Chris Bala

Christopher B. Bala (born September 24, 1978) is an American former professional ice hockey player. He played minor hockey in Pennsylvania before being recruited by Harvard University to play college hockey. After four years with Harvard, Bala, who was drafted 58th overall by the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League (NHL) in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft, joined the Senators and appeared in six games. He then the following seasons playing for the minor league affiliates of the Senators, Minnesota Wild and Colorado Avalanche in the American Hockey League. He was named an AHL All-Star in his rookie season in the AHL. He finished his career playing for the Reading Royals of the ECHL.

Chris Bala
Bala with the Milwaukee Admirals in 2005
Born (1978-09-24) September 24, 1978
Alexandria, Virginia, U.S.
Height 6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Weight 196 lb (89 kg; 14 st 0 lb)
Position Left wing
Shot Left
Played for Ottawa Senators
NHL Draft 58th overall, 1998
Ottawa Senators
Playing career 2001–2009

Career

Bala was born in Alexandria, Virginia,[1] but grew up in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania,[2] where he attended the Hill School.[1] As a youth, he played in the 1992 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with the Philadelphia Flyers minor ice hockey team.[3] He played for four years with the Hill School before being recruited by Harvard University in 1997.[4]

Bala was drafted 58th overall by the Ottawa Senators in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft and joined the Senators during the 2001–02 NHL season, playing six regular season games scoring one assist.[1][5] While with Ottawa, he spent most of his time with their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliates, the Grand Rapids Griffins and Binghamton Senators.[2] He was named to the AHL All-Star Game as a rookie in 2002.[6] He was traded by the Senators in a three-team trade on June 26, 2003 that saw Bala go to the Minnesota Wild and defenseman Peter Smrek sent to Ottawa by the Nashville Predators.[7] He played the majority of the following season in the AHL for the minor league affiliate of the Minnesota Wild, the Houston Aeros, before being traded to the Colorado Avalanche on March 9, 2004 for Jordan Krestanovich. He was immediately assigned to Colorado's AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears.[2] He then played for the Reading Royals of the ECHL.[5]

He returned to his alma mater, the Hill School, as a varsity coach and admissions officer following his playing career.[4]

Career statistics
Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1997–98 Harvard University ECAC 33 16 14 30 23 — — — — —
1998–99 Harvard University ECAC 28 5 10 15 16 — — — — —
1999–00 Harvard University ECAC 30 10 14 24 18 — — — — —
2000–01 Harvard University ECAC 32 14 16 30 24 — — — — —
2001–02 Grand Rapids Griffins AHL 70 21 16 37 9 4 0 1 1 0
2001–02 Ottawa Senators NHL 6 0 1 1 0 — — — — —
2002–03 Binghamton Senators AHL 51 6 18 24 20 14 2 5 7 4
2003–04 Houston Aeros AHL 61 11 7 18 18 — — — — —
2003–04 Hershey Bears AHL 13 4 2 6 0 — — — — —
2004–05 Hershey Bears AHL 58 9 5 14 17 — — — — —
2005–06 Milwaukee Admirals AHL 5 1 0 1 0 — — — — —
2005–06 Hershey Bears AHL 8 0 2 2 6 — — — — —
2005–06 Reading Royals ECHL 46 17 26 43 27 4 3 1 4 0
2006–07 Reading Royals ECHL 58 19 28 47 28 — — — — —
2007–08 Reading Royals ECHL 4 0 1 1 2 — — — — —
2008–09 Reading Royals ECHL 2 0 0 0 0 — — — — —
NHL totals 6 0 1 1 0 — — — — —

Awards and honors
Award Year
College
All-ECAC Hockey Rookie Team 1998 [8]
AHL
All-Star Game 2002 [6]

References
  1. Seravalli, Frank (December 2, 2010). "Bobrovsky named Rookie of the Month". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved June 11, 2023.
  2. "Avalanche trade for Chris Bala, assign him to Hershey" (Press release). Hershey Bears. March 9, 2004. Retrieved June 11, 2023 – via oursportscentral.com.
  3. "Pee-Wee players who have reached NHL or WHA" (PDF). Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament. 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-03-06. Retrieved 2019-02-02.
  4. "Ex-NHL player hosts clinic at Upland". The Unionville Times. October 21, 2014. Retrieved June 11, 2023.
  5. "Royals Sign Chris Bala" (Press release). Reading Royals. November 28, 2008. Retrieved June 11, 2023 – via oursportscentral.com.
  6. Zuidema, Michael (January 5, 2012). "Grand Rapids Griffins lone AHL All-Star representative not even with the team". The Grand Rapids Press. Retrieved June 11, 2023 – via Mlive.
  7. "Thursday, June 26". ESPN. June 26, 2003. Retrieved June 11, 2023.
  8. Volonnino, Michael R. (November 5, 1998). "High Expectations Set for M. Hockey". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved June 11, 2023.
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