Ole-Kristian Tollefsen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Position | Defence |
| Shoots | Left |
| Height Weight |
6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 211 lb (96 kg/15 st 1 lb) |
| NHL Team | Columbus Blue Jackets |
| Nationality |  Norway |
| Born | March 29, 1984 , Oslo, Norway |
| NHL Draft | 65th overall, 2002 Columbus Blue Jackets |
| Pro career | 2005 – present |
Ole-Kristian Tollefsen (born 29 March 1984 in Oslo, Norway) is a professional ice hockey player for the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League.
Contents |
[edit] Playing career
Ole-Kristian Tollefsen started his ice hockey career playing for Nes IK's youth teams, after one of his friends had talked him into it. He played for teams in the club until he turned 16, when he moved to Lillehammer, to attend Norges Toppidrettsgymnas. Tollefsen played with Lillehammer Ishockeyklubb for two seasons, spending most of that time on the senior team, instead of any of the club's two junior teams where a player his age should have spent that stage of career. During the 2001–02 season, he was a regular in the team's starting lineup as they reached fourth spot in the Norwegian Elite League, and reached the play off semi-finals for a bronze medal. He also played for both the junior teams in their playoffs, getting a silver medal with the Elder Junior(Under-20) team, and the gold medal with the Younger Junior(U-18) team. Those medals was the last thing he did in the Norwegian league system, so far in his career.
After that impressive season, Tollefsen was drafted by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the third round, 65th overall, in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft, something that made him one of the highest-drafted Norwegians ever (incidentally, the highest-drafted Norwegian ever, Dallas Stars prospect Marius Holtet, went in the second round, as the 42nd overall pick in the same draft).
The next stop for Tollefsen was the Western Hockey League where he played the next two seasons for the Brandon Wheat Kings. During his time in the WHL, he showed that he could adapt to the North American style of play. His physical style of play showed on the 2003–04 Blue Jackets training camp, when one of his hits put star player Geoff Sanderson out of play for a couple of weeks with an injury.
During the 2004–05 NHL lockout season, Tollefsen had signed for the Blue Jackets, but spent most of the season with the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League, but also had a short trip to the East Coast Hockey League where he played for the Dayton Bombers.
For the 2005–06 NHL Season he started the season in the AHL, but on November 23, he got his NHL debut in a 4–2 loss against the Phoenix Coyotes. He got an additional four games for the Blue Jackets, with two penalty minutes, before he was sent down to Syracuse again, where he spent the rest of the season.
He played in 70 of the Blue Jackets' games in the 2006–07 NHL season. On November 10, he, and fellow Norwegian NHL player Patrick Thoresen played in the first game ever to have two Norwegian players facing each other, when the Blue Jackets hosted Thoresen's Edmonton Oilers. In Ken Hitchcock's debut as the coach for the Blue Jackets, a November 24 away game against the Philadelphia Flyers, Tollefsen had his first career NHL point when he assisted on Jason Chimera's second period goal, he scored his first goal against the Chicago Blackhawks on March 20. 2007. He put up a scoring streak when he forced overtime against Detroit Red Wings in the next game, tying Espen Knutsen's Norwegian NHL record. He accumulated 125 penalty minutes during the season, including fights against Mark Smith, Joffrey Lupul, Jordin Tootoo and Bill Guerin.
Tollefsen is one of only five Norwegians to ever play in the NHL, the others being Bjørn Skaare, Anders Myrvold, Espen Knutsen, and Patrick Thoresen.
[edit] Trivia
- Tollefsen is a big fan of Lillestrøm S.K.
- Scored his first NHL goal against Chicago on March 21, 2007.
- Tollefsen is a big fan of Canadian heavy metal group, Moniker.
[edit] Career statistics
| Regular Season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
| 2002–03 | Brandon Wheat Kings | WHL | 43 | 6 | 14 | 20 | 73 | 17 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 38 | ||
| 2003–04 | Brandon Wheat Kings | WHL | 53 | 3 | 27 | 30 | 94 | 11 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 15 | ||
| 2004–05 | Syracuse Crunch | AHL | 64 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 115 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 2004–05 | Dayton Bombers | ECHL | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 2005–06 | Syracuse Crunch | AHL | 58 | 2 | 16 | 18 | 155 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 2005–06 | Columbus Blue Jackets | NHL | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 2006–07 | Columbus Blue Jackets | NHL | 70 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 123 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 2007–08 | Columbus Blue Jackets | NHL | 51 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 111 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| NHL Totals | 126 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 236 | |||||||||
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Ole-Kristian Tollefsen's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database
- Yahoo Sports
- Norwegian NHL records
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Tollefsen, Ole-Kristian |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Ice hockey player |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1984-3-29 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Oslo, Norway |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
