Information AboutMiikka Kiprusoff |
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Miikka "Kipper" Kiprusoff (born October 26 , 1976 in Turku , Finland ) is a professional Ice Hockey Goaltender . PLAYING CAREER Miikka Kiprusoff won the SM-liiga gold medal in 1995 and 1999 in TPS as a goalie, and won the Urpo Ylönen Trophy for best goaltender in 1999. He also played in the Swedish Elitserien before he made his NHL debut in 2000 with the San Jose Sharks after being drafted 116th overall in the 5th round at the 1995 NHL Entry Draft . After spending three years as a reserve goalie with the Sharks, Kiprusoff was traded in 2003 to the Calgary Flames and immediately went on a roll, posting four shutouts and ending the regular season with a Goals-against Average of 1.69, a modern NHL record since he met the minimum requirement of 25 games played with 38 to qualify for the record books. Kiprusoff's outstanding goaltending, for which he was nominated for the Vezina Trophy , was instrumental in the Flames' qualifying for the playoffs. He proceeded on an incredible playoff run, during which he had five more shutouts, helping the Flames to win the Western Conference championship en route to a narrow defeat to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game Seven of the Stanley Cup Finals. Kiprusoff earned his first playoff shutout on April 13th, 2004 at the Pengrowth Saddledome , blanking the Vancouver Canucks . The game finished 4-0 and Kiprusoff stopped all of the twenty shots he faced, and was named the first star of the game. Kiprusoff followed up his outstanding Stanley Cup performance with another excellent performance on behalf of Team Finland in the 2004 World Cup Of Hockey tournament, where he backstopped the Finnish squad to a silver medal, losing in the gold medal final to Team Canada . He was chosen to play for Finland at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin but declined, citing a nagging hip injury. Kiprusoff broke Mike Vernon's franchise record for wins in a season, earning his 40th victory of the season on April 7, 2006 against the Minnesota Wild . Kiprusoff's older brother, Marko Kiprusoff , is currently a defenseman for TPS . He has also played in the NHL . Kiprusoff has a girlfriend named Seidi Mantere and a ten-month old son, Aaro according to canoe.ca. AWARDS
CAREER STATISTICS Regular season Post-season INTERNATIONAL PLAY Played for Finland in:
International statistics EXTERNAL LINKS
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