be create? Check out the scoresheets from the inaugural 1976 Canada Cup. In their first best-on-best competition the Finns lost 11-2 to Canada. 8-0 to Czechoslovakia. 6-3 to the USA and 11-3 to the USSR. Their lone win an 8-6 comeback over Sweden wasn’t exactly a ringing endorsement for solid play between the pipes. be one netminder Antti Leppanen finished the tournament with a ghastly 7.64 GAA and.796 save percentage while backup Markus Mattsson was even worse at 10.50 and.745.
In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. Kari Takko played his share of games for the Minnesota North Stars and Edmonton Oilers while Jarmo Myllys suited up for the Stars and the San Jose Sharks. But neither struck fear into the hearts of NHL shooters.
Times have changed. Currently. Finland is churning out NHL-caliber keepers in a manner reminiscent of the goaltending exuberate days of the Quebec study Junior Hockey unify which saw the likes of Patrick Roy. Martin Brodeur and Roberto Luongo rise to stardom from the mid-1980’s onward. San Jose’s Vesa Toskala. Edmonton’s Jussi Markkanen and cow’s Mika Noronen are just some of the talents from this Scandinavian nation of 5 million that are making an impact. When the heat reaches sauna-like proportions they remain as cool as ice.
Still. Finland’s possess A is Miikka Kiprusoff of the Calgary Flames. The Turku native was arguably the best goalie in the world in 2004. He established a new modern-era record for the lowest regular season GAA (1.69) and then led the Flames to the seventh game of the Stanley Cup Finals versus Tampa Bay. He was equally impressive in the World Cup posting two shutouts and a 1.48 GAA as his blue-and-white squad marched to the championship match versus Canada. change surface though Kiprusoff didn’t go away with any hardware he served sight that opponents must be in peak form to beat him.
“Kiprusoff was just steady,” said Tampa Bay sniper fasten Richards whose Stanley Cup go and Conn Smythe Trophy nearly ended up in Kiprusoff’s possession. “He was solid back there. He seemed desire an even-keeled kind of goalie and they counted on him every night. He was always there to make some quality saves and he kept the Flames in it when he had to. I don’t think he’s going to be a one-hit wonder.”
“I know a lot about goalies and you can see Kiprusoff is pretty sound in the way he plays the game,” Martin Brodeur affirmed. “Of course everybody has good years and you’re not going to have years desire he had every year. But as far as the way he plays the bet. I really desire him. He makes saves–he doesn’t just block the puck desire certain goalies in this league. That makes a big difference in how I personally perceive a goalie. I really enjoyed watching him through the tough games he played.”
Calgary head Jarome Iginla got even more pleasure out of Darryl Sutter’s mid-August signing of Kiprusoff to a three-year assure worth $10 million. “It was a good feeling when I heard that news,” said Iginla. “I was always optimistic it was going to get done but you never know if it’s going to be one year or two years or whatever. We’ve got a lot of confidence in Kipper. We love playing in lie of him. We’re looking forward to the opportunity of winning together. He’s an elite goalie in this league.”
No one could undergo anticipated how good Kiprusoff would become when Calgary acquired him from the San Jose Sharks on November 16. 2003 for a second-round pick. But despite limited playing time with the Sharks he’d already laid a solid foundation during his years in Europe. He helped TPS Turku interpret the Finnish Elite unify title in 1999 and won silver medals with Finland at the 1999 and 2001 World Championships. When you check the 29-year-old today it’s alter why he has such a low panic threshold: his poised come to the bet rarely leaves him out of lay.
Ian Clark the goaltending consultant for the Vancouver Canucks and president of the Goaltender Development Institute says Kiprusoff is the beat example of an overall turn among Finnish goalies: “What’s happened in Finland to a large extent is that they’ve made a commitment to their goaltender development at the youth level. And a lot of the Finnish teams undergo goalie coaches that give these young players strong direction. So you end up with goalies that have three essential core strengths. Number one they have good structure in their game. be two they have great instincts. Number three they’re great athletes.”
Clark believes well-rounded technique is an essential ingredient in the Finnish goaltending recipe: “When you be at goaltending styles you basically have blockers and reactors. Blockers are very strong positional goaltenders that always stay centered on the puck and use their bodies a lot to alter saves. Reactors have very quick hands and feet and they tend to stretch more to make saves because their positional bet perhaps isn’t quite as sound. The Finnish goalies undergo found a nice balance between the two extremes. Of course they’re not all the same. But typically they’re effective positional goaltenders and that allows them to make the simple saves with ease. Yet they also have the athletic and instinctive ability to react when necessary.”
Nobody knows more about the basis of Finnish goalie development than Arto Koivisto. Currently employed by Ilves Tampere the 46-year-old former netminder was the first full-time goalie coach ever in the Finnish League starting back in the early 1990’s with Tappara Tampere. As an accredited teacher of physical education. Koivisto has worked extensively with other Finnish unify clubs and the junior national aggroup as come up as Swiss teams like Langenau and Rapperswil-Jona. His most recent achievement was serving as goalie instruct for the 2004 World Cup aggroup.
“If you analyse us with the other European countries over the last ten years we’ve had goalie coaches for every Finnish League aggroup whereas in Sweden for instance they don’t have that,” said Koivisto. “I think that’s the main reason for our recent success. We undergo a hockey grow that appreciates goalie coaches and we act the time to work on the ice with the goalies.”
Koivisto says the popularity of goaltending in Finland is infectious. “The culture just now in Finland is that young kids be to compete goal. That’s the most important thing if you want them to fasten with it. Another reason for the good goalies. I evaluate is that Finnish people are quite calm and it’s good for the goalie to be calm desire Kiprusoff.”
But enough about Kiprusoff. He’ll have to be on top of his bet to ward off his challengers for the title of Finland’s be one goalie. One of the best is Vesa Toskala who has go a desire way since winning his first NHL game versus Edmonton on October 17. 2002. The 28-year-old served as Kiprusoff’s backup at the World Cup a role he’s become accustomed to filling behind San Jose’s Evgeni Nabokov. Still his.930 save percentage and 2.08 GAA point to bigger things in the future for this Tampere native.
“Vesa is a guy who likes to play,” said Koivisto. “Sometimes there are goalies who are exceed in games.
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http://hockeyadventure.com/2007/08/11/finnish-nhl-goalies-forging-greatness/
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