Former Calgary Flames netminder Miikka Kiprusoff honored by the organization
Miikka Kiprusoff is set to have his jersey retired at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday night. No. 34 spent nine seasons in Calgary between the years of 2003-2013.
Kiprusoff is most known by Calgary fans for his run with the team in the 2004 Stanley Cup Playoffs, where he played in every single game for them en route to the Stanley Cup Final. They would end up losing in game seven to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Flames went out and acquired the Finnish netminder in that same season, on Nov. 16 from the San Jose Sharks, in exchange for a second-round draft pick. He was a Vezina Trophy finalist after posting a 24-10-4 record, with a 1.70 GAA and a .933 SV%.
Kiprusoff is the Flames' franchise leader in games played, wins, and shutouts for goaltenders. He won the Vezina Trophy in 2005-06 and was inducted into the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame in 2016.
Amongst NHL gamers, Kiprusoff can be remembered by some from the NHL 06 trailer where Tampa Bay Lightning Vincent Lecavalier puts the puck between his legs to beat Kipper on a breakaway.
In honor of Miikka Kiprusoff's jersey retirement in Calgary, we went back and looked at his in-game overalls in an EA NHL game.
After his breakout season in 2003-2004, EA was forced to give his overall a massive increase, and that started a little five-year run of him being one of the best goalies in the game.
Kiprusoff was not only the highest-rated goalie in NHL 07 but also the highest-rated player in the game at 96 overall. He was one overall higher than Martin Brodeur and Alex Ovechkin.
Miikka Kiprusoff was once a top-echelon goalie in EA's NHL video game series, and the fans in Calgary certainly loved him.
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