Finnish goalie legend Miikka Kiprusoff’s shirt and number 34 were raised to the ceiling in Calgary.
Jaakko Servo,
Anni Jämsä
Miikka Kiprusoff the jersey was raised on the roof of the Saddledome, the home arena of the Calgary Flames, early on Sunday morning Finnish time.
The Calgary players arrived at the celebration game wearing Kiprusoff’s jerseys. Striker Kevin Rooney had even found Kiprusoff’s Finnish national team shirt on, which the team wore at the Vancouver Olympics in 2010.
47-year-old Kiprusoff’s entrance to the event was great. Several junior goalkeepers had gathered on the red carpet to welcome the former goalkeeper to their old home hall. The ceremony was also attended by several former teammates of the Finn, such as Dion Phaneuf and Jarome Iginla. Kiprusoff’s family was also there: the boys Aaro and Oskar and brother Marko Kiprusoffwho also played in the NHL during his playing career.
“Kipper! Skipper! Skipper!” – screams echoed during the ceremony.
Known as a quiet man in his playing career, Kiprusoff said in his speech that raising the shirt to the ceiling meant a lot to him.
– This is the biggest honor you can get as a player. I am so grateful for this, he said.
Kiprusoff, who was little in the media after his playing career, is the fourth Calgary player to have his number frozen by the club. Names are already hanging from the ceiling of the Scotiabank Saddledome Lanny McDonald (9), Iginla (12) and Mike Vernon (30). Kiprusoff, on the other hand, was the seventh Finnish player to have his shirt frozen in the NHL.
Like Kiprusoff, Vernon is a goaltender, but they didn’t play at the same time in Calgary. Vernon left the team in 2002 and the Finn joined the club a year later.
In his speech, Suomalaisvahti jokingly mentioned the club’s other goalkeeping legend.
– Fortunately, I didn’t play with him, because I never liked the role of the second goalkeeper, Kiprusoff laughed in his speech.
Kiprusoff, who played his last games in the NHL in the 2012–2013 season in Calgary, accumulated a total of 623 games in the dollar league during his career. In addition to Calgary, the Finn also represented the San Jose Sharks.
Galgary won the match of the night in honor of Kiprusoff with goals 4–3. Finnish forward of the Pittsburgh Penguins Valtteri Puustinen caught one assist in the match.
The Finns of Florida score
Detroit was reset by the Florida Panthers Sergei Bobrovsky leading by 4–0. All the Finnish attackers of the Florida team scored points in the match. Alexander Barkov and Eetu Luostarinen snap passes to the man, by Anton Lundell catching two passes. Bobrovsky stopped all 21 of Detroit’s shots.
Florida quarterback Niko Mikkola accumulated a good 16 minutes of ice time in the match. Across from Detroit Olli Määttä clocked almost 20 minutes with the plus-minus statistic showing zero.
Saros blacked out Colorado
Juuse Saros was in a good mood as the Nashville Predators took down the Colorado Avalanche 5-1.
Saros collected 25 saves, but also delighted the home crowd by scoring his team’s fourth goal, which he was responsible for skillfully finishing Thomas Novak.
The first part of the match progressed evenly, after which Nashville ran away to a clear victory. Nashville’s most effective player was Cody Glass (3+0), who scored the first hat trick of his career in the match.
Only from the Finnish trio in Colorado Mikko Rantanen (0+1) reached the power when he passed by Nathan MacKinnon finished goal.
Calgary Flames – Pittsburgh Penguins 4–3 PIT: Puustinen 0+1
Dallas Stars – San Jose Sharks 3–2 DAL: Heiskanen 0+1
Chicago Blackhawks – Columbus Blue Jackets 2-5
New York Islanders – Boston Bruins 5–1
Toronto Maple Leafs – New York Rangers 4–3
Tampa Bay Lightning – Montreal Canadiens 4–3 TBL: Armia 1+0
Philadelphia Flyers – Ottawa Senators 4–2
Buffalo Sabers – Vegas Golden Knights 7–2 BUF: Jokiharju 0+1, Luukkonen 22/24 saves.
St.Louis Blues – Minnesota Wild 3-1
Nashville Preadators – Colorado Avalanche 5–1 NSH: Saros 25/26 saves, 0+1 COL: Rantanen 0+1
Seattle Kraken – Edmonton Oilers 1–2 SEA: Tolvanen 1+0
Detroit Red Wings – Florida Panthers 0–4 FLA: Lundell 0+2, Luostarinen 0+1, Barkov 0+1
Carolina Hurricanes – Winnipeg Jets 3–5 CAR: Aho, 1+1, Teräväinen 1+0