Akim Aliu
Template: Infobox Eishockeyspieler/Ländercode2Vorlage: Infobox ice hockey player / file type
Akim Aliu ( born April 24, 1989 in Okene ) is a Canadian- Ukrainian- Nigerian hockey player who plays since October 2011 at the Abbotsford Heat in the American Hockey League on the position of the right winger.
Career
Aliu was born in Nigeria and moved at the age of eleven years with his parents to Toronto, Canada. However, the main part of his childhood was spent in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, his mother's hometown. Also studied his father at the local university. His first experience on skates he collected at the age of ten years.
At the age of 16 years Aliu was selected by the Windsor Spitfires in the OHL Priority Selection first round in the 2005 Draft. However, he remained only three months in Windsor and was issued after problems with his teammates for the Sudbury Wolves. The 2006/07 season he spent with the Wolves. On 1 June 2007 Sudbury transferred the winger also, which he played from the 2007/ 08 season with the London Knights. In the NHL Entry Draft 2007 Aliu was selected as the second born in Nigeria players after Rumun Ndur, in the second round to 56th by the Chicago Blackhawks. In the game year 2007/ 08 he completed his best season so far in the OHL and was taken in August 2008 by the Chicago Blackhawks for three years under contract. Previously, he had already made his professional debut with the Rockford IceHogs in the American Hockey League.
However, the 2008/09 season he played in the OHL, where he was to his former team, the Sudbury Wolves, transferred from the London Knights in the course of the season. Aliu contributed in Sudbury 26 scorer points in 29 games in and reached the first round of the playoffs. After the retirement he joined again to the Rockford IceHogs of the AHL professional league. During the 2009/10 season he played in parallel for Rockford in the AHL and the Toledo Walleye in the ECHL. In the summer of 2010, he was discharged in a comprehensive transfer business of the Chicago Blackhawks to the Atlanta Thrashers. In their AHL farm team Chicago Wolves, he began the 2010/11 season, scoring five goals in 43 games and four assists. He also stood in parallel in 16 games for Chicago's partner Gwinnett Gladiators in the ECHL on the ice, for which he twelve gates, and eight assists contributed in this period. In March 2011 he transferred within the AHL with the Peoria Rivermen, with whom he had to retire in the first playoff round at the end of the season. On 30 January 2012, the Winnipeg Jets him transferred in exchange for defender John Negrin to the Calgary Flames. At their farm team, the Abbotsford Heat, he had played in the AHL since October 2011 on loan.
Awards and achievements
- 2007 CHL Top Prospects Game
- 2011 European Trophy prize with the EC Red Bull Salzburg
Career Stats
( Key to Career statistics: Sp or GP = Games Played, T or G = goals scored, V or A = achieved assists; Pts or Pts = scored points scorer, SM or PIM = received penalty minutes, / - = Plus / Minus balance sheet; PP = scored majority gates; SH = scored shorthanded goals, GW = achieved victory gates; Play-downs/Relegation 1 )