As Miikka Kiprusoff deservedly sees his number retired by the Flames, a flood of memories from being around the one-of-a-kind goaltender come to the fore
As Miikka Kiprusoff deservedly sees his number retired by the Flames, a flood of memories from being around the one-of-a-kind goaltender come to the fore
From his Calgary Flames debut to the end of his NHL career, it was a treat covering Miikka Kiprusoff. At a time when goaltenders were becoming behemoths who relied solely on their size and positioning, Kiprusoff was a breed apart. Defenceman Jay Bouwmeester put it best one day in Los Angeles when he described most of the NHL’s puck stoppers as “blockers” and said Kiprusoff was a “true goaltender.”
The athleticism was always a sight to behold during Kiprusoff’s nine seasons in Calgary in which he set a franchise record with 305 victories, backstopped them to within one win of the 2004 Stanley Cup and earned plenty of individual accolades thanks to a combination of Gumby-like stretching ability and unflappable nature.
And while fans fell in love with “Kipper’s” on-ice skills, as he returns to Calgary to have his No. 34 retired Saturday night when the Flames play host to the Pittsburgh Penguins, other memories move to the front of my mind.
Here are the ones that stand out:
The Scorpion Saves
San Jose, Dec. 5, 2009. Former Flames forward Scott Nichol was sure he had scored during a scramble, but Kiprusoff was down on his stomach and lifted his left leg to flick away the puck with his heel. Amazingly, he made a similar save three years later, also in San Jose, to rob Joe Pavelski. Kiprusoff made countless stops with sheer competitiveness, but he created a new way.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pq8HIoX6xr8[/embed]
The Kipper Special
In his Flames debut, Nov. 17, 2003, Kiprusoff made 22 saves in a brilliant performance as the Flames claimed a 2-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens. Two nights later, he stopped 24 shots in a 2-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks. The Kipper Special was born. Victories by a 2-1 score became a regularity while he posted that incredible 1.70 goals-against average and .933 save percentage. Amazingly, arguably his best game came in a 1-0 shootout loss in Philadelphia in the 2005-06 season, a night he stopped 37 shots through overtime and allowed only one in the shootout.
The Sense of Humour
It hardly translated via television sound-bite interviews, but one-on-one chats with Kiprusoff so often were filled with laughter. His wry wit, and impish grin, came out during plenty of conversations over the years.
Knowing I was admittedly a not-good goaltender growing up, Kiprusoff loved to make remarks, such as when he made an old-school pad-stack save, he quipped, “Like you did in your day.”
In researching a big feature about him, Kiprusoff’s TPS Turku teammate Fredrik Norrena relayed a training camp story in which the goalies were to go for a lengthy run, but Kiprusoff and another netminder decided to spend their time eating blueberries and simply joined the others when they returned en route to the finish. Kiprusoff’s response was how he was ahead of his time eating healthy because blueberries are loaded with “antioxidants”.
One practice day, Kiprusoff received a batch of new sticks. One teammate — a guess, Rhett Warrener — signed one to him with a forged Patrick Roy signature. Plenty of temperamental goalies would be upset anybody would have the audacity to touch their sticks, but the Flames netminder looked at the writing, and responded, “From Patrick Roy. Nice,” before preparing it for use.
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