Peter Bondra
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Position | Winger |
| Shoots | Left |
| Nickname | Bonzai |
| Height Weight |
6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 200 lb (91 kg) |
| NHL Team F. Teams |
Chicago Blackhawks Washington Capitals Ottawa Senators Atlanta Thrashers |
| Nationality | SVK |
| Born | February 7, 1968, Lutsk, USSR |
| NHL Draft | 156th overall, 1990 Washington Capitals |
| Pro Career | 1990 – present |
Peter Bondra (Born February 7, 1968 in Lutsk, Ukraine, U.S.S.R.) is a Slovak professional ice-hockey player for the Chicago Blackhawks.
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[edit] Life and family
When he was 3 years old, his family moved back to Czechoslovakia from Ukraine where his parents moved for work in late 60's. Since 1982, he and his two older brothers Vladimír and Juraj, were raised only by mom Nadežda as their dad passed away in that year. He was still a soviet citizen when he arrived to USA, later obtaining the slovak passport and citizenship in 1993. Peter is married to his wife Luba, they have a daughter Petra and two sons, David and Nicholas. The family resides in Crofton, Maryland.
[edit] Playing career
Peter was drafted by the Capitals in 1990, 156 overall, but before joining the team in 1990/91 season he played for hockey team TJ VSŽ Košice (now called HC Košice) for four seasons from 1986/87 in Czechoslovakia. In Washington, Bondra blossomed to become one of the more prolific goal-scorers of the 1990's, while trying to fullfill his dream of winning the Stanley Cup. His best chance to do so came in 1997-98, when the Capitals advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals before losing 0-4 to Detroit. In the 2004 season, Bondra's 14th with Washington, the Capitals endured a disappointing year and in a salary purge move traded veteran members of the team to contenders. Bondra was traded to the Ottawa Senators for Brooks Laich and a second round draft pick.
Over his career, he has been renowned for his exceptional skills. In 14 years with the Capitals, he has scored 472 goals and has racked up 353 assists in 961 games. He holds Capitals team records in goals (472), points (825), power-play goals (137), game-winning goals (73), short-handed goals (32) and hat tricks (19). With the Caps he appeared in five all-star games (1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999). In 1997 and 1999 Bondra won the Fastest Skater Competition on All-Star weekend. In 2004, the Capitals held a vote for fans to determine the top 30 players in franchise history to celebrate their 30th season in the league. Bondra finished second with 2,018 votes. The winner, Olaf Kolzig, beat him by a mere 20 votes.
For his goal-scoring ability, he is nicknamed "Bonzai" and occasionally "The Slovakian Sniper" (for instance, he once scored a goal by shooting the puck off the glass boards behind the goal, which in turn bounced off the back of the attending goalie and into the net). During the 1994-1995 (with 34 in a strike-shortened season) and 1997-1998 seasons (with 52), he led the league in goals scored.
After the 2004-2005 NHL season was canceled due to the NHL labor dispute, Bondra played a handful of games with HK Tatravagónka ŠKP Poprad of the Slovak Extraliga. Prior to the 2005-2006 NHL season, Bondra was in talks to possibly rejoin the Capitals. He ended up signing with the Atlanta Thrashers.
On December 10th Bondra signed a one-year contract with the Chicago Blackhawks.
[edit] Career statistics
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | +/- | PP | SH | GW | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
| 1990-91 | Washington | NHL | 54 | 12 | 16 | 28 | 47 | -10 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 1991-92 | Washington | NHL | 71 | 28 | 28 | 56 | 42 | +16 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 4 | ||
| 1992-93 | Washington | NHL | 83 | 37 | 48 | 85 | 70 | +8 | 10 | 0 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 0 | ||
| 1993-94 | Washington | NHL | 69 | 24 | 19 | 43 | 40 | +22 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 4 | ||
| 1994-95 | Washington | NHL | 47 | 34 | 9 | 43 | 24 | +9 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 10 | ||
| 1995-96 | Washington | NHL | 67 | 52 | 28 | 80 | 40 | +18 | 11 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 8 | ||
| 1996-97 | Washington | NHL | 77 | 46 | 31 | 77 | 72 | +7 | 10 | 4 | 3 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1997-98 | Washington | NHL | 76 | 52 | 26 | 78 | 44 | +14 | 11 | 5 | 13 | 17 | 7 | 5 | 12 | 12 | ||
| 1998-99 | Washington | NHL | 66 | 31 | 24 | 55 | 56 | -1 | 6 | 3 | 5 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1999-00 | Washington | NHL | 62 | 21 | 17 | 38 | 30 | +5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 2000-01 | Washington | NHL | 82 | 45 | 36 | 81 | 60 | +8 | 22 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | ||
| 2001-02 | Washington | NHL | 77 | 39 | 31 | 70 | 80 | -2 | 17 | 1 | 8 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 2002-03 | Washington | NHL | 76 | 30 | 26 | 56 | 52 | -3 | 9 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 8 | ||
| 2003-04 | Washington | NHL | 54 | 21 | 14 | 35 | 22 | -17 | 12 | 0 | 4 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 2003-04 | Ottawa | NHL | 23 | 5 | 9 | 14 | 16 | +1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 2005-06 | Atlanta | NHL | 60 | 21 | 18 | 39 | 40 | -3 | 8 | 0 | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 15 years | Totals | NHL | 1044 | 498 | 380 | 878 | 735 | +72 | 147 | 32 | 75 | 80 | 30 | 26 | 56 | 60 | ||
[edit] International play
Bondra has represented Slovakia on four occasions in international competition, including the 1998 Winter Olympics, the 1996 World Cup of Hockey and the Ice Hockey World Championships in 2002 and 2003. He scored a tournament-leading seven goals (scored the tournament-winning goal 100 seconds to go in third period) and ranked third among all players with nine points to lead Slovakia 4-3 over Russia to the gold medal at the 2002 World Championships. He notched five points (three goals, two assists) in eight games to help Slovakia earn the bronze medal at the 2003 World Championships. Totally he played 47 games and scored 35 goals on international level for Slovakia.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by: Keith Tkachuk |
NHL Goal Leader
(tied with Teemu Selänne) |
Succeeded by: Teemu Selänne |
| Preceded by: Pavel Bure |
NHL Goal Leader 1995 |
Succeeded by: Mario Lemieux |
