Petri Kontiola

Petri Kontiola
Kontiola in 2013
Born (1984-10-04) October 4, 1984 (age 40)
Seinäjoki, Finland
Height 6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight 203 lb (92 kg; 14 st 7 lb)
Position Centre
Shoots Right
Liiga team
Former teams		 Ilves
Tappara
Chicago Blackhawks
Metallurg Magnitogorsk
Traktor Chelyabinsk
Toronto Marlies
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl
Jokerit
HPK
National team  Finland
NHL draft 196th overall, 2004
Chicago Blackhawks
Playing career 2003–present

Petri Kontiola (born October 4, 1984) is a Finnish professional ice hockey centre currently playing for Ilves of the Liiga. Kontiola has previously played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Chicago Blackhawks, the organization that drafted him 196th overall in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft.

Playing career

Kontiola was drafted 196th overall in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft by the Chicago Blackhawks while playing for Tappara in the Finnish SM-liiga. He played professionally for four years with Tappara before making his North American debut for Chicago during the 2007–08 season.

Kontiola started out with the Blackhawks' American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs, before playing in his first career NHL game on November 25, 2007, against the Vancouver Canucks.

On March 4, 2009, Kontiola was traded by the Blackhawks, along with James Wisniewski, to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for Samuel Påhlsson, Logan Stephenson and a conditional draft pick in 2009.[1] He was immediately sent down to the Ducks' AHL affiliate, the Iowa Chops, where he played for the remainder of the 2008–09 season.

On May 26, 2009, Kontiola left North America after signing with Russian club Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) on a two-year contract.[2]

On May 3, 2011, Kontiola signed a two-year contract with KHL rival Traktor Chelyabinsk.[3]

On July 3, 2014, Kontiola bought his release from Traktor and signed a one-year contract as a free agent with the Toronto Maple Leafs.[4] He attended Toronto's training camp but failed to make an impression and on September 29, was assigned to the Toronto Marlies, the Maple Leafs' AHL affiliate.[5] In the 2014–15 season, after 11 scoreless games with the Marlies, Kontiola was placed on unconditional waivers in order to terminate his contract and return to the KHL on November 20.[6] Three days later, Kontiola's KHL rights were traded by Traktor to Lokomotiv Yaroslavl in exchange for Alexei Kruchinin and Yegor Martynov.[7] Kontiola then signed a two-year contract with Yaroslavl on November 28.[8]

After five seasons with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, Kontiola left as a free agent following the 2018–19 season. He signed a one-year contract to continue in the KHL, returning to Finland to join Jokerit on May 1, 2019.[9]

International play

Medal record
Representing  Finland
Ice hockey
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Sochi
World Championships
Silver medal – second place 2007 Russia
Silver medal – second place 2014 Belarus
Silver medal – second place 2021 Latvia
World Junior Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2004 Finland

Kontiola made his international debut for Finland's junior team at the 2004 World Junior Championships in Helsinki, scoring 2 points in 7 games to help earn a bronze medal. He was later named to the men's 2007 IIHF World Championship team in Russia to make his senior debut. He finished among the Finnish leaders with 7 points in 9 games as Finland lost in the final to Canada to earn silver.[10]

Kontiola returned to the Finnish team three year later when he was selected for the 2010 IIHF World Championship tournament held in Germany. In seven games, he scored three goals before Finland was eliminated on May 20, 2010, after Kontiola missed a penalty-shot in the quarterfinal shootout against the Czech Republic.[11]

Kontiola was named to Finnish roster for competition at the 2014 IIHF World Championship.[12]

