Kim Martin-Hasson, Vicky Sunohara Named to IIHF Hockey Hall of Fame

For the second consecutive year, two women have been named to the IIHF Hall of Fame.

On Friday, the IIHF released its inductees for the 2025 Hall of Fame Class. The list included two women, Kim Martin-Hasson and Vicky Sunohara. After many years of choosing only one woman (or often zero), it's nice to see a second straight year of the IIHF using both slots.

At just 16 years old, Kim Martin-Hasson backstopped Sweden to Olympic bronze after winning a coin toss to start the game. That was Sweden's first-ever Olympic medal, and she wasn't done there. Martin-Hasson was in net when Sweden upset the US in the 2006 Olympic semi-finals, making Sweden the first non-Canadian or American team to play for a gold medal. The team would settle for silver, but Martin-Hasson was named the top goaltender of the tournament.

The next season, Martin-Hasson joined the University of Minnesota Duluth. She won an NCAA Championship with the Bulldogs, posting just the second ever shutout in NCAA championship game history. During her time at UMD, she would go on to be a Patty Kazmaier Award Finalist, WCHA Goaltending Champion, and set the record for most wins as a Bulldog, one that still stands today.

Martin-Hasson finished her career in Russia and Sweden, winning two SDHL championships. She also won two bronze medals at the Women's World Championships in 2004 and 2006.

Known as the "Wayne Gretzky of women's hockey", Vicky Sunohara is one of the best Canadian ice hockey players of all time. Internationally, she has nine gold medals, winning her first in the first-ever IIHF Women's World Championship tournament. Only Hilary Knight, Kacey Bellamy, and Danielle Goyette hold more gold medals.

Sunohara also represented Canada at the first-ever Olympic games for women's hockey, winning silver. Helping to establish the IIHF Women's World Championships, Sunohara would go on to play in eight world championship tournaments and three Olympic games.

In university, Sunohara led the Huskies in scoring as a freshman, capturing the ECAC Conference Championship and Rookie of the Year. After leading the team in scoring again in her sophomore year, Sunohara returned to Canada to play at the University of Toronto, where she won the OUA Championship two years in a row.

A member of many now-defunct professional women's leagues, Sunohara won then-NWHL and CWHL championships with the Brampton Thunder.

Both women have taken great steps to grow the game in their respective countries and on the world stage.

They are joined in the 2025 Hall of Fame Class by former NHL players Henrik Lundqvist, Zdeno Chara, Frans Nielsen, and David Vyborny, as well as Finnish hockey executive Kai Hietarinta.

The Induction Ceremony will take place in Sweden on May 25, 2025.