Slovak ice hockey player Nela Lopušanová takes 3rd place in 2022/2023 Player of the Season poll, according to IIHF

Lopušanová was among the seven candidates chosen by the IIHF commission. Knight received 40.9 percent of all votes and became the clear winner. Caroline Harvey, another American, finished ahead of Lopušanova with 18.2 percent. Media representatives and invited members of the IIHF family decided the winner with their votes.

“I am honored to be the first recipient of such a prestigious award. There are many talented women at this level and I am honored to be recognized as the IIHF Player of the Year.” said Knight, who won gold with the US national team at the World Championships in Brampton, Canada.

During the 2022/2023 season, only 15-year-old Lopušanová fully demonstrated her talent at the Under-18 Women’s Ice Hockey World Cup in Sweden and at the Winter European Youth Olympic Festival in Friuli Venezia Giulia 2023, where she played a major role in the Slovak girls’ historic silver medal.

At the under-18 World Cup, she became the most useful player of the entire event and also impressed with her work with the hockey stick. Already before her fifteenth birthday, which she celebrated in February, she started in the highest women’s hockey competition in Slovakia.

Rather, the Slovak became the recipient of the Piotr Nurowski Award for the best young athlete in Europe in winter sports for the year 2023. She received the prestigious award in Paris during the 43rd seminar of the European Olympic Committees. The prize is awarded annually to young athletes who have achieved very good performances in their sport and at the same time embody and represent Olympic values ​​and ideas on and off the sports fields.