Miikka Kiprusoff

Last updated

(Photo courtesy Mike Ashmore. Thanks, Mike!)

BIOGRAPHY

BORN: October 26, 1976, Turku, Finland.
HOME:
HEIGHT: 6'0"-6'2"
WEIGHT: 180-190 lbs.
UNIFORM #: 34 (San Jose, Calgary)
CATCHES: Left

STYLE: Mostly stand-up.
STRENGTHS: Plays large, and uses his body size and positioning to play a stand-up style. Very hard to rattle.
WEAKNESSES: Due to the smaller North American ice surface, angles and timing are off slightly. Needs to work on consistency.

HIS MASK: For the mask Miikka began wearing in December of 2003, he had only two expectations: "I gave free hand to the guy who did the mask. I just wanted something mean and cool. I think it's good looking and mean. He came up with this and I like it." Adorned with gold, Ghost Rider-like, fire-breathing skulls on each side, Kiprusoff's face guard also has "Kipper" on the chin. (Randy Sportak, Calgary Sun, December 11, 2003)

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING:

"No. 1 goalie with last-place team in Sweden has respectable GAA, .908 save percentage." (Dan Wood, The Hockey News Future Watch 1998)

"National team goalie has been very good, but has been very difficult to sign." (Dan Wood, The Hockey News Future Watch 1999)

"Another goaltending prospect for the Sharks, Kiprusoff is improving year in and year out. Played a mixed style between stand-up and butterfly early in his career but now plays more stand-up. He's a very smart goalie and seems to do his homework on opposing players. Seems to know where they are shooting. Not overly aggressive but gets the job done." (The Sports Forecaster 1999-2000, p. 216)

"The Finnish native from Turku is playing his first season of North American hockey. The 6-foot-2, 190-pound left-hand catching goalie has stepped in to be Kentucky's starter and was selected as the starting goalie for PlanetUSA in the mid-season American League All-Star Game. Kiprusoff combines quickness and agility to thwart opponents. He still needs to continue to acclimate himself to the smaller ice surface and get more comfortable with English." (Ross McKeon, The Hockey News Future Watch 2000)

"Was voted starting goalie at the AHL All-Star Game thanks to an outstanding rookie season with Kentucky. Has great reflexes and shows tremendous poise between the pipes. Kiprusoff is versatile in the sense that he's mainly a stand-up goaltender who uses the butterfly style when needed. Although he has no considerable NHL experience, the Sharks see great promise in him. Recently in Finland, the good-sized rookie was named Best Goalie and League MVP in the same season." (The Sports Forecaster 2000-01, p. 213)

"The 24-year-old's strong development in his second year of North American pro hockey convinced the Sharks he was ready for promotion following the trade of Steve Shields to Anaheim in the Teemu Selanne deal. Kiprusoff plays a stand-up style and is fundamentally sound. Despite missing three weeks of action because of an early-season call-up, he was selected for the second straight year to start in the American League All-Star Game." (Ross McKeon, The Hockey News Future Watch 2001)

"The incredibly athletic stand-up netminder has been the Sharks' top prospect in goal for the past two seasons. With last year's trade involving Steve Shields, Kiprusoff moved into the backup role behind Evgeni Nabokov. The promising young goalie looked sharp when filling in during San Jose's first-round series loss to the Blues. Kiprusoff sees the puck extremely well. However, he must work on adjusting his angles and reading the play. At the very least, assume he'll be used as backup for 20-30 games." (The Sports Forecaster 2001-02, p. 219)

"The Sharks have uncovered several goaltending gems in recent years. After challenging starter Evgeni Nabokov during the 2000-01 playoffs, Kiprusoff had a solid rookie season as the backup last year. The 25-year-old Finn has the right temperament for the rigors of the NHL and adjusted very well to sitting on the bench for long stretches. Kiprusoff should continue to improve his game this season. If Nabokov slips up, the Sharks know they can count on Kiprusoff to take over. Down the road, he'll either challenge Nabokov for the No. 1 job in San Jose or find a starting role elsewhere." (The Sports Forecaster 2002-03, p. 213)

"Where would the Flames be if they hadn't sent a 2005 second-round pick to San Jose for Kiprusoff in 2003? They probably wouldn't be Cup contenders. Aside from captain Iginla, nobody else is as important to the Calgary cause than "Kipper" - who has further proven his mettle in international competition. He's a legitimate Vezina candidate." (The Sports Forecaster 2005-06, p. 102)

TRANSACTIONS:

ACCOLADES:

VEZINA TROPHY BALLOTING:

PTS1st2nd3rdRANKSHARE
2003-045559320.37
2005-06140255010.93
2006-07700730.05

ALL-STAR TEAM BALLOTING:

PTS1st2nd3rdRANKSHARE
2003-0414813212040.28
2005-0659911311110.94
2006-0725021940.03

HART TROPHY BALLOTING:

LADY BYNG TROPHY BALLOTING:

INJURIES:

FIRSTS:

PENALTY SHOTS:

NHL SHOOTOUTS:

DID YOU KNOW?

