NIHF hands out the His Rojal Majesty's Cup to the winner of the playoffs of the GET-ligaen, and the winning team becomes Norwegian Champions.