IIHF announces seven candidates for women’s hockey player of the year

The International Ice Hockey Federation has announced the seven candidates for the inaugural Female Player of the Year award.

The IIHF’s historical committee has tabbed Sarah Fillier (CAN), Caroline Harvey (USA), Jenni Hiirikoski (FIN), Hilary Knight (USA), Nela Lopusanova (SVK), Marie-Philip Poulin (CAN), and Emma Soderberg (SWE) as the finalists, with the potential for other names to be written in by the voting cast.

Voters will be made up among media and other “invited members of the IIHF family,” with the winner to be named June 1 at 9:00 AM ET. The candidates for the inaugural men’s award will be named after the World Championship, which is set to run until May 28.

Candidates for both awards will have had to play in at least one IIHF tournament and one domestic league during the season. The youngest player on the list, 15-year-old Nela Lopusanova, had one of the most incredible performances by an underaged player when she had 12 points and earned tournament MVP at the 2023 women’s U-18 Hockey Championship.

Fillier was named MVP of the women’s World Championship with 11 points in six games, helping Canada to silver. She was bested in the title match by Harvey, who took home the top defender award at the event, on top of a gold. Knight led all tournament goers with eight goals, including the game-winner at the World Championship – her first as captain. Then there’s Poulin, Captain Clutch, who was named to the tournament all-star team for her efforts with Canada.

Hiirikoski came out of the tournament without a medal, but she put up a career-high 11 points in her 15th run with Finland – just a few weeks after suffering a severe skate cut. Soderberg, the lone goaltender, was named to the tournament all-star team with a .924 save percentage, while also recording 12 shutouts in 33 games with the University of Minnesota-Duluth.