Kontiola played in the 2021 IIHF World Championship, where he won his third silver medal. His mistake during the overtime period of the gold medal game led to Nick Paul scoring the tournament-winning goal for team Canada.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2000–01 S–Kiekko FIN.2 U18 14 13 12 25 4 — — — — —
2001–02 Tappara FIN U18 22 5 3 8 8 2 1 0 1 2
2002–03 Tappara FIN U20 36 7 10 17 12 8 3 3 6 0
2003–04 Tappara FIN U20 12 3 12 15 8 10 4 4 8 10
2003–04 Tappara SM-l 39 4 9 13 29 3 1 1 2 0
2003–04 Suomi U20 Mestis 6 1 1 2 4 — — — — —
2004–05 Tappara FIN U20 1 1 0 1 0 — — — — —
2004–05 Tappara SM-l 54 8 17 25 24 8 2 2 4 4
2005–06 Tappara SM-l 56 9 35 44 55 6 1 3 4 0
2006–07 Tappara SM-l 51 12 35 47 50 5 1 3 4 8
2007–08 Rockford IceHogs AHL 66 18 50 68 32 12 5 5 10 4
2007–08 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 12 0 5 5 6 — — — — —
2008–09 Rockford IceHogs AHL 61 15 38 53 22 — — — — —
2008–09 Iowa Chops AHL 20 4 5 9 8 — — — — —
2009–10 Metallurg Magnitogorsk KHL 54 7 15 22 24 10 2 2 4 0
2010–11 Metallurg Magnitogorsk KHL 54 14 34 48 36 16 2 6 8 14
2011–12 Traktor Chelyabinsk KHL 53 15 22 37 34 16 3 5 8 37
2012–13 Traktor Chelyabinsk KHL 44 12 19 31 51 25 10 9 19 12
2013–14 Traktor Chelyabinsk KHL 53 15 22 37 34 — — — — —
2014–15 Toronto Marlies AHL 11 0 0 0 6 — — — — —
2014–15 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl KHL 26 1 10 11 12 6 0 0 0 0
2015–16 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl KHL 48 7 25 32 24 — — — — —
2016–17 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl KHL 59 18 22 40 34 15 2 6 8 14
2017–18 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl KHL 52 11 16 27 24 9 1 4 5 4
2018–19 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl KHL 41 9 12 21 10 — — — — —
2019–20 Jokerit KHL 61 11 24 35 36 4 1 0 1 0
2020–21 HPK Liiga 55 14 41 55 54 — — — — —
2021–22 Ilves Liiga 52 8 30 38 40 13 1 6 7 6
Liiga totals 307 55 167 222 252 35 6 15 21 16
NHL totals 12 0 5 5 6 — — — — —
KHL totals 545 120 221 341 319 101 21 33 54 81

International

Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM
2004 Finland WJC 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 7 1 1 2 2
2007 Finland WC 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 9 2 5 7 2
2010 Finland WC 6th 7 3 0 3 2
2012 Finland WC 4th 10 0 2 2 4
2013 Finland WC 4th 10 8 8 16 8
2014 Finland OG 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 6 1 4 5 0
2014 Finland WC 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 10 3 6 9 20
2015 Finland WC 6th 8 1 1 2 2
2018 Finland OG 6th 5 2 4 6 6
2021 Finland WC 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 10 0 3 3 2
Junior totals 7 1 1 2 2
Senior totals 75 20 33 53 46

References

  1. ^ "'Hawks get veteran center Pahlsson". nhl.com. March 4, 2009. Retrieved March 4, 2009.
  2. ^ "Kontiola leaves NHL for Russia". iltasanomat.fi (in Finnish). May 26, 2009. Archived from the original on May 31, 2009. Retrieved May 30, 2009.
  3. ^ "Petri Kontiola moves from Metallurg Magnitogorsk to Traktor Chelyabinsk". Sports.ru. May 3, 2011. Retrieved May 3, 2011.
  4. ^ "Leafs sign F Kontiola, Santorelli, Bodie to one-year deals". The Sports Network. July 3, 2014. Retrieved July 3, 2014.
  5. ^ "Maple Leafs send Kontiola to AHL after disappointing training camp". Sportsnet.ca. September 29, 2014. Retrieved September 29, 2014.
  6. ^ "Maple Leafs' Frattin clears waivers, Kontiola waived for purposes of termination". The Sports Network. November 20, 2014. Retrieved November 20, 2014.
  7. ^ "Petri Kontiola to continue his career in Yaroslavl". championat.com (in Russian). November 23, 2014. Retrieved November 23, 2014.
  8. ^ "Recruits in the attack" (in Russian). Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. November 28, 2014. Archived from the original on December 1, 2014. Retrieved November 28, 2014.
  9. ^ "Petri Kontiola to Jokerit" (in Finnish). Jokerit. May 1, 2019. Retrieved May 1, 2019.
  10. ^ "Canada wins World Hockey Championship". CBC.ca. May 13, 2007. Retrieved July 13, 2010.
  11. ^ "Czechs send Finns packing after a penalty shootout, 2-1". IIHF. May 20, 2010. Archived from the original on December 28, 2010. Retrieved July 13, 2010.
  12. ^ "Roster forming - 2014 WM - International Ice Hockey Federation IIHF". iihfworlds2014.com. Retrieved May 9, 2014.