Antero Niittymäki

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
FinlandFinland  Antero Niittymäki Ice hockey player
Date of birth June 18, 1980
place of birth Turku , Finland
size 185 cm
Weight 86 kg
position goalkeeper
number # 30
Catch hand Left
Draft
NHL Entry Draft 1998 , 6th lap, 168th position
Philadelphia Flyers
Career stations
1995-2002 TPS Turku
2002-2005 Philadelphia Phantoms
2005-2009 Philadelphia Flyers
2009-2010 Tampa Bay Lightning
2010–2012 San Jose Sharks
2012-2013 TPS Turku

Antero Pertti Elias Niittymäki (born June 18, 1980 in Turku ) is a former Finnish ice hockey goalkeeper who played for the San Jose Sharks , Tampa Bay Lightning and Philadelphia Flyers in the National Hockey League and for TPS Turku in the SM-liiga was active.

Career

Niittymäki played in 1995 at the age of 15 for the C-Juniors of the ice hockey club in his hometown, TPS Turku . In the following years up to and including 2001 he went through the rest of the junior area up to the seniors, whose first team was one of the best teams in the Finnish SM-liiga at that time . The then 18-year-old was already part of the squad for the first time in the 1998/99 season , but remained behind the regulars Fredrik Norrena and Miikka Kiprusoff without a commitment. The talent of the young goalkeeper had not gone unnoticed by the scouts of the National Hockey League franchises . The Philadelphia Flyers secured the transfer rights to Niittymäki's person early in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft in the sixth round in 168th place. From 1999 Niittymäki was part of the regular staff of the first team and formed the goalkeeping team of TPS with Norrena in the following three years. He had tried to move to North America beforehand, but the general conscription in Finland prevented this at least until January 2001.

After three championship titles in 1999, 2000 and 2001 with TPS and the award for best rookie of the year in the form of the Jarmo Wasama commemorative trophy in 2000, the Finn moved to North America in the summer of 2002. There the Philadelphia Flyers had brought him to sign a contract and initially used him in the American Hockey League . Niittymäki on the Flyers farm team Philadelphia Phantoms was able to get used to the smaller North American ice rink and the system. In the 2002/03 season he shared the regular post with Neil Little and thus came to 40 missions, of which he was able to win 14. In the following season he was again in the gate of the Phantoms, but also made a successful debut in the NHL for the Flyers over the course of the season. This was preceded by injuries to the two regular goalkeepers Robert Esche and Jeff Hackett . In his three appearances, all of which he made in early February 2004, he only conceded one goal and left the ice as the winner in all games. Also provided Niittymäki in the American Hockey League for a stir when it game playoff against on 11 April 2004 after Hershey Bears managed the feat, the decisive 3: 2 Overtime -Siegtreffer his team in shorthanded to achieve. In August 2004 he signed a new two-year contract. Since the 2004/05 NHL season fell victim to a lockout , the now experienced keeper spent another season in the AHL with the Phantoms. With 58 missions he ran from the regulars during the Little season, came to 58 missions and was part of the AHL All-Star Classic squad . They also qualified for the playoffs, at the end of which the Phantoms won the Calder Cup . Despite well-known players such as Mike Richards , Patrick Sharp , RJ Umberger , Jeff Carter , Dennis Seidenberg and Joni Pitkänen in the winning squad, Niittymäki was awarded the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy as the most valuable player at the end of the playoffs .

Niittymäki in the Philadelphia Flyers jersey

The Calder Cup win brought the Finn the breakthrough in Philadelphia. With the beginning of the 2005/06 season he was a substitute goalkeeper for the Flyers in the NHL. He shared the missions with the American Esche, who had to contend with injury concerns over the course of the season. In his first full NHL season, the Finnish goalkeeper made 46 appearances, half of which he won. Before the start of the 2006/07 season, Niittymäki seriously injured his left hip . The treating doctors decided against an operation that would have put Niittymäki out of action for six to eight weeks. Despite the injury, he managed to take over the regular place in the Flyers goal from Esche, before the management decided at the end of February 2007 to sign another goalkeeper, Martin Biron . Biron then took over the regular position from Niittymäki, who was able to win only nine of 52 games during the season. As Biron's substitute, he also spent the following two seasons in Philadelphia and came to an average of 30 missions per game year. The overdue operation on his injured hip in the summer of 2008 also took place at this time.

Niittymäki in the Tampa Bay Lightning jersey

In the summer of 2009, Flyers management signed two new goalkeepers at the beginning of the transition period: Ray Emery and Brian Boucher . Since Niittymäki's contract had expired, he signed a one-year contract with league rivals Tampa Bay Lightning on July 10, 2009 . The Finn formed the goalkeeper team there with Mike Smith . With 49 games, he again completed significantly more than in the previous two seasons. He also played much more successfully again and was more and more preferred to Smith as the season progressed. However, after the contract expired, the Lightning decided not to sign the goalkeeper any further. Then took him on July 1, 2010 the San Jose Sharks under contract, who had announced in advance not to extend the expiring contract with their long-time goalkeeper Yevgeny Nabokov . In the 2010/11 season Niittymäki formed the Sharks goalkeeper duo with Antti Niemi .

He returned to Europe in August 2012 and was signed by his hometown club TPS Turku for a year. He then ended his career due to recurring hip problems and became European Scout for the Philadelphia Flyers.

International

On an international level, Niittymäki played for the first time at the 1998 European Junior Championship for his home country. There he was only used as a substitute in one tournament game. The team ultimately won the silver medal. Two years later he was a regular goalkeeper at the U20 Junior World Championship and made five appearances without much success.

