Reindl takes over as IIHF president; Canada left without council seat

07 May 2022, Bavaria, Munich: Ice hockey: DEB general meeting with election of new presidium. Franz Reindl, outgoing president of the German Ice Hockey Federation (DEB), watches a video at the DEB's general meeting in which numerous companions bid him farewell. Photo: Matthias Balk/dpa (Photo by Matthias Balk/picture alliance via Getty Images)

No Canadians have been elected to the International Ice Hockey Federation’s council, a surprising result for a nation considered one of the sport’s powerhouses.

Hockey Canada president and chief executive officer Katherine Henderson was up for one of the minimum three female spots on council at Friday’s election at the IIHF’s semi-annual congress in Tenerife, Spain.

Henderson was eliminated in the second of three rounds of voting. Hungary’s Zsuzsanna Kolbenheyer, Turkiye’s Merve Tunali and Poland’s Marta Zawadzka won the council seats.

Canada will be represented regionally on the council by American Mike Trimboli, who was elected vice-president for the Americas and Oceania after running unopposed. He replaces former Hockey Canada president and CEO Bob Nicholson, who had held the role since 2012 but did not seek re-election. Former Hockey Canada president Murray Costello served as vice-president for five years before Nicholson took over.

While Canada will not have a member on council, the IIHF will have representation from non-traditional hockey nations, including Tunali, Andy Mills of New Zealand and Aivaz Omorkanov of Kyrgyzstan.

Germany’s Franz Reindl was elected to replace outgoing president Luc Tardif, who represents France but was born and raised in Quebec, while Petr Briza of Czechia was re-elected senior vice-president.

Canada had been represented on the IIHF Council since 1978, apart from a four-year gap from 1994-98, when American Walter Bush Jr. held the Americas vice-president position.

Reindl beat Petr Bříza 60-57 in a runoff vote on the Spanish island of Tenerife between two former players who both won Olympic medals on the ice.

Reindl had been behind Bříza 48-36 in the first round but picked up crucial votes after Aivaz Omorkanov of Kyrgyzstan was eliminated.

Reindl was a forward on the West Germany team which beat the United States and Finland to the bronze medal in 1976, while Bříza was a goaltender when Czechoslovakia won bronze in 1992.

Reindl becomes IIHF president five years after he was runner-up to Tardif. He’s worked closely with the NHL in the past and was president of Team Europe for the NHL-run World Cup of Hockey in 2016.

Tardif’s tenure was dominated by the NHL’s return to Olympic hockey for the Milan Cortina Games this year and the IIHF’s exclusion of Russian teams after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Tardif announced he wouldn’t run again in March, saying it was time for a younger leader. At 71, Reindl is only two years younger than his French predecessor.