The Hockey Unknows : Mike McPhee

Michael Joseph McPhee (born July 14, 1960 in Sydney, Nova Scotia and raised in River Bourgeois, Nova Scotia) is a retired Canadian ice hockey forward.


He began his professional career with the AHL’s Nova Scotia Voyageurs after being selected in the sixth-round (124th overall) of the 1980 NHL Entry Draft by the Montreal Canadiens.^[1]

He began his NHL career with Montreal in 1984. McPhee was a member of Montreal's Stanley Cup winning team in 1986. His best NHL season came in 1987-88, with linemates Guy Carbonneau and Russ Courtnall, when he scored 23 goals and 43 points. The following season, he took part in the only NHL All-Star Game of his career.

He was also a three-time winner of the Jacques Beauchamp Trophy as the Montreal Canadiens’ unsung hero.^[2]

McPhee also played with the Minnesota North Stars and Dallas Stars before a knee injury forced him to retire following the 1993-94 season.

McPhee earned a civil engineering degree at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he was a standout player for the Engineers before making his professional debut in 1982. After retiring from the NHL, he went back to school to complete his MBA.^[3] He is currently working as a financial advisor for National Bank of Canada in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

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The Hockey Unknows : Chris Kontos

Christopher T. Kontos (born December 10, 1963 in Toronto, Ontario) is a former National Hockey League forward who is best known for his surprising 9 goals in 11 playoff games while he was a member of the Los Angeles Kings and his shocking franchise opening night 4 goal performance (with the Tampa Bay Lightning) against that season's Vezina Trophy winner Ed Belfour.
During the 1981–82 OHL season he scored 42 goals, and after the season was drafted with the 15th selection in the first round of the 1982 NHL Entry Draft by the New York Rangers. He split his time in both the NHL and minor leagues in his first two seasons.

He was member of the Tulsa Oilers (CHL) team that suspended operations on February 16, 1984, playing only road games for final six weeks of 1983-84 season. Despite this adversity, the team went on to win the league's championship.^[1] Kontos spent the first half of 1985–86 playing in Finland before returning to finish the year in the AHL. On January 21, 1987, Kontos was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Ron Duguay, finishing his tenure with the Rangers with 38 points in 78 games. He would score 25 points in 67 games with the Penguins over two seasons before being dealt to the Los Angeles Kings on February 5, 1988.

He played only six regular season games for the Kings in 87–88 tallying 12 points (another career highlight was a 6 point game against Chicago where Kontos had 1 goal and 5 assists), and scored a goal in his first NHL playoffs. The following year, after returning from playing in Switzerland he scored three points in seven games, and his 9 playoff goals would help the Kings advance to the second round. He played only 11 games (6 regular season, 5 playoff) with Los Angeles after the 1988–89 playoff run, and decided to join the Canadian National Team in 1991–92.

When the Tampa Bay Lightning started play in 1992–93, Kontos signed on as a free agent. His surprising 4 goal-performance led the upstart Tampa Bay Lightning to a 7–3 shocker of the Chicago Blackhawks on October 7, 1992. He scored 27 goals in 66 games, second only to Brian Bradley. His Lightning record 4 goals in one game has since been tied by Martin St. Louis in 2014. He would return to the National Team in 93–94, help Canada win a silver medal at the 1994 Olympics losing to Sweden in a heartbreaking shoot out after overtime. Kontos continued to play in Sweden for(Skellefteå AIK 94-95), the IHL and Germany before retiring in 1998.

 

 

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He won the 1983-84 CHL Championship (Adams Cup) as a member of the Tulsa Oilers ^[2] team coached by Tom Webster.

 

 

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