Prior to joining the National Hockey League’s New York Rangers in 1982, left winger Chris Kontos developed his ice hockey career in Ontario, playing with the North York Flames (1979-1980), the Sudbury Wolves (1980-1982), and the Toronto Marlboros (1981-1983). From 1982 through 1985 he suited up for 78 games with the Rangers, but also spent time with the Central Hockey League’s Tulsa Oilers (1983-1984) and the American Hockey League’s New Haven Nighthawks (1984-1988, 1989-1990). Following a 36-game stint in Finland with Ilves Tampere, he returned to the United States where he split the 1987-1988 season between the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins and Los Angeles Kings, the International Hockey League’s Muskegon Lumberjacks, and the Nighthawks. He stuck with the Kings until 1990, but also went abroad to Switzerland during 1988-1989 to skate with EHC Kloten. It was during this season that he pulled off his most memorable feat, scoring nine goals in eleven playoff matches with the Kings.
Despite this, however, Kontos spent the next year in the minor leagues, with the IHL’s Phoenix Roadrunners, and then decided to join the Canadian national team in 1991. After returning from a seven-game stint with Italy’s HC Courmaosta, he signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning for his final NHL season in 1992. His next stop was the 1994 Winter Olympics, where Canada won a silver medal in the ice hockey tournament, and Kontos scored three goals in eight games. For the remainder of his career he skated with Sweden’s Skelleftea AIK HK (1994-1995), the IHL’s Cincinnati Cyclones (1995-1997), Quebec Rafales (1996-1997), and Manitoba Moose (1996-1997), and Germany’s Revier Lowen Oberhausen (1997-1998). He now owns a marketing company and helped develop the first rechargeable powered handheld skate sharpener that is planned to be released in 2010.
Canada