At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin , Niittymäki was allowed to appear for the first time for the Finnish senior team . The reason for this was that the scheduled Kari Lehtonen and Miikka Kiprusoff were canceled due to injury. Niittymäki played six games during the tournament. With three shutouts , he played a major role in the fact that the Finns made it to the finals of the Olympic ice hockey tournament unbeaten and to the surprise of the experts. There the team lost 2: 3 against arch-rivals Sweden and won the silver medal. Niittymäki was named Most Valuable Player of the Olympic Tournament and was also named Best Goalkeeper and was appointed to the All-Star Team.

Two months later he was in goal for the Finnish team at the 2006 World Cup in Latvia . He started the World Cup as a goalkeeper, but injured himself after four games and was replaced by Fredrik Norrena . Finland won bronze at the end of the tournament. In 2010 Niittymäki was part of the squad for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver after almost four years of abstinence from the national team . Behind Miikka Kiprusoff and Niklas Bäckström , however, he was only the third goalkeeper and was not used when he won a bronze medal again.

Achievements and Awards

International

Career statistics

    Regular season   Playoffs
season team league GP W. L. T MIN GA SO ATM GP W. L. T MIN GA SO ATM
1995-96 TPS Turku C-Jr. SM-liiga . - .
1996-97 TPS Turku B-Jr. SM-liiga . - .
1997-98 TPS Turku A-Jr. SM-liiga 19th 10 8th 1 1131 34 1.80 4th 3 1 - 220 7th 0 1.91
TPS Turku B-Jr. SM-liiga . 1 1 0 - 60 1 0 1.00
1998-99 TPS Turku SM-liiga - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
TPS Turku A-Jr. SM-liiga 35 27 8th 0 2095 60 3 1.72 6th 3 3 - 362 14th 0 2.32
1999-00 TPS Turku SM-liiga 32 23 6th 3 1899 68 3 2.15 8th 6th 2 - 453 13 0 1.72
TPS Turku A-Jr. SM-liiga 1 1 0 0 60 1 0 1.00 1 0 1 - 60 5 0 5.00
2000-01 TPS Turku SM-liiga 21st 10 5 1 1112 46 2 2.48 - - - - - - - -
TPS Turku A-Jr. SM-liiga - - - - - - - - 2 1 1 - 120 4th 1 2.00
2001-02 TPS Turku SM-liiga 27 16 8th 1 1498 46 3 1.84 4th 2 2 - 295 11 0 2.23
2002-03 Philadelphia Phantoms AHL 40 14th 21st 2 2283 98 0 2.58 - - - - - - - -
2003-04 Philadelphia Phantoms AHL 49 24 13 6th 2728 92 7th 2.02 12 6th 6th - 796 24 0 1.81
Philadelphia Flyers NHL 3 3 0 0 180 3 0 1.00 - - - - - - - -
2004-05 Philadelphia Phantoms AHL 58 33 21st 4th 3453 119 6th 2.07 21st 15th 5 - 1269 37 3 1.75
2005-06 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 46 23 15th 6th 2690 133 2 2.67 2 0 0 - 73 5 0 4.11
2006-07 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 52 9 29 9 2943 166 0 3.38 - - - - - - - -
2007-08 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 28 12 9 2 1424 69 1 2.91 - - - - - - - -
2008-09 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 32 15th 8th 6th 1805 83 1 2.76 - - - - - - - -
2009-10 Tampa Bay Lightning NHL 49 21st 18th 5 2657 127 1 2.87 - - - - - - - -
A-Juniors SM-liiga total 55 38 16 1 3286 95 3 1.73 13 7th 6th - 762 30th 1 2.35
SM-liiga total 80 49 19th 5 4509 160 8th 2.13 12 8th 4th - 748 24 0 1.89
AHL total 147 71 55 12 8464 309 13 2.19 33 21st 11 - 2065 61 3 1.77
NHL overall 210 83 79 28 11699 581 5 2.98 2 0 0 - 73 5 0 4.11

International

Represented Finland at:

year team event GP W. L. T MIN GA SO ATM
1998 Finland June EM 1 60 4th 0 4.00
2000 Finland U20 World Cup 5 245 10 0 2.45
2006 Finland Olympia 6th 5 1 0 359 8th 3 1.34
2006 Finland WM 4th 2 1 1 212 6th 2 1.70
2010 Finland Olympia - - - - - - - -
Juniors overall 6th 305 14th 0 2.71
Men overall 10 7th 2 1 571 14th 5 1.48

( Legend for the goalkeeper statistics: GP or Sp = total games; W or S = wins; L or N = defeats; T or U or OT = draws or overtime or shootout defeats; min. = Minutes; SOG or SaT = shots on goal; GA or GT = goals conceded; SO = shutouts ; GAA or GTS = goals conceded ; Sv% or SVS% = catch quota ; EN = empty net goal ; 1  play-downs / relegation ; italics : statistics not complete)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ nhl.com, Lightning sign free agent goaltender Antero Niittymaki
  2. ↑ greatesthockeylegends.com, Antero Niittymaki Retires , June 8, 2013, accessed August 8, 2013
personal data
SURNAME Niittymäki, Antero
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Niittymäki, Antero Pertti Elias; Niittymaki, Antero
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Finnish ice hockey goalkeeper
DATE OF BIRTH June 18, 1980
PLACE OF BIRTH Turku , Finland