Tim Thomas (ice hockey player)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
United StatesUnited States  Tim Thomas Ice hockey player
Tim Thomas
Date of birth April 15, 1974
place of birth Flint , Michigan , USA
size 180 cm
Weight 91 kg
position goalkeeper
number # 30
Catch hand Left
Draft
NHL Entry Draft 1994 , 9th lap, 217th position
Québec Nordiques
Career stations
1993-1997 University of Vermont
1997-1999 HIFK Helsinki
1999 Hamilton Bulldogs
1999-2000 Detroit Vipers
2000-2001 AIK Solna
2001-2002 Kärpät Oulu
2004-2005 Jokerit Helsinki
2002–2012 Boston Bruins
2013-2014 Florida panthers
2014 Dallas Stars

Timothy James Thomas Junior (born April 15, 1974 in Flint , Michigan ) is a retired American ice hockey goalkeeper . Between 2002 and 2014, he played 477 games for the Boston Bruins , Florida Panthers and Dallas Stars in the National Hockey League , after starting his career in minor leagues and in Europe. He spent most of his career in Boston and won the Stanley Cup with the Bruins in 2011 , while being the oldest player to date with theConn Smythe Trophy was honored as the MVP of the playoffs. In addition, he received twice the Vezina Trophy as the best goalkeeper and once the William M. Jennings Trophy as the goalkeeper with the lowest conceded goals in the NHL. With the USA national team , Thomas won the silver medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics . He has been a member of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame since 2019 .

Career

Thomas began his career at Davison High School Big Nine and later played in American college ice hockey for the University of Vermont . He was drawn at number 217 in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft by the Québec Nordiques . The 1997/98 season led him for the first time to European professional hockey, the HIFK Helsinki of the Finnish SM-liiga . During the season he returned to North America and played a few games in the sub-leagues. He then spent the rest of the season at HIFK, made a total of 18 appearances and became Finnish champion with his team . He also experienced the following season there.

1999/2000 he played again in North America with the Detroit Vipers in the International Hockey League . He then played for AIK Stockholm in the Swedish Elitserien and moved to the Finnish SM-liiga for the Kärpät Oulu the next season . 2002/03 he was named goalkeeper of the Providence Bruins , the AHL - farm team of the Boston Bruins . This season he was able to complete four games for Boston in the NHL, but could not qualify for a place in the squad despite three wins and a catch rate of 90.7 percent and spent the 2003/04 season back in Providence.

The 2004/05 season took him back to Finland due to the lockout , where he was the undisputed number one for the Jokerit Helsinki in all 54 games in goal. He reached 15 shutouts and was able to set a new league record. He also had the highest rate of saved shots. He reached the play-off finals with his team , where the Jokerit Helsinki failed because of the Oulun Kärpät and became runner-up. Thomas was awarded the Kultainen-kypärä-Preis for the best player -voted player this season .

The 2005/06 season finally brought Thomas the breakthrough in the NHL. Actually, he should have played the season with the Providence Bruins. But after the Boston finalists Andrew Raycroft and Hannu Toivonen were injured due to injury, Thomas became the new starter of the Boston Bruins and convinced with good performances, for which he was awarded the 7th Player Award by the fans in Boston. Even after Raycroft's return, who was only able to present himself disappointingly after his injury break, Thomas defended his role as a starter and got a three-year contract in March 2006.

After the departure of Raycroft in the summer of 2006 Thomas played most of the 2006/07 season with Hannu Toivonen as a substitute and was one of the few bright spots in a weak Bruins team. After the season Boston signed a new goalkeeper Manny Fernandez , but he was eliminated after a few games due to an injury. Thomas took the chance to prove himself, had the best catch quota in the league for a long time and was nominated for the NHL All-Star Game after Martin Brodeur's cancellation . In the 2008/09 season , Thomas continued his consistently good performance and achieved a new personal record with a catch quota of 93.3 percent during the regular season. As a result, he led the league-wide statistics and was also classified in first place with an average goal conceded of 2.10. In April 2009, he extended his end-of-season contract with the Boston Bruins for another four years for a total of around $ 20 million.

