Christopher John Luongo (born March 17, 1967) is an American

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

coach and former ice hockey player. Luongo played in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

(NHL) for the

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. The Senators compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Di ...

, and

New York Islanders The New York Islanders (colloquially known as the Isles) are a professional ice hockey team based in Elmont, New York. The Islanders compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (N ...

between 1991 and 1996. The rest of his career, which lasted from 1989 to 2004, was spent in various minor leagues, and then several years in the

Deutsche Eishockey Liga The Deutsche Eishockey Liga (for sponsorship reasons called Penny (supermarket), PENNY Deutsche Eishockey Liga) (; English: ''German Ice Hockey League'') or DEL, is a professional ice hockey league in Germany and the highest division in German i ...

. Internationally Luongo played for the American national team at three

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

. After retiring from playing, Luongo turned to coaching, and has spent several years as an assistant coach at the American collegiate level.

Biography

Luongo was born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, and grew up in

Fraser, Michigan Fraser is a city in Macomb County, Michigan, Macomb County in the U.S. state of Michigan. A northern Metro Detroit, suburb of Detroit, Fraser is located roughly northeast of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, th ...

. As a youth, he played in the 1980

Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament The Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament () is an annual minor ice hockey event in Quebec City. The tournament was founded in 1960 to coincide with the Quebec Winter Carnival, and give an opportunity for international competition to p ...

with the Detroit Compuware

minor ice hockey Minor ice hockey or minor hockey is an umbrella term for amateur ice hockey which is played below the junior age level. Players are classified by age, with each age group playing in its own league. The rules, especially as it relates to body c ...

team. Luongo was a stay-at-home defenseman who played in 218 games in his NHL career, scoring 8 goals and 23 assists for 31 points and collecting 176 penalty minutes. Drafted by his hometown Red Wings in 1985, he then accepted a scholarship to

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the ...

where he enjoyed a four-year career with the

Spartans Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the valley of Evrotas river in Laconia, in southeastern P ...

, earning the team's "Dr. John Downs Outstanding Defensive Player Award" in 1988 and 1989. He spent 1989 to 1992 in the Red Wings organization before signing with the Ottawa Senators as a free agent. After one season in Ottawa, he was traded to the New York Islanders, where he finished his NHL career in 1996. Luongo was also a member of the U.S. squad at the 1996, 1997, and 2000

, winning the bronze medal in 1996. From 1997 to 2004, Luongo played in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, playing for

EV Landshut EV Landshut, also known as EVL Landshut Eishockey and formerly known as the Landshut Cannibals, are a professional ice hockey team based in Landshut, Bavaria, Germany. They currently play in Deutsche Eishockey Liga 2, the second level of ice hock ...

Munich Barons The Munich Barons were a professional ice hockey team between 1999 and 2002 run by the Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga, German Ice Hockey League (''German Language, German: Deutsche Eishockey Liga - DEL''). The b ...

, Nuremberg Ice Tigers and the

Krefeld Pinguine The Krefeld Pinguine (Krefeld Penguins) are an ice hockey team in the DEL2. Their home ice is in Krefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany at the Yayla Arena. Founded in 1936 by entrepreneur Willi Münstermann, the pro team became a limited liab ...

. Luongo currently resides in

Novi, Michigan Novi ( ) is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. A northwestern Metro Detroit, suburb of Detroit, Novi is located roughly northwest of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census ...

, and has two sons, Anthony and Christopher. He also has a dog named Tyson.

Coaching

Luongo spent two seasons as an assistant coach with the Wayne State Warriors. In September 2008 he joined the UAH Chargers as an assistant coach under head coach

Danton Cole Danton Edward Cole (born January 10, 1967) is an American former professional hockey player and the former head coach of the Michigan State Spartans men's hockey team. He had guided the USA Hockey Under-18 team to a pair of gold medals and a b ...

, who was a teammate of Luongo's at Michigan State. In 2010, he was named head coach of the Chargers, and coached the team for two seasons. After leaving UAH in 2012, he took a break from coaching until joining the National Team Development Program from 2015 to 2017 as assistant coach. From 2017 to 2022, Luongo served as the assistant coach for the Michigan State men's hockey team under Cole.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Head coaching record

Awards and honors

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Luongo, Chris 1967 births Living people Alabama–Huntsville Chargers men's ice hockey coaches American men's ice hockey defensemen Denver Grizzlies players Detroit Red Wings draft picks Detroit Red Wings players Detroit Vipers players EV Landshut players Ice hockey coaches from Michigan Ice hockey players from Michigan Krefeld Pinguine players Michigan State Spartans men's ice hockey players Milwaukee Admirals (IHL) players München Barons players NCAA men's ice hockey national champions New Haven Senators players New York Islanders players Nürnberg Ice Tigers players Ottawa Senators players People from Fraser, Michigan Sportspeople from Macomb County, Michigan Sportspeople from Novi, Michigan Ice hockey people from Oakland County, Michigan Phoenix Roadrunners (IHL) players Salt Lake Golden Eagles (IHL) players Expatriate ice hockey players in Germany 20th-century American sportsmen