Krzysztof Oliwa

Krzysztof Oliwa
Date of birth	April 12, 1973
place of birth	Tychy , Poland
Nickname	The Polish Hammer
size	196 cm
Weight	111 kg
position	Left wing
Shot hand	Left
Draft
NHL Entry Draft	1993 , 3rd round, 65th position New Jersey Devils
Career stations
until 1991	GKS Katowice
1991-1992	GKS Tychy
1992-1993	Welland Cougars
1993-1997	Albany River Rats
1997-2000	New Jersey Devils
2000-2001	Columbus Blue Jackets
2001-2002	Pittsburgh Penguins
2002-2003	New York Rangers
2003	Boston Bruins
2003-2004	Calgary Flames
2004-2005	Podhale Nowy Targ
2005-2006	New Jersey Devils

Krzysztof Artur Oliwa (* 12. April 1973 as Krzysztof Grabowski in Tychy ) is a former Polish ice hockey player , who in his active period from 1990 to 2006, including for the New Jersey Devils , Columbus Blue Jackets , Pittsburgh Penguins , New York Rangers , Boston Bruins and Calgary Flames played in the National Hockey League . He was known as an enforcer and had over 400 fights in the course of his career.

Career

After good performances at GKS Katowice and GKS Tychy in Poland, he was also noticed in North America. The New Jersey Devils selected him in the third round of the 1993 NHL Entry Draft as 65th. He also promptly moved to North America. His first teams there were the Albany River Rats in the Saint John Flames in the American Hockey League , the Raleigh IceCaps in the East Coast Hockey League and the Detroit Vipers in the International Hockey League . He always knew how to use his body and after causing a stir in Albany with over 300 penalty minutes, he made his NHL debut in the 1996/97 season . The following year he prevailed in the NHL and played three seasons for the Devils. Although he did not play any of the playoff games for the Devils, he is listed as the Stanley Cup winner, making him the first and so far only Pole to win the cup.

For the 2000/01 season he moved to the Columbus Blue Jackets , but an injury only made him ten appearances for the Blue Jackets before he moved on to the Pittsburgh Penguins . Here he stayed until the end of the 2001/02 season . A move to the New York Rangers followed , but after he often had to join the AHL farm team for the Hartford Wolf Pack , the next move to the Boston Bruins soon followed . He spent the 2003/04 season with the Calgary Flames . When the NHL went on strike a year later, he went back to his Polish homeland during the lockout and won the Polish Cup competition with Podhale Nowy Targ in 2005. After resumption of play in the NHL for the 2005/06 season back to the Devils, but only played three games before ending his career.

International

For Poland , Oliwa took part in the junior division at the U18 European Junior Championship in 1991 and the U20 Junior B World Championship in 1992 . In the senior sector, he was in his country's squad at the 2002 World Cup .

Achievements and Awards

• 2000 Stanley Cup win with the New Jersey Devils
• 2005 Polish Cup winner with Podhale Nowy Targ

NHL statistics

	Seasons	Games	Gates	Assists	Points	Penalty minutes
Regular season	9	410	17th	28	45	1447
Playoffs	1	32	2	0	2	47

Private

In September 2007, Oliwa came into conflict with the law after massively attacking his girlfriend. She had a broken nose, choking marks on her neck, and bruises all over her body. As a result, Oliwa faced imprisonment from three months to five years.

Web links

• Krzysztof Oliwa at hockeydb.com (English)
• Krzysztof Oliwa at legendsofhockey.net (English)
• Krzysztof Oliwa at eliteprospects.com (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ sporty-walki.org, OLIWA: NIE BOJĘ SIĘ NIKOGO
2. ↑ Dodaj Komentarz: Słynny hokeista skatował swoją concubine. In: sport.dziennik.pl. November 5, 2007, accessed December 6, 2017 .