"In Kipper we trust": Miikka Kiprusoff is playing for the Stanley Cup
Success in Calgary exceeded expectations: "The dream is starting to get close"
By Jussi Leppäsyrjä in Calgary
Miikka Kiprusoff comes off the ice around an hour after the other Calgary Flames players, having extended his voluntary training stint. The questions from press reporters at rinkside go on and on. The previous evening the Finnish goalie chalked up his fifth shut-out in the play-offs, and he is currently the hottest name in the Stanley Cup finals.
When a showered Kiprusoff finally makes it to his car, a Flames security man rushes over. "Miikka, there’s a horde of people waiting outside the main gates. Do you want to take the back way out, or should I come with you to make sure you can get through?"
The goaltender shakes his head: "No, it’s alright. I can perfectly well stop at the gate for a minute or two and sign a few autographs."
Fifteen minutes later, Kiprusoff’s car is still parked by the entrance to the Saddledome. Fans are milling around the goalie, and the Finn is scribbling his monicker on shirts, hats, fan-pictures, scraps of paper...
One dedicated Flames supporter dressed in a goalie’s facemask and the #34 shirt is handing out home-made 20-dollar bills with Kiprusoff’s face on them and the message "In Kipper We Trust". Just to make sure, there is also a poster-sized version of the bills.
"Yep, it’s been pretty hectic. When I was with San Jose I hardly ever had to give an interview. When I arrived in Calgary, there were fans and pressmen waiting at the airport. And now in the play-offs things have got even wilder", says Kiprusoff, who seems as cool as a cucumber despite it all.
The calm disposition is a characteristic that first comes to mind with this Finnish goalie. It is hard to imagine Kiprusoff losing a night’s sleep very easily. On the ice, his peace of mind shows up in cool reactions under pressure.
"It’s really great to play when we have Kipper behind us. You can always rely on the fact that he’s going to pick up anything and everything that gets through. It has a calming effect on the entire team", says defenseman Andrew Ference, who has himself enjoyed an excellent play-offs campaign.
Another who is happy time and again to underline the significance of Kiprusoff to the success of the Calgary Flames is the team’s captain Jarome Iginla. "Kipper is the most important single reason why we are playing for the Stanley Cup right now", claims Iginla.
It is not hard to see where the captain’s remarks are coming from. The Flames turned into a winning combination on the day that the Finnish goalie was traded from the San Jose Sharks last November.
"That deal was a huge relief. I knew already back in the summer that I had no future in San Jose, and I was just waiting out time for the transfer."
"It’s quite an awkward situation to be in, when you can’t do anything much except train and hope that the move will come as soon as possible. The whole time you have to keep yourself as sharp as you can, so that if and when the trade happens, you are immediately ready to show what you’ve got", says Kiprusoff, reminiscing on what was one of his most difficult times in the NHL.
The Flames’ General Manager and Head Coach Darryl Sutter already knew the goalie well from his days with San Jose. When the chance came for him to secure his services, he did not think twice about it.
"Sutter told me: 'Now you’ve got a chance to show what you are made of, I hope you are up for it.' And he gave me that chance. In a way I was also lucky in that Roman Turek was injured, as I got to be the first-choice goalie right away", says Kiprusoff.
Since then he has barely looked back. The results speak for themselves: in the NHL regular season stats he finished up with a Goals Against Average of just 1.69, a record for the modern era, and was tied first (with Minnesota’s Dwayne Roloson) in Save Percentages at 0.933.
He has been shortlisted for the Vezina Trophy, an annual award given to the best goalkeeper, as voted by the general managers of all NHL clubs, has racked up five shut-outs in the play-offs thus far, and is in with a shot at taking the Conn Smythe Trophy, given to the most valuable player in the play-offs.
That’s a lot to have happen in a few short months.
"Sure, if somebody had told me last summer that I’d be playing in the Stanley Cup finals in May 2004 and that I’d be among the three goalies up for the Vezina, I would have told them to take a hike. I was more concerned then about where I might be playing come the spring. Or if I’d be playing anywhere at all."
"That’s the way it goes. But right now at least I’ve not got any complaints about the situation. The dream is getting pretty close."
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 2.6.2004
Translator’s Note: As can be seen above, this article was written in the middle of last week, while the Stanley Cup finals were finely balanced at two wins apiece for the Calgary Flames and the Tampa Bay Lightning. Calgary won the fifth match, but could not grab the title on home ice on Saturday night, and so matters came to a head in Florida on Monday night in the decisive seventh game. Tampa Bay edged the final encounter 2-1. The dream that was so close disappeared with the final buzzer, and Calgary's Miikka Kiprusoff did not join the list of Finnish Stanley Cup ring-wearers. Nor did his Finnish team-mates on the Calgary roster, defenseman Toni Lydman and left wing Ville Nieminen. For Nieminen it would have been a second ring: he won his first Stanley Cup title with Colorado Avalanche in the 2000/01 season.
Previously in HS International Edition:
Ville Nieminen gets one-game suspension in Stanley Cup finals (3.6.2004)
Links:
NHL
Calgary Flames
Miikka Kiprusoff (NHL)
Helsingin Sanomat
|
| 8.6.2004 - THIS WEEK |
"In Kipper we trust": Miikka Kiprusoff is playing for the Stanley Cup
|
|
