Historical Hockey and Sports Memorabilia Auction February 2025
Utterly dominated by the Soviet Union, the federation won nine straight IIHF World Championship titles from 1963 to 1971. We offer mid-to-late-1960s IIHF unawarded medals including a gold, silver and bronze, that all hail from the personal collection of noted Finnish hockey executive and writer Kimmo Leinonen. All matching in design with the original cases included for all three, each 2 3/8" medal features a raised goaltender design with "Championnais du Monde * World Championships" around the perimeter of the obverse, with the maker and a hallmark stamped along the base. The reverse of each sports an "LIHG" monogram with "Ligue Internationale de Hockey Sur Glace". All three medals remain in gorgeous condition with no issues. We should note that these were the style of medals used by the IIHF until approx the mid-1970s. An LOA from Classic Auctions will accompany.
Born in Tampere, Finland, in 1949, and beginning his rise in the hockey ranks as a junior hockey coach while also involved in the hockey stick industry in Canada and Germany, Finnish hockey executive and writer Kimmo Leinonen had a connection to the NHL as he was employed as a scout for the New York Rangers from 1978-79 to 1982-83. As a founding member of the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame in 1979 - where he served as chairman from 2011 to 2018, Leinonen also helped to establish the IIHF Hall of Fame in 1996 and was the director of public relations and marketing for the organization from 1995 to 2007. His later career included an appointment as general secretary of the 2012 and 2013 Ice Hockey World Championships co-hosted in both Finland and Sweden. The hockey guru has written multiple books on the history of hockey in Finland, and for his great contributions to the sport, was inducted into the builder category of the Finnish Hall of Fame in 2011. He was further acknowledged as the only person from Finland to win the Paul Loicq Award in recognition for his efforts in international ice hockey in 2023. We are pleased to offer items from his personal collection that he acquired during his years as the IIHF director of public relations and marketing from 1995 to 1997, with others originating from later in his career as well as international hockey memorabilia he collected and items he was gifted.
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