Vesa Toskala
Vesa Tapani Toskala ( born May 20, 1977 in Kangasala ) is a Finnish professional ice hockey goaltender who stands since June 2011 Ilves Tampere of the SM - liiga in under contract.
Career
Toskala played of the season 1991 /92 to 1994 /95 in the various youth teams Ilves Tampere. As a reward the good performance in the Finnish junior 1995, he was appointed to the Junior National Team to participate in the Hockey Championship in Berlin. There he excelled in four games with a Gegentorschnitt of 2.50 and was used for the following season, goalkeeper of the professional team of Ilves in the Finnish SM- liiga. By the end of the 1998/99 season he remained there goalkeeper in Tampere and established himself as one of the best goalkeepers in the league. During this time he also denied three A World Championships, in which he knew to convince.
For the 1999/ 00 changed Toskala to the Swedish giants Färjestad BK in the Elitserien. There he completed 44 games and came at the end of the season to five appearances for the Finnish national team at the World Cup, where he was able to win with the team the bronze medal.
In the summer of 2000 ventured Toskala then the leap to overseas. But first, he could not convince in the training camp of the San Jose Sharks and landed in the farm team at the Kentucky Thoroughblades in the American Hockey League. He brought it in 44 games on a good catch rate of 91.1 percent. The following year he came to his first NHL - use, but played most of the time in the AHL with the Cleveland Barons. So it was in the following season, before 2003/ 04 finally asserted itself as the No. 2 behind Evgeni Nabokov and so came up with 28 inserts. The Sharks failed only one lap before the Stanley Cup Finals to the Calgary Flames in six games.
In the following season he played due to the lockout again nine games in Finland with Ilves Tampere, with whom he reached the playoffs.
The season 2005/ 06 was his best season. At the start of the playoffs, he pushed Nabokov and the new number 1 was the elimination in the second round against the Edmonton Oilers, however, he could not prevent it. In the season 2006/ 07 he initially shared the items in the stem goalkeeper with Nabokov. But after an injury, he lost his place and had to settle for a substitute again with the post. Due to the goalkeeper situation with two possible starters in their ranks Toskala was released as part of the NHL Entry Draft 2007 together with Mark Bell for a number of draft picks to the Toronto Maple Leafs. In the following two and a half years, the Finn could never meet the expectations of management and shared in the first half of the 2009/10 season the goalkeeper items with the Swedish rookie Jonas Gustavsson. On 31 January 2010 he was co-delivered with striker Jason Blake to the Anaheim Ducks. In turn, Jean -Sébastien Giguère moved to Toronto. However, Toskala was little more than a month in Anaheim, where he completed no match for the Ducks.
On the last day of the exchange period, he was sent in exchange for Curtis McElhinney to the Calgary Flames for which he stood in six NHL games in goal. After the season announced Darryl Sutter, general manager of the Flames, Toskala would not receive a new contract. First, he was without a club was taken on November 1, 2010 from Swedish AIK Solna from the Elitserien for a month under contract. In June 2011 he received a contract for two seasons at Ilves Tampere.
Awards and achievements
Career Stats
Internationally
Represented Finland at:
- U18 European Junior Championships 1995
- U20 World Junior Championships 1996
- U20 World Junior Championships 1997
- World Cup 1998
- 1999 World Cup
- World Cup 2000
- World Cup of Hockey 2004
( 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 )