At the end of the season Thomas was awarded the Vezina Trophy as the best goalkeeper of the year for the first time in his career and also won the William M. Jennings Trophy as a goalkeeper with at least 25 appearances, whose team conceded the fewest goals in the regular season, together with his teammate Manny Fernandez. During the 2010/11 season he took part in the NHL All-Star Game for the third time in a row. This season Thomas ended with a catch quota of 93.8 percent and broke the previous NHL record of 93.7 percent, which Dominik Hašek had set up in the 1998/99 season as the regular goalkeeper of the Buffalo Sabers .

Although Thomas showed a few weaker games against Tampa Bay and Montreal in the playoffs, his outstanding performances in the series against Philadelphia and in the final series against the Vancouver Canucks predominated . In the final series he had a save rate of over 96 percent and an average goal against 1.15 goals per game, both of which are record values ​​in modern ice hockey. Over the entire playoffs, Thomas was able to book a 94 percent save rate and conceded an average of just 1.98 goals per game. With a 4-0 shutout win in Game Seven in Vancouver, Thomas was able to win the Stanley Cup for the first time . In addition, he was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the oldest player in the history of the NHL.

In addition to his outstanding performance in the playoffs, Thomas posted various NHL playoff records, such as the most blocked shots in a playoff season (798) or three elimination game wins (game seven wins). As the second goalkeeper in the history of the NHL after Bernie Parent 1974 and 1975, he won both the Stanley Cup and the Conn Smythe Trophy and Vezina Trophy in the same season.

In the 2012/13 season he took a break from ice hockey. In February 2013, the Bruins finally gave up his player rights to the New York Islanders , for which he was not used. Instead, he signed a one-year contract with the Florida Panthers the following season . On March 5, 2014, he was transferred to the Dallas Stars , where he ended the season and then left the team as a free agent . Then Thomas ended his active career.

In 2019 Thomas was honored with the induction into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame .

International

Thomas was part of Team USA at the 1995 , 1996 , 1998 , 1999 , 2005 and 2008 World Championships . He also took part in the 2010 Winter Olympics with Team USA and won the silver medal after losing to Team Canada in the final .

