Petri Kontiola (born October 4, 1984) is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

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 h ...

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics * Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentri ...

currently playing for

Ilves Ilves (; Finnish for "Lynx") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Tampere. They play in the Liiga at the Tampere Deck Arena. The colors of Ilves, green, yellow, and black, were taken from what was then the coat of arms of the cit ...

of the

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 lea ...

. Kontiola has previously played in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL) for 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 ...

, the organization that drafted him 196th overall in the

2004 NHL Entry Draft The 2004 NHL Entry Draft was the 42nd NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 26 and 27, 2004 at the RBC Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. It is especially notable because it was the last NHL event to take place before the beginning of the lockout ...

Playing career

Kontiola was drafted 196th overall in the

by the

while playing for

Tappara Tappara (; Finnish for "Battle axe") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team playing in the Liiga. They play at ''Tampere Deck Arena'' in Tampere, Finland. The team has won 18 Finnish league championships (1959, 1961, 1964, 1975, 1977, 1979, ...

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 ...

. 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 The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...

(AHL) affiliate, the

Rockford IceHogs The Rockford IceHogs are a professional ice hockey team based in Rockford, Illinois. They are members of the American Hockey League (AHL), having begun play in the League starting in the 2007–08 season. The team plays their home games at the ...

, before playing in his first career NHL game on November 25, 2007, against the

Vancouver Canucks The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and ...

. On March 4, 2009, Kontiola was traded by the Blackhawks, along with

James Wisniewski James Joseph Wisniewski (born February 21, 1984) is an American professional ice hockey defenseman who is currently an unrestricted free agent. He most recently played for the Kassel Huskies of the German DEL2. He has previously played in the Na ...

, to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for

Samuel Påhlsson Samuel Olof Påhlsson (; born December 17, 1977) is a Swedish former professional ice hockey player who last played with Modo Hockey of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). Påhlsson spent the majority of his playing career in the National Hockey Le ...

, Logan Stephenson and a conditional draft pick in 2009. He was immediately sent down to the Ducks' AHL affiliate, the

Iowa Chops The Iowa Stars, later known as the Iowa Chops, were a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. The club was based in Des Moines, Iowa at the Wells Fargo Arena. History The Stars were founded by Howard Baldwin, of Hockey Holdi ...

, 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 Metallurg Magnitogorsk (russian: Металлург Магнитогорск) is a professional ice hockey team based in Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. They are members of the Kharlamov Division of the Kontinental Hockey League. They ...

of the

Kontinental Hockey League The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; russian: Континентальная хоккейная лига (КХЛ), Kontinental'naya khokkeynaya liga) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs ba ...

(KHL) on a two-year contract. On May 3, 2011, Kontiola signed a two-year contract with KHL rival

Traktor Chelyabinsk Traktor Chelyabinsk, also known as Traktor (russian: Трактор), is a professional ice hockey team based in Chelyabinsk, Russia. They are members of the Kharlamov Division of the Eastern Conference of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). ...

. 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 The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

. He attended Toronto's training camp but failed to make an impression and on September 29, was assigned to the

Toronto Marlies The Toronto Marlies are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the American Hockey League (AHL) as a member of the North Division of the Eastern Conference. The Marlies is owned by Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment, a c ...

, the Maple Leafs' AHL affiliate. 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. Three days later, Kontiola's KHL rights were traded by Traktor to

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl Hockey Club Lokomotiv (russian: ХК Локомотив, en, Locomotive HC), also known as Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, is a Russian professional ice hockey team, based in the city of Yaroslavl, playing in the top level Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) ...

in exchange for Alexei Kruchinin and Yegor Martynov. Kontiola then signed a two-year contract with Yaroslavl on November 28. 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.

International play

Kontiola made his international debut for Finland's junior team at the 2004 World Junior Championships in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

, scoring 2 points in 7 games to help earn a bronze medal. He was later named to the men's

2007 IIHF World Championship The 2007 IIHF World Championship was held between 27 April and 13 May 2007 in Moscow, Russia. It was the 71st annual world championship event run by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). The tournament was won by Canada with Rick N ...

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 Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

to earn silver. Kontiola returned to the Finnish team three year later when he was selected for the

2010 IIHF World Championship The 2010 IIHF World Championship was the 74th IIHF World Championship, an annual international ice hockey tournament. It took place between 7 and 23 May 2010 in Germany. The games were played in the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, SAP Arena in Mannh ...

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 The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. Kontiola was named to Finnish roster for competition at the

2014 IIHF World Championship The 2014 IIHF World Championship was hosted by Belarus in its capital, Minsk, held from 9–25 May 2014. Sixteen national teams were competing in two venues, the Minsk-Arena and Chizhovka-Arena. It was the first time Belarus hosted the tournamen ...

. Kontiola played in the

2021 IIHF World Championship The 2021 IIHF World Championship () took place from 21 May to 6 June 2021. It was originally to be co-hosted by Minsk, Belarus and Riga, Latvia, as the IIHF announced on 19 May 2017 in Cologne, Germany. Their joint bid won by a very tight margi ...

, 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

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kontiola, Petri 1984 births Living people Chicago Blackhawks draft picks Chicago Blackhawks players Finnish expatriate ice hockey players in Russia Finnish ice hockey centres HPK players Ice hockey players at the 2014 Winter Olympics Ilves players Iowa Stars players Jokerit players Lokomotiv Yaroslavl players Metallurg Magnitogorsk players Medalists at the 2014 Winter Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Finland Olympic ice hockey players of Finland Olympic medalists in ice hockey People from Seinäjoki Rockford IceHogs (AHL) players Tappara players Toronto Marlies players Traktor Chelyabinsk players Ice hockey players at the 2018 Winter Olympics Sportspeople from South Ostrobothnia