Keith Raymond "Huffer" Christiansen (July 14, 1944 – November 5, 2018) was a professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

player who appeared in 138

World Hockey Association The World Hockey Association (french: Association mondiale de hockey) was a professional ice hockey major league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major league to compete with the National Hockey League (NHL) ...

(WHA) regular season games with the

Minnesota Fighting Saints The Minnesota Fighting Saints was the name of two professional ice hockey teams based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, that played in the World Hockey Association. The first team was one of the WHA's original twelve franchises, playing from 1972 to 19 ...

between 1972 and 1974. Before turning professional, he was a member of the United States'

1972 Winter Olympics The 1972 Winter Olympics, officially the and commonly known as Sapporo 1972 ( ja, 札幌1972), was a winter multi-sport event held from February 3 to 13, 1972, in Sapporo, Japan. It was the first Winter Olympic Games to take place outside Europe ...

team that won the silver medal and also represented the United States at the 1969, 1970 and 1971

Ice Hockey World Championships The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). First officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics, it is the sport's highest profile annua ...

. Christiansen was born in

Fort Frances Fort Frances is a town in, and the seat of, Rainy River District in Northwestern Ontario, Canada. The population as of the 2016 census was 7,739. Fort Frances is a popular fishing destination. It hosts the annual Fort Frances Canadian Bass Cham ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. He played hockey in high school for

International Falls, Minnesota International Falls (sometimes referred to as I-Falls) is a city in and the county seat of Koochiching County, Minnesota. The population was 5,802 at the time of the 2020 census. International Falls is located on the Rainy River directly acro ...

then went to

University of Minnesota Duluth The University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) is a public university in Duluth, Minnesota. It is part of the University of Minnesota system and offers 16 bachelor's degrees in 88 majors, graduate programs in 25 different fields, and a two-year progr ...

where he was captain of the hockey team. He is one of the more famed UMD Bulldogs; Christensen is in the UMD Hall of Fame and has his number 9, hung in Amsoil Arena where the Bulldogs currently play. He also played with the

Waterloo Black Hawks The Waterloo Black Hawks are a Tier I junior ice hockey team playing in the Western Conference of the United States Hockey League (USHL) under president and general manager P.K. O'Handley. The Black Hawks' home ice is the Young Arena in Waterl ...

and Grand Rapids Bruins of the

United States Hockey League The United States Hockey League (USHL) is the top junior ice hockey league sanctioned by USA Hockey. The league consists of 16 active teams located in the midwestern United States, for players between the ages of 16 and 21. The USHL is strictly ...

as an amateur. He was inducted into the

United States Hockey Hall of Fame The United States Hockey Hall of Fame was established in 1973 with the goal of preserving the history of ice hockey in the United States while recognizing the extraordinary contributions of select players, coaches, administrators, officials and ...

in 2005. Christiansen died in 2018 at the age of 74 from lung cancer.

Awards and honours

References

External links

*
Keith "Huffer" Christiansen
at

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Christiansen, Keith 1944 births 2018 deaths American men's ice hockey centers Canadian emigrants to the United States Deaths from lung cancer in Minnesota Ice hockey people from Ontario Ice hockey players at the 1972 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1972 Winter Olympics Minnesota Fighting Saints players Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs men's ice hockey players Olympic silver medalists for the United States in ice hockey Sportspeople from Fort Frances United States Hockey Hall of Fame inductees AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans