Born in Albany, New York on July 15th 1969 center Peter Ciavaglia was drafted by the Calgary Flames before he embarked on a collegiate career with Harvard University in 1987. Ciavaglia's time at Harvard was very fruitful on and off the ice. By 1991, he had three team scoring titles, a rookie of the year, player of the year and All American title to go along with his Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance.
When the Calgary Flames couldn't get Ciavaglia under contract, he became a free agent and inked a deal with the Buffalo Sabres. The Sabres sent him to their farm club in Rochester where he lit it up in his first year of pro piling up 98 points in 77 games. At seasons end he was named the rookie of the year and team MVP for the Rochester Americans. Ciavaglia also earned a two game look with the Sabres that year.
The next year he got another brief look with the Sabres, this time playing three games, but, like before, he was held without a point. Back in Rochester he was offensively dominant again and helped bring the Americans all the way to the Calder Cup Championships. Despite his success in the organization, the Sabres didn't see an NHL future for him and he was released as a free agent after the playoff run.
Ciavaglia joined the US National Team and represented his country at the 1994 Olympic games as well as the World Championships that year.
The next year, Ciavaglia signed a deal with the Detroit Vipers for their inaugural season in the International Hockey League. This began a highly successfully relationship between Ciavaglia and the Vipers. He led them in scoring that first year, and by the time he retired from hockey in 2000, he held the career records for goals, assists and points in both the regular season and the playoffs.
On January 6th, 2001, the Vipers retired Ciavaglia's #12 in his honour.
Upon his retirement Ciavaglia went into the financial management industry with a focus on sports.
