Akim Aliu

Akim Aliu
Aliu during a stint with the Calgary Flames of the NHL.
Born	(1989-04-24) April 24, 1989 (age 28) Okene, Nigeria
Height	6 ft 4 in (193 cm)
Weight	225 lb (102 kg; 16 st 1 lb)
Position	Right Wing
Shoots	Right
AHL team Former teams	Cleveland Monsters Calgary Flames AIK IF Amur Khabarovsk
NHL Draft	56th overall, 2007 Chicago Blackhawks
Playing career	2008–present

Akim Aliu (born April 24, 1989) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player currently playing with the Cleveland Monsters of the American Hockey League (AHL) on loan from the ECHL with the Atlanta Gladiators. Aliu was a second round selection of the Chicago Blackhawks, 56th overall, in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft and has played for several AHL and ECHL teams in both the Blackhawks and Atlanta Thrashers/Winnipeg Jets organizations before a trade to the Calgary Flames. Aliu made his NHL debut on April 5, 2012.

Aliu was born in Okene, Nigeria, but grew up in Kyiv, Ukraine. His father, Tai, a Nigerian attended university in Kyiv on a track and field scholarship where he met and married Aliu's mother, Larissa, a Ukrainian. He has a brother, Edward. Aliu considers himself Ukrainian Canadian and attests that he and his family live according to Ukrainian culture; and that he would have played for the Ukrainian national hockey team, if asked. Aliu still speaks Ukrainian to his family. Uncomfortable with the political climate following the demise of the Soviet Union, Aliu's parents moved the family to Canada when he was 7 and settled in the Toronto area. The family initially struggled while Tai studied to become a computer programmer.