| Born | September 22, 1957 , Warroad, Minnesota |
| Height Weight |
5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) 170 lb (77 kg; 12 st 2 lb) |
| Position | Right wing |
| Shoots | Right |
| Pro clubs | Winnipeg Jets Washington Capitals Boston Bruins St. Louis Blues Chicago Blackhawks |
| Ntl. team |  United States |
| NHL Draft | 40th overall, 1979 Winnipeg Jets |
| Pro career | 1980 – 1993 |
| Olympic medal record | ||
| Men's ice hockey | ||
|---|---|---|
| Gold | 1980 Lake Placid | Team |
David William Christian (born May 13, 1959 in Warroad, Minnesota) is a retired American professional ice hockey forward. Christian comes from a family of hockey players. His father Bill and uncle Roger were members of the 1960 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team that won the Gold Medal. Another uncle, Gordon Christian, was a member of the 1956 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team that won the Silver Medal. Bill and Roger also were the founders, along with Hal Bakke, of the Christian Brothers Hockey Company based in Warroad, Minnesota. The company makes hockey sticks.
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Amateur career
Christian grew up playing hockey, gridiron football, and baseball, as well as competing on the track and field team, at Warroad High School. He later attended the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, North Dakota where he played for the North Dakota Fighting Sioux hockey team and played in the 1979 national championship, where North Dakota lost the championship game to the University of Minnesota and Christian's future Olympic teammate, Neal Broten.
Professional and international career
Christian is best known for being a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team that won the gold medal in an event known as the Miracle on Ice during the 1980 Winter Olympics. He also played for the U.S. national team at the 1981 Canada Cup as well as the 1981 Ice Hockey World Championship tournaments as an NHL rookie. His international career continued in the 1984 Canada Cup, 1989 Ice Hockey World Championship and 1991 Canada Cup tournaments.
Christian's professional hockey career started one week after the Miracle on Ice when he joined the Winnipeg Jets, who drafted him 40th overall in the 1979 NHL Entry Draft. Christian set and still holds the record for the fastest goal by a player in his first NHL game, scoring just 7 seconds into his first shift, electrifying the crowd. After a roller-coaster career in Winnipeg, he went on to play in the NHL with the Washington Capitals, Chicago Blackhawks, Boston Bruins and St. Louis Blues. Between 1980 and 1993, he scored 340 goals and 433 assists in 1,009 NHL regular season games.
Post career
Christian was named head coach and general manager of the United States Hockey League Fargo-Moorhead Bears near the end of the 1997–98 season and held the positions through the 1999–2000 season.
Awards and achievements
- Christian was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 2001.
- Christian played in the 1991 NHL All-Star Game
Career statistics
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
| 1977–78 | University of North Dakota | NCAA | 38 | 8 | 16 | 24 | 14 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1978–79 | University of North Dakota | NCAA | 40 | 22 | 24 | 46 | 22 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1979–80 | Winnipeg Jets | NHL | 15 | 8 | 10 | 18 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1980–81 | Winnipeg Jets | NHL | 80 | 28 | 43 | 71 | 22 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1981–82 | Winnipeg Jets | NHL | 80 | 25 | 51 | 76 | 28 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 1982–83 | Winnipeg Jets | NHL | 55 | 18 | 26 | 44 | 23 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1983–84 | Washington Capitals | NHL | 80 | 29 | 52 | 81 | 28 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 5 | ||
| 1984–85 | Washington Capitals | NHL | 80 | 26 | 43 | 69 | 14 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | ||
| 1985–86 | Washington Capitals | NHL | 80 | 41 | 42 | 83 | 15 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 0 | ||
| 1986–87 | Washington Capitals | NHL | 76 | 23 | 27 | 50 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 6 | ||
| 1987–88 | Washington Capitals | NHL | 80 | 37 | 21 | 58 | 26 | 14 | 5 | 6 | 11 | 6 | ||
| 1988–89 | Washington Capitals | NHL | 80 | 34 | 31 | 65 | 12 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | ||
| 1989–90 | Washington Capitals | NHL | 28 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1989–90 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 50 | 12 | 17 | 29 | 8 | 21 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 4 | ||
| 1990–91 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 78 | 32 | 21 | 53 | 41 | 19 | 8 | 4 | 12 | 4 | ||
| 1991–92 | St. Louis Blues | NHL | 78 | 20 | 24 | 44 | 41 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | ||
| 1992–93 | Chicago Blackhawks | NHL | 60 | 4 | 14 | 18 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1993–94 | Indianapolis Ice | IHL | 40 | 8 | 18 | 26 | 6 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1993–94 | Chicago Blackhawks | NHL | 9 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1994–95 | Minnesota Moose | IHL | 81 | 38 | 42 | 80 | 16 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
| 1995–96 | Minnesota Moose | IHL | 69 | 21 | 25 | 46 | 8 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| NHL totals | 1009 | 340 | 433 | 773 | 284 | 102 | 32 | 25 | 57 | 27 | ||||
In popular culture
In the 1981 TV movie about the gold medal-winning hockey team entitled Miracle on Ice, Christian is played by Thomas F. Duffy.
In the 2004 Disney film Miracle, he is played by Steve Kovalcik. Kovalcik attended the same high school, Armada High School in Armada, Michigan, as well-known sports announcer Dick Enberg[1].
See also
- List of members of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame
- List of NHL players with 1000 games played
- Captain (ice hockey)
References
- ^ Steve Kovalcik biography on the Internet Movie Database http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1407046/
External links
- Dave Christian's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database
- Profile at hockeydraftcentral.com
- Dave Christian's biography at Legends of Hockey
| Preceded by Morris Lukowich |
Winnipeg Jets captains 1981–82 |
Succeeded by Lucien DeBlois |
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