Antti Niemi (ice hockey)
Antti Niemi ( born August 29, 1983 in Vantaa ) is a Finnish professional ice hockey goaltender who stands since September 2010 with the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League contract.
Career
Niemi started his career as a hockey player in his native city at Kiekko - Vantaa. For the team, he played in the juniors. At the age of 15, he first guarded the gate of the A- juniors of the team, although he belonged to the squad of the B- youth. Until the summer of 2004 into the Finn played in the youth teams of the team. Nevertheless, he had celebrated in the 2002/03 season as a 19- year-old made his debut in the first team, which played at this time in the second-rate Mestis. DC this season he succeeded with the team his greatest success to date, as he celebrated the runner-up. Niemi was left for two more years at Kiekko -Vantaa before he was hired in the summer of 2005 by the Lahti Pelicans of the SM- liiga.
In the Pelicans he made in the following three years, a team with Tommi Satosaari, with Niemi always held the post number 1. After 40 games in his first season he improved in the following two seasons at 48 and 49 encounters which he denied. From year to year the goalkeeper thereby improved his stats and led the team in the game in 2006/ 07 and 2007/ 08 in the first playoff round. Niemi played in the three years in Lahti total of 137 main rounds and twelve playoff matches for the team. He reached a solid Gegentorschnitt 2.54.
The performance of the ungedrafteten goalkeeper in the SM- liiga made of course the Scouts of the National Hockey League attentive to him. So the Chicago Blackhawks secured on May 5, 2008, the services of free agents. In his first season in North America, the Blackhawks put the Finns primarily in their farm team, the Rockford IceHogs in the American Hockey League. He should get used to the peculiarities of the reduced ice surfaces in North America. In Rockford, the Finn told the stakes in goal with Corey Crawford. While Niemi came up with 38 games, Crawford was in 47 encounters between the posts. In February 2009, Niemi was first appointed to the NHL Chicago squad and came on 27 February against the Pittsburgh Penguins on his debut. By the end of the season he was in a total of three games on the ice. The following season, the keeper made the permanent jump to the NHL. As the Blackhawks parted shortly before the season started by Nikolai Chabibulin, Niemi took the vacant place beside the French Cristobal Huet. Niemi's performance during the season - including a shutout in his first season use - eventually led that he bets with Huet shared. In the following Playoffs Finn broke the French finally as number 1 from, contributed to his respectable Stastistik of 26 wins, seven defeats and four losses after overtime at. Also, due to Niemi's services since 1961 won the Chicago Blackhawks at the end of the playoffs for the first time the prestigious Stanley Cup.
After this success, Niemi's contract ran out and the restricted free agent could be in July 2010 with the Blackhawks not agree on its extension. After the Chicago assured him and doped with 2.75 million U.S. dollar contract by the arbitrator not accepted in August, Niemi was able to change as Unrestricted Free Agent to every other team in the league. Instead, the Hawks secured the services of experienced Marty Turco for 1.3 million U.S. dollars. Early September 2010, finally found Niemi also a new team. He signed a temporary one-year contract with the San Jose Sharks, who was endowed with two million U.S. dollars. There he formed a duo with his fellow countryman Antero Niittymaki. As Niemi weak in the season 2010 /11, divided the two in the first half of the season the stakes. Only after a lengthy injury to his opponent raised the Cup winner and secured the position in the goal. This was rewarded on 1 March 2011 with the premature extension of his expiring contract for another four years. In these four years he earned an average of 3.8 million U.S. dollars.
Internationally
Niemi came so far in any international tournament for his country to missions. Only in the context of the Euro Hockey Tour, he played in the 2007/ 08 season three games for Finland. Finland finished at the end of the comprehensive four tournaments series in second place behind Russia. At the Olympic Games in 2014 he won the bronze medal with the Finnish national team.
Awards and achievements
- 2003 Mestis runner-up with Kiekko -Vantaa
- 2010 Stanley Cup win with the Chicago Blackhawks
- 2011 Seagate Technology " Sharks Player of the Year" Award
- 2014 bronze medal at the Winter Olympics
Career Stats
( Key to the goalkeeper stats: GP or Sp = Total Games; W or W = Wins, L = Losses, or N, T or D = Draw or shootout defeat, min = minutes; SOG or ZAT = Shots on goal, GA or GT = Goals against; SO = shutouts, GAA or GTS = Gegentorschnitt; Sv % or SVS % = quota, EN = Empty Net Goal; Play-downs/Relegation 1 )