Norwegian Ice Hockey Association

The Norwegian Ice Hockey Association (NIHF) is the governing body of all ice hockey, sledge hockey and in-line hockey in Norway.

History
NIHF was founded September 18, 1934 and has been a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation since January 20, 1935.

The first President of the NIHF was Rolf Gjertsen from the club Trygg. The first vice president was Ludvig Christiansen, also from Trygg. The ten teams that founded the NIHF were: Forward, Furuset, Gjøa, Hasle, Holmen, Strong, Trygg, NTHI, Trond and Trondheim.

The first game was played at Furuset Stadion on January 4, 1935 between Gjøa and Furuset. Gjøa won 5–0. The referee was Johan Narvestad.

Norway has competed eleven times in the Olympic games, but as of 2014 has yet to win a medal. Their best result was in 1972 when they finished in 8th place.

In the 1980 Winter Olympics, the team competed in the top division for the first time since 1952. They lost their first four games of the tournament against Czechoslovakia (11-0), West Germany (10-4), USA (5-1) and Sweden (7-1), before coming from behind to tie Romania (3-3) for a point in the standings.

Today, Norway competes in the top division for the World Championships.