Stefan Liv

Goalie Stefan Liv was born in Poland, but was given up to an orphanage and was then adopted by a Swedish family when he was 2-years-old. After playing with HC Dalen and HV71 during his youth and junior career, Liv débuted at the Swedish Championships with HV71 during the 1999/2000 season. After being on loan with Tranås AIF, Liv played with HV71 from 2000-06 and won the Swedish title with them in 2004. Liv was drafted by the Detroit Red Wings of the NHL in 2000 and moved overseas for the 2006/07 season, but he never played for the Red Wings, instead spending that season with the Red Wings AHL (American Hockey League) affiliate Grand Rapids Griffins and ECHL (East Coast Hockey League) affiliate Toledo Storm.

The next season Liv returned to HV71 and played there until 2010, winning two more Swedish titles in 2008 and 2010. He was also awarded the 2008 Goldpucken as Player-of-the-Year at the Swedish Eliteserien. In 2010, Liv joined HC Sibir in Russia and in 2011 was traded to Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. Liv débuted with the Swedish national team in 2000 and won Olympic gold and a World title in 2006. He also won a World Championships silver in 2004 and bronzes in 2002 and 2009.

On 7 September 2011, Liv was killed when a passenger aircraft, carrying nearly the entire Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team, crashed just outside Yaroslavl. The team was traveling to Minsk to play their opening game of the season, with its coaching staff and prospects. From the 2012–13 season, the Swedish Hockey League’s playoff MVP award was renamed the Stefan Liv Memorial Trophy in his honor and in 2013 a street was named after him in Jönköping, where Liv played most of his career with HV71.