Miikka Kiprusoff

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FinlandFinland  Miikka Kiprusoff Ice hockey player
Miikka Kiprusoff
Date of birth October 26, 1976
place of birth Turku , Finland
Nickname Dump truck
size 188 cm
Weight 85 kg
position goalkeeper
number # 34
Catch hand Left
Draft
NHL Entry Draft 1995 , 5th lap, 116th position
San Jose Sharks
Career stations
until 1996 TPS Turku
1996-1998 AIK Solna
1998-1999 TPS Turku
1999-2001 Kentucky Thoroughblades
2001-2003 San Jose Sharks
2004-2005 Timrå IK
2003-2013 Calgary Flames

Miikka Sakari Kiprusoff (born October 26, 1976 in Turku ) is a former Finnish ice hockey goalkeeper who was last under contract with the Calgary Flames in the National Hockey League from 2003 to September 2013 . Kiprusoff, who was selected by the San Jose Sharks in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft , made his debut for the Californians during the 2000/01 season in the NHL. The Finn had previously played in his home country at TPS Turku in the SM-liiga and for AIK Solna in the Elitserien . After he mostly acted as a back-up at the San Jose Sharks, the Finn quickly became a goalkeeper at the Calgary Flames and reached the final games of the Stanley Cup with the team from Alberta in the 2003/04 season . His consistent achievements in the following years were honored by the league with several individual awards and Kiprusoff won both the William M. Jennings Trophy for the fewest goals conceded and the Vezina Trophy for best goalkeeper of the year after the end of the 2005/06 season .

As a long-time member of the Finnish national team , he represented his home country at numerous tournaments. Previous highlights have been winning the silver medal at the 1999 and 2001 World Championships and the 2004 World Cup of Hockey .

Career

At the Junior World Championships in 1995 he was part of the squad of Team Finland and was drawn in the same year by the San Jose Sharks in the fifth round at number 116 in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft . Kiprusoff, who enjoys listening to Finnish rock music, gained his first professional experience at AIK in the Swedish Elitserien and at TPS Turku in the Finnish SM-liiga , where he was named the best goalkeeper in the league and the best player in the play-offs in 1999. Then he was allowed to prove himself for two years with the Kentucky Thoroughblades in the American Hockey League . Kiprusoff made his NHL debut for the San Jose Sharks on October 24, 2000 against the Carolina Hurricanes . But he still had to wait some time for his first NHL victory. Only on March 29, 2001, after he had meanwhile been sent back to the minor league , he was allowed to celebrate against the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim .

Kiprusoff in the dress of the Calgary Flames

In the following two seasons, too, things did not go so well for the Finn in California. So it was a stroke of luck for him and his future employer, the Flames, that they agreed on an exchange with the Sharks on November 16, 2003. San Jose gave Kiprusoff and received a second-round vote for the 2005 NHL Entry Draft . With a goal average of just 1.69, Kiprusoff set a new NHL record in the 2003/04 season , displaced Calgary's then regular goalkeeper Roman Turek on the bench, and made it to the Stanley Cup final in 2004 with the Flames he is nominated for the Vezina Trophy , which is awarded to the outstanding goalie of the season. Since the following season 2004/05 failed due to the lockout , Kiprusoff played in the season at Timrå IK in the Swedish league. In the 2005/06 season there was normal play again in the NHL , but Kiprusoff failed with his team in the first round of the play-offs . Again he was nominated for the Vezina Trophy and this time he got it. He was also nominated for the Hart Memorial Trophy , which is awarded to the outstanding player of the season. He already had an honor for sure: The William M. Jennings Trophy for the goalkeeper with the fewest goals.

The following 2006/07 season began for Kiprusoff with inconsistent performances and with only four wins from the first twelve encounters. In the course of the season, the goalkeeper increased and almost continued the previous season, so that he was nominated for the first time for the NHL All-Star Game in January 2007 . On March 27, 2007 he succeeded in his 21st shutout for the Calgary Flames, breaking Dan Bouchard's previous franchise record . The Finn finished the 2006/07 season with 40 wins from 74 matches. In October 2007, his contract with the Flames was extended by six years, which guaranteed him around 35 million US dollars. After two somewhat weaker seasons, in which Kiprusoff achieved a catch quota of around 90.5 percent, in the 2009/10 season he tied back to the performances four or five years ago and with a catch quota of 92 percent was a reliable support for the team from Calgary, who missed the playoffs for the first time since 2003. On February 20, 2011, he succeeded at the NHL Heritage Classic, the first shutout of a goalkeeper in an outdoor ice hockey game in the National Hockey League.

International

His greatest success with the Finnish national team was winning the silver medal at the 1999 and 2001 World Championships and second place at the 2004 World Cup of Hockey . He also took part with the Finnish selection at the 2010 Winter Olympics and won the bronze medal. As a junior player, he had represented his home country at the U18 European Junior Championship in 1994 and was later used at the 1995 and 1996 World Junior Championships .

Achievements and Awards

Miikka Kiprusoff with his helmet pulled up

International

NHL statistics

Regular season Play-offs
season team GP W. L. T MIN GA SO ATM GP W. L. MIN GA SO ATM
2000/01 San Jose Sharks 5 1 2 0 154 5 0 1.94 3 1 1 149 5 0 2.01
2001/02 San Jose Sharks 20th 7th 6th 3 1037 43 2 2.49 1 0 0 8th 0 0 0.00
2002/03 San Jose Sharks 22nd 5 14th 0 1199 65 1 3.25 - - - - - - -
2003/04 Calgary Flames 38 24 10 4th 2301 65 4th 1.69 26th 15th 11 1655 51 5 1.85
2004/05 Calgary Flames not played because of lockout
2005/06 Calgary Flames 74 42 20th 11 4380 151 10 2.07 7th 3 4th 428 16 0 2.24
2006/07 Calgary Flames 74 40 27 9 4419 181 7th 2.46 6th 2 4th 384 18th 0 2.81
2007/08 Calgary Flames 76 39 26th 10 4398 197 2 2.69 7th 2 4th 336 18th 1 3.21
2008/09 Calgary Flames 76 45 24 5 4418 209 4th 2.84 6th 2 4th 324 19th 0 3.52
2009/10 Calgary Flames 73 35 28 10 4235 163 4th 2.31 - - - - - - -
2010/11 Calgary Flames 71 37 24 6th 4156 182 6th 2.63 - - - - - - -
2011/12 Calgary Flames 70 35 22nd 11 4128 162 4th 2.35 - - - - - - -
2012/13 Calgary Flames 24 8th 14th 2 1344 77 0 3.44 - - - - - - -
NHL overall 623 319 213 71 36169 1500 44 2.49 56 25th 28 3284 127 6th 2.32

( 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)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cbc.ca, Flames try to build momentum
  2. ↑ sports.espn.go.com, Kiprusoff, Flames end Wild's nine-game win streak
  3. ↑ cbc.ca, Flames extend Miikka Kiprusoff for 6 years
  4. ↑ nhl.com, Kiprusoff's play brings back memories of 2004
  5. ↑ nhl.com, Kiprusoff bests temps, pucks, for first outdoor shutout

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Kiprusoff, Miikka
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kiprusoff, Miikka Sakari
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Finnish ice hockey goalkeeper
DATE OF BIRTH October 26, 1976
PLACE OF BIRTH Turku , Finland