Krzysztof Oliwa
Krzysztof Artur Oliwa ( born April 12, 1973 as Krzysztof Grabowski in Tychy ) is a retired Polish ice hockey player, who in his active from 1990 to 2006 include 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 regarded as so-called enforcer and had in the course of his career over 400 fights.
Career
After good performances at GKS Katowice GKS Tychy in Poland and one in North America had also become aware of him. Thus, the New Jersey Devils selected him in the NHL Entry Draft in 1993 in the third round as 65th out. He promptly moved to North America. His first teams there were the Albany River Rats in the Saint John Flames of the American Hockey League, the Raleigh IceCaps in the East Coast Hockey League and the Detroit Vipers of the International Hockey League. He always knew to use his body and after he had seen in Albany with over 300 penalty minutes stir, he came in the 1996/97 season for his NHL debut. The following year, he sat down by the NHL and played three seasons for the Devils. Although he denied any of the playoff games for the Devils, he is listed as Stanley Cup winner, making it the first and only Pole who could win the Cup.
For the season 2000/ 01 he moved to the Columbus Blue Jackets, but an injury caused him to come only ten appearances for the Blue Jackets, before he moved to the Pittsburgh Penguins on. Here he remained until the end of the 2001/02 season. There was a change to the New York Rangers, but after he often had to go to AHL farm team to the Hartford Wolf Pack, soon followed by the next change to the Boston Bruins. The 2003/04 season he spent with the Calgary Flames. When the NHL went on strike a year later, he went during the lockout back in his native Poland and won by Podhale Nowy Targ 2005 Polish Cup competition. Following the resumption of gaming operations in the NHL for the 2005/06 season to the Devils back, but played only three games before he ended his career.
Internationally
For Poland Oliwa took part in the junior level at the U18 European Junior Championships in 1991 and the U20 Junior B World Cup 1992. In the senior level, he stood in his country's squad for the A- World Cup 2002.
Awards and achievements
- 2000 Stanley Cup win with the New Jersey Devils
- 2005 Polish Cup winner with Podhale Nowy Targ
NHL stats
Private
In September 2007, Oliwa came into conflict with the law after he had assaulted his girlfriend massive. She had a gebrochenene nose, had strangulation marks on the neck and the whole body was covered with bruises. Oliwa was threatened with imprisonment from three months to five years because of this.