Les Kuntar

Les Kuntar was born in Elma, New York on July, 28th 1969. He was still playing high school hockey when the Canadiens made him their 8th pick, 122nd over all in the 1987 Entry Draft. Kuntarwent on to play at St. Lawrence University prior to playing with the United States National team in 1991-92.

In 1993-94 Kuntar played 6 games as Patrick Roy's backup, but was demoted to the minors when the Habs acquired Ron Tugnutt from the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. Kuntar would leave the Montreal organization to sign with the Philadelphia Flyers but toiled with 8 minor league teams in 4 years before hanging up the skates in 1997.

Kuntar's record in his 6 NHL games was 2-2-0 with a 3.18 GAA. His biggest moment came on New Year's Eve, 1993 when he won the traditional holiday game between Montreal and Calgary. Theoren Fleury remembers it well. When asked which New Year's showdown against Montreal that he thought was most memorable, Fleury responded by saying

"Gotta be The Les Kuntar Game. Gotta be."

The uh, what ...?

"The Les Kuntar Game. Kinger (Dave King) was still coaching then. And we play the big New Year's Eve Game against Montreal and they put somebody named Les Kuntar in the nets ... and he beats us! I think we had, oh, 10 shots the whole game. I mean, afterwards the guy coulda stuck his underwear up on the pin and not even had to wash it! Anyway, Kinger storms into the room after we lose, livid, his eyes are bugging out of his head and he starts yelling 'Les Kuntar! We just got beat by Les (bleep)ing Kuntar! Who the hell is Les (bleep)ing Kuntar anyway!?' "