Achievements and Awards

International

Career statistics

    Regular season   Play-offs
season team league Sp S. N U / OTN Min GT SO GTS Sv% Sp S. N Min GT SO GTS Sv%
1992/93 Davison High School MHSAA 27 18th 5 4th 1580 87 9 3.30 .926 - - - - - - - -
1993/94 University of Vermont NCAA 33 15th 12 6th 1864 94 0 3.03 -
1994/95 University of Vermont NCAA 34 18th 13 2 2010 90 4th 2.69 -
1995/96 University of Vermont NCAA 37 26th 7th 4th 2254 88 3 2.34 .924
1996/97 University of Vermont NCAA 36 22nd 11 3 2158 101 2 2.81 -
1997/98 HIFK Helsinki SM-liiga 18th 13 4th 1 1034 28 2 1.62 - 9 9 0 551 14th 3 1.52 -
1997/98 Birmingham Bulls ECHL 6th 4th 1 1 360 13 1 2.17 .944 - - - - - - - -
1997/98 Houston Eros IHL 1 0 0 1 59 4th 0 4.01 .852 - - - - - - - -
1998/99 Hamilton Bulldogs AHL 15th 6th 8th 0 837 45 0 3.23 - - - - - - - - -
1998/99 HIFK Helsinki SM-liiga 14th 8th 3 3 831 34 2 2.23 - 11 7th 4th 658 25th 0 2.28 -
1999/00 Detroit Vipers IHL 36 10 21st 3 2020 120 1 3.56 .892 - - - - - - - -
2000/01 AIK Stockholm Elitserien 43 17th 16 10 2542 105 3 2.48 .918 5 1 4th 299 20th 0 4.00 .875
2001/02 Kärpät Oulu SM-liiga 32 15th 12 5 1937 79 4th 2.45 - 3 1 2 180 12 0 4.00 -
2002/03 Providence Bruins AHL 35 18th 12 5 2049 98 1 2.87 .906 - - - - - - - -
2002/03 Boston Bruins NHL 4th 3 1 0 220 11 0 3.00 .907 - - - - - - - -
2003/04 Providence Bruins AHL 43 20th 16 6th 2544 78 9 1.84 .941 2 0 2 84 10 0 7.13 -
2004/05 Jokerit Helsinki SM-liiga 54 34 7th 13 3267 86 15th 1.58 .946 12 8th 4th 720 22nd 0 1.83 -
2005/06 Providence Bruins AHL 26th 15th 11 0 1515 57 1 2.26 .923 - - - - - - - -
2005/06 Boston Bruins NHL 38 12 13 10 2187 101 1 2.77 .917 - - - - - - - -
2006/07 Boston Bruins NHL 66 30th 29 4th 3619 189 3 3.13 .905 - - - - - - - -
2007/08 Boston Bruins NHL 57 28 19th 6th 3342 136 3 2.44 .921 7th 3 4th 430 19th 0 2.65 .914
2008/09 Boston Bruins NHL 54 36 11 7th 3259 114 5 2.10 .933 11 7th 4th 680 21st 1 1.85 .935
2009/10 Boston Bruins NHL 43 17th 18th 8th 2442 104 5 2.56 .915 - - - - - - - -
2010/11 Boston Bruins NHL 57 35 11 9 3364 112 9 2.00 .938 25th 16 9 1542 51 4th 1.98 .940
2011/12 Boston Bruins NHL 59 35 19th 1 3352 132 5 2.36 .920 7th 3 4th 448 16 1 2.14 .923
2011/12 Boston Bruins NHL 59 35 19th 1 3352 132 5 2.36 .920 7th 3 4th 448 16 1 2.14 .923
2013/14 Florida panthers NHL 40 16 20th 3 2299 110 0 2.87 .909 - - - - - - - -
Dallas Stars NHL 8th 2 4th 1 364 18th 0 2.97 .902 1 0 0 15th 1 0 4.00 .500
NHL overall 426 214 145 54 24446 1027 31 2.52 .920 51 29 21st 3114 108 6th 2.08 .933

International

Represented the USA at:

year team event result Sp S. N Min GT SO GTS
1996 United States WM bronze 1 0 0 29 1 0 2.02
1998 United States WM 12th place 1 0 0 58 2 0 2.06
1999 United States WM 6th place 2 0 2 99 8th 0 4.85
2008 United States WM 6th place 3 2 0 160 4th 1 1.50
2010 United States Olympia silver 1 0 0 12 1 0 5.21
Men overall 8th 2 2 359 16 1 2.67

( Legend for player statistics: Sp or GP = games played; T or G = goals scored; V or A = assists scored ; Pkt or Pts = scorer points scored ; SM or PIM = penalty minutes received ; +/− = plus / minus balance; PP = overpaid goals scored ; SH = underpaid goals scored ; GW = winning goals scored; 1  play-downs / relegation )

Web links

Commons : Tim Thomas  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ boston.com, Thomas's deal: four years, $ 20 million
  2. ↑ nhl.com, Thomas caps amazing season with Conn Smythe
  3. ↑ nhl.com, Thomas joins Bernie Parent in rare triple-trophy win
  4. ^ Andrew Podnieks: Thomas: The American Wall. In: webarchive.iihf.com. IIHF , June 9, 2011, accessed October 26, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Thomas, Tim
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Thomas, Timothy James junior (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American ice hockey goalkeeper
DATE OF BIRTH April 15, 1974
PLACE OF BIRTH Flint , Michigan, USA