SEASON RECORDS:

SEASONTEAMLEAGUE AGEGPMIN WLTOL WPCTGAGAASA SVPCTShOGA PiMS/60UNI#SHOOTOUTS Z-SCOREGDGARSNW% SNWSNL
1993-94 TPS Turku FINLAND JR 17 35
1994-95 TPS Turku FINLAND JR 18 31 1880 93 2.97
1994-95 TPS Turku FINLAND 18 4 240 12 3.00
1995-96 TPS Turku FINLAND 19 12 550 38 4.14
1995-96 Kiekko-67 Turku FINLAND 19 5 300 7 1.40
1996-97 AIK Solna Stockholm SWEDEN 20 42 2466 104 2.53 3
1997-98 AIK Solna Stockholm SWEDEN 21 42 2457 110 2.69
1998-99 TPS Turku FINLAND 22 39 2259 26 6 6 70 1.86 0.936 4
1998-99 Finland WORLD 22 4 156 3 1.16 65 0.954 25.00
1999-00 Kentucky Thoroughblades AHL 23 47 2759 23 19 4 0 0.543 114 2.48 1497 0.924 3 0 1 10 32.56 2.269 25.526 47.981 0.600 28 18
2000-01 Kentucky Thoroughblades AHL 24 36 2038 19 9 6 0 0.647 76 2.24 1026 0.926 2 0 2 2 30.21 2.168 20.242 35.632 0.616 21 13
2000-01 San Jose Sharks NHL 24 5 154 2 1 0 0 0.667 5 1.95 51 0.902 0 0 0 0 19.87 -0.031 -0.066 0.699 0.493 1 2
2000-01 Finland WORLD 24 3 140 5 2.14 45 0.889 1 19.29
2001-02 Cleveland Barons AHL 25 4 242 4 0 0 0 1.000 7 1.73 137 0.949 0 0 2 2 33.92 1.523 5.048 7.103 0.748 3 1
2001-02 San Jose Sharks NHL 25 20 1041 7 6 3 0 0.531 43 2.48 508 0.915 2 0 0 4 29.28 0.597 3.892 11.512 0.543 9 7
2002-03 San Jose Sharks NHL 26 22 1199 5 14 0 0 0.263 65 3.25 537 0.879 1 0 0 0 26.87 -2.427 -16.171 -8.116 0.361 7 12
2003-04 Calgary Flames NHL 27 38 2301 24 10 4 0 0.684 65 1.69 966 0.933 4 0 1 15 25.19 2.410 21.368 35.858 0.638 24 14
2003-04 Finland WORLD CUP 27 6 364 4 1 1 9 1.48 149 0.940 2 2 24.56
2004-05 Timra IK SWEDEN 28 46 2719 97 2.14 1154 0.915 5 2 25.47
2005-06 Calgary Flames NHL 29 74 4379 42 20 0 11 0.651 151 2.07 1951 0.923 10 0 2 10 26.73 34 1-7 (11/23) 3.237 42.760 72.025 0.622 45 28
2006-07 Calgary Flames NHL 30 74 4419 40 24 0 9 0.610 181 2.46 2190 0.917 7 0 0 2 29.74 34 3-4 (9/16) 2.012 27.643 60.493 0.571 42 31
2007-08 Calgary Flames NHL 31 76 4398 39 26 0 10 0.587 197 2.69 2096 0.906 2 0 2 8 28.59 3-3 (11/17) -0.511 -6.727 24.713 0.483 36 39
2008-09 Calgary Flames NHL 32 76 4418 45 24 0 5 0.642 209 2.84 2155 0.903 4 0 3 2 29.27 34 -0.960 -12.822 19.503 0.468 35 39
2009-10 Calgary Flames NHL 33 73 5235 35 28 0 10 0.548 163 1.87 2035 0.920 4 0 0 4 23.32 1.406 18.061 48.586 0.552 40 33
2010-11 Calgary Flames NHL 34 71 4156 37 24 0 6 0.597 182 2.63 1935 0.906 6 0 1 2 27.94 8-4 (29/41) -1.113 -13.789 15.236 0.461 31 36 
POST-SEASON
Year  Team                        GP    Min   W   L   GA    GAA   Shots    Sv%   ShO   G   A   PiM     S/60    PERS
93-94 TPS Turku Jr. FINLAND        6
94-95 TPS Turku FINLAND            2    120            7   3.50
96-97 AIK Solna SWEDEN             7    420           23   3.29                    0
98-99 TPK Turku FINLAND           10    580   9   1   15   1.55                    3
99-00 Kentucky Thoroughblades AHL  5    239   1   3   13   3.26                    0
00-01 San Jose Sharks NHL          3    149   1   1    5   2.01      79   .937     0   0   0     0
01-02 San Jose Sharks NHL          1      8   0   0    0   0.00       2  1.000     0   0   0     0    15.00 1025.00
03-04 Calgary Flames NHL          26   1655  15  11   51   1.85     710   .928     5   0   1     0
04-05 Timra IK SWEDEN              6    356           13   2.19     118   .890     0   0   0     0
05-06 Calgary Flames NHL           7    428   3   4   16   2.24     202   .921     0   0   0     2
06-07 Calgary Flames NHL           6    255   2   4   18   2.81     255   .929     0   0   0     2
FIVE (5) NHL POSTSEASONS          43   2495  21  20   90   2.16    1248  0.928     5   0   1     4

NHL GAME DIRECTORY:

INTERNATIONAL GAME DIRECTORY:

To The Goaltender Home Page