Kevin Kantee (born January 29, 1984) is an American born Finnish 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 ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the la ...

. He was drafted by the

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division i ...

as their sixth-round pick, #188 overall, in the

2002 NHL Entry Draft __NOTOC__ The 2002 NHL Entry Draft was the 40th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 22 and 23, 2002 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario. Two hundred and ninety-one players were drafted in total: 35 from the Ontario Hockey League (OHL); ...

. He played for

Jokerit Helsingin Jokerit (English: Jokers or Jesters) are a professional ice hockey team based in Helsinki, Finland. The team won six league championships as a member of the Finnish SM-liiga (1973, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1997, and 2002). Jokerit plays its ...

, TPS, Ilves and JYP in the Finnish

SM-liiga The SM-liiga (marketed as just Liiga from 2013 on), (Finnish for ''League'') colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. It is one of the six founding leagu ...

2003-2010, and transferred to

HDD Olimpija Ljubljana Hokejsko drsalno društvo Olimpija Ljubljana, commonly referred to as HDD Olimpija or simply Olimpija, was a Slovenian professional ice hockey club from Ljubljana. They played their home games at the Tivoli Hall. Olimpija has won 13 Yugoslav ch ...

in the

Austrian Hockey League The ICE Hockey League (International Central European Hockey League), known as the win2day ICE Hockey League for sponsorship reasons, is a Central European hockey league that also serves as the top-tier ice hockey league in Austria, it currently f ...

for the 2010-2011 season. He is currently signed with

HC Valpellice HC Valpellice Bulldogs, nicknamed "La Valpe", is a professional ice hockey team in Torre Pellice, near Turin, Italy. The team plays in the country's top division, Serie A. Serie A is also sponsored by Reebok, which provides free equipment and spor ...

in the Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

. Kantee was born to Finnish parents in

Idaho Falls, Idaho Idaho Falls (Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: Dembimbosaage) is a city in and the county seat of Bonneville County, Idaho, Bonneville County, Idaho, United States. It is the state's largest city outside the Boise metropolitan area. As of the 2020 Un ...

, U.S., and holds dual citizenship of Finland and the U.S. In an incident on October 27, 2007, Kantee was attacked by

Ässät Ässät or Ässä may refer to: * HC Ässät Pori Oy, Finnish sports club ** Porin Ässät (men's ice hockey) ** Porin Ässät (women's ice hockey) ** Porin Ässät (men's football) ** PATA (esports) *, Finnish band from Oulu *S Group, Finnish Con ...

defenceman

Matt Nickerson Matt Nickerson (born January 11, 1985) is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman who last played for Finland, Finnish second tier side TuTo Turku. He previously played for three teams in the UK's Elite Ice Hockey League, EIHL. Pl ...

in the locker room corridor in the Ässät arena after an Ilves-Ässät game. Nickerson was already serving a prior suspension, and was suspended for five more games as a result of the incident.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

1984 births Finnish ice hockey defencemen Chicago Blackhawks draft picks Jokerit players Living people People from Idaho Falls, Idaho HC TPS players Ilves players HDD Olimpija Ljubljana players Ice hockey people from Idaho American people of Finnish descent {{Finland-icehockey-defenceman-stub