Mika Nieminen

Mika Nieminen
Date of birth	January 1, 1966
place of birth	Tampere , Finland
size	185 cm
Weight	92 kg
position	center
Shot hand	Right
Career stations
until 1985	Ilves Tampere
1985-1987	Reipas Lahti
1987-1991	Ilves Tampere
1991-1992	Lukko Rauma
1992-1995	Luleå HF
1995-1997	Grasshopper Club Zurich
1997-1998	Jokerit Helsinki
1998-2001	HIFK Helsinki
2001-2002	Ilves Tampere

Mika Sakeri Nieminen (born January 1, 1966 in Tampere ) is a former Finnish ice hockey player who played for Ilves Tampere , Lukko Rauma , Jokerit Helsinki and HIFK Helsinki in the Finnish SM-liiga during his active time from 1983 to 2002 .

Career

Mika Nieminen began his career as an ice hockey player in his hometown in the youth division of the Finnish first division club Ilves Tampere , for whom he was active until 1985. The attacker then played for Reipas Lahti from the second-rate I divisioona for two years , before returning to Tampere for the 1988/89 season, for which he made his debut in the SM-liiga this season . With Ilves, Nieminen was first third in 1989 and then runner-up in 1990. After four seasons he left the club and joined their league rivals Lukko Rauma , for whom he only ran up in the 1991/92 season. In the summer of 1992, the right-shooter moved to Luleå HF in the Swedish Elitserien . With his new team, the Finn was runner-up straight away, but was unable to build on this success in the following two years. The center stayed abroad afterwards and played for the Grasshopper Club Zurich in the Swiss National League B until 1997 .

For the 1997/98 season, Nieminen returned to Finland, where he received a contract with Jokerit Helsinki , with whom he was third in the SM-liiga and played in parallel in the European Hockey League , in which he scored six goals in six games and thus the EHL's top scorer. From 1998 to 2001, the three-time Olympian was on the ice for Jokerit's city rivals HIFK Helsinki , before retiring from his home club Ilves Tampere after the 2001/02 season.

International

For Finland , Nieminen took part in the 1991 , 1992 , 1993 , 1994 , 1995 , 1996 and 1997 World Championships . He was also in Finland's squad at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville , 1994 in Lillehammer and 1998 in Nagano , and at the 1996 World Cup of Hockey .

Achievements and Awards

1988 Best rookie in the SM-liiga 1990 Finnish runner-up with Ilves Tampere 1990 SM-liiga all-star team 1990 Best plus / minus rating in the SM-liiga 1992 SM-liiga Second All-Star-Team

1993 Swedish runner-up with Luleå HF 1994 Best Master of the Elite Series 1995 top scorer in the Elitserien main round 1995 top scorer in the Elitserien Playoffs 1998 Top scorer in the European Hockey League

International

1992 silver medal at the world championship 1992 World Championship Second All-Star Team 1994 bronze medal at the Olympic Winter Games 1994 silver medal at the world championship

1995 gold medal at the world championship 1996 Best Finnish player in the World Cup (together with Hannu Virta and Sami Kapanen ) 1998 bronze medal at the Olympic Winter Games

Web links

• Mika Nieminen at hockeydb.com (English)
• Mika Nieminen at eurohockey.com
• Mika Nieminen in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )