Seven nominees have been named by the IIHF for their inaugural Female Athlete of the Year award.
Seven nominees have been named by the IIHF for their inaugural Female Athlete of the Year award.
The IIHF has announced the seven nominees for their inaugural IIHF Female Player of the Year honor. The award will be given to the top woman from IIHF competition this last year, who also combined excellence in a domestic league.
The inaugural nominees include Sarah Fillier (CAN), Caroline Harvey (USA), Jenni Hiirikoski (FIN), Hilary Knight (USA), Nela Lopusanova (SVK), Marie-Philip Poulin (CAN), and Emma Soderberg (SWE).
The combination of international play and competition in a domestic league will attempt to determine a player who had "combined performances of which were deemed superior to all other players."
The award will be voted on by members of the media and IIHF representatives.
From the nominees, Sarah Fillier was the MVP of the recent IIHF women's World Championships, and was the leading scorer for Princeton in the NCAA.
Caroline Harvey was voted as the top defender at the IIHF women's World Championship, led the tournament in scoring, and won a national championship with the Wisconsin Badgers.
Finland's Jenni Hiirikoski is perennially one of the best defenders in international competition, this year hitting a career best 11 points at the World's, and also captained Luleå to an SDHL title.
Hilary Knight captained Team USA to gold and also led the tournament in goals, while becoming the first player in women's World Championship history to reach the 100 point mark during her career.
Nela Lopusanova made headlines globally with her highlight reel goals at the U-18 women's World Championships. Lopusanova was the youngest player ever to win the MVP honors at the U-18 women's Worlds after leading the tournament in scoring with 12 points.
Marie-Philip Poulin was named to the all-tournament team at the women's World Championship, winning silver with Canada. She also lead the PWHPA's Dream Gap Tour in scoring.
Finally, Emma Soderberg was named to the IIHF women's World Championship all-star team, and was a standout with the University of Minnesota-Duluth where she was a finalist for the NCAA's goaltender of the year.
Following the men's World Championship, a similar nomination and vote will be held.