8 years.
8 pillars.
One team.

I've never met a Member National Association asking for charity. What they ask for is a fair chance to build something that lasts.

Money matters. And over the past five years, we've increased IIHF support to our Members. But money alone has never built a strong hockey nation. Stable leadership, dedicated volunteers and predictable support do. My ambition is to build on that progress while also taking a fresh look at how, for example, our competition structure can help create stronger and more sustainable financial foundations for our Members.

It's really as simple as that: stronger Member National Associations make for a stronger IIHF.

People don't fall in love with hockey because we tell them it's the coolest game on earth. They fall in love with what they see on the ice.

Bringing NHL players back to the Olympic Winter Games for the first time since 2014 has been one of the most important milestones for our sport in recent years. I'm proud that we've helped make it happen, and I'm confident this is the beginning of a long-term Olympic partnership that will continue well beyond Milano-Cortina.

Our responsibility now is to keep raising the bar. Every IIHF event should leave fans wanting to come back, inspire the next generation and strengthen hockey's position as the world's number one winter sport.

For me, success isn't measured by how many tournaments we organize. It's measured by how many people leave them wanting more hockey.

I've sat around enough boardroom tables to know that protecting your own interests is easy. Building something together is much harder—but it's also where real progress happens.

No single organization can grow our game alone. The IIHF, the professional leagues, our Members and our commercial partners all have different priorities—but we share the same responsibility for hockey's future. That's why we've established the European Professional Hockey Committee—to strengthen dialogue with the professional game—and why we've introduced the European Cup of Nations as an example of how cooperation can create new opportunities for our Member National Associations to make better use of the IIHF international breaks.

Our international calendar is already crowded, and it's essential that we continue looking for ways to create opportunities for all stakeholders. I hope the European Cup of Nations will also inspire similar initiatives in other parts of the hockey world.

In the end, nobody remembers who won the meeting. They remember what we achieved together.

I've never seen a kid start playing hockey because of a sponsorship agreement. But I've seen what those partnerships can make possible.

Commercial growth is not an objective in itself. It is what allows us to invest more in our Members, our competitions and the future of our game. Over the past few years, we've brought our commercial efforts together through a dedicated Marketing Cluster, launched IIHF.TV—the first home for all IIHF hockey—strengthened our long-term partnership with Infront, and secured a landmark jersey partnership with TRUE Hockey. Those are important milestones, but they are only valuable if they help us continue modernising the way we present hockey, strengthen our digital platforms and create lasting value for everyone who is part of our sport.

Commercial success only matters if somebody playing hockey notices the difference.

Good relationships don't guarantee good decisions. But I've never seen good decisions made without good relationships.

The Olympic Movement is where many of the most important decisions for the future of international sport are made. The return of NHL players to the Olympic Winter Games and Milano-Cortina 2026 once again confirm ice hockey's place as one of the Olympic Winter Games' defining sports. A sport of that stature deserves a strong, respected and lasting voice at the table where the future of the Olympic Movement is shaped.

For me, this is simple. The IIHF should have an active IOC Member within its leadership. Not because of status or prestige, but because our sport deserves to be represented where the most important decisions are made. I believe my experience, my dedication to our sport and the opportunity to serve for many years to come put me in a strong position to help secure that voice for the IIHF.

Influence isn't about having the loudest voice. It's about being the voice people trust.

Wherever I travel, I meet passionate people who want more kids to play hockey. They don't all have the same resources—but they all share the same dream.

Over the past few years, we've taken important steps to grow our game through increased development programmes and stronger support for our Members. But we have to do more. We should continue investing in grassroots hockey, strengthen Learn to Play initiatives, support the recruitment and education of coaches and volunteers, and make it easier for our Members to learn from each other and build on what's already working.

I don't believe the next 40% growth will come only from the countries where hockey is already strong. It will come from the countries where the next kid is still waiting for the chance to step onto the ice.

The future of hockey isn't built in boardrooms. It's built every time a kid falls in love with the game.

I've learned that progress rarely comes from doing what we've always done. Sometimes, you simply have to be prepared to try something new.

Women's hockey has never had more momentum, and over the past few years we've taken important steps to support that growth. One of those steps was moving the IIHF Women's World Championship to November. Will it work exactly as we hope? I don't know. But I do know that standing still has never moved hockey forward.

We made that decision because we believe women's hockey deserves its own stage—not one where it has to compete for attention in an already crowded April calendar. We've also taken concrete steps to strengthen women's representation in IIHF leadership. From the next mandate, every IIHF Committee will include at least two representatives of each gender, and Council will have an additional guaranteed seat for a woman. Real change rarely comes from one big decision. It comes from a lot of good decisions pointing in the same direction.

The future of hockey won't be built by half the hockey family. It will be built by all of us.

I've never walked into an empty arena and thought, ‘What a great hockey nation.’ I've walked into small, busy rinks full of kids and volunteers and thought exactly the opposite.

Over the past few years, we've made player safety a top priority and continued pushing for innovations like flexible boards. But innovation doesn't stop there. We should continue exploring more sustainable arena solutions, new technologies and ideas such as synthetic ice where it can help introduce more people to our game. We should also be open to new formats like 3x3 if they can lower the barriers to entry and inspire more kids to pick up a stick for the first time.

We'll always be an ice hockey sport. But that shouldn't stop us from thinking differently about how people discover it.

Our job isn't to build monuments. Our job is to build places where hockey can grow.