Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Kiprusoff’s start tonight might be last in Calgary

Miikka Kiprusoff

Calgary Flames goalie Miikka Kiprusoff, of Finland, glances up at the scoreboard during a stop in play in the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Nashville Predators on Monday, Nov. 30, 2009 in Nashville, Tenn. Kiprusoff stopped all 22 of Nashville’s shots for a 5-0 shutout. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

AP

Miikka Kiprusoff, 36, isn’t hiding the fact that he might retire at the end of the 2013 campaign. If this is his final season, it’s an unfortunate way to end his career.

The Calgary Flames are focused on getting younger as they close out their fourth consecutive season without a playoff berth, but this campaign has also been rough for Kiprusoff specifically. He has a 3.60 GAA and .872 save percentage in 21 starts, which puts him at the bottom of both categories among goaltenders that qualify.

Lately he has even lost the starting job to Joey MacDonald, who the Calgary Flames originally picked up on waivers.

“Mac (Joey MacDonald) has been red-hot,” Kiprusoff reasoned in a Calgary Herald report. “He’s playing so well. They don’t want to change the goalie that’s playing that well. But I’m getting my chance (tonight) and I’ll try to do my best.”

The Finnish goaltender is starting against the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday. After this match, Calgary will play in their last home game on Friday and given how the netminding duties have been allocated lately, it’s very possible that this will be Kiprusoff’s final start in the Scotiabank Saddledome.

Regardless of what happens, if he decides to hang up his skates this summer Kiprusoff will be bringing an end to a storied career.

He was a late bloomer, not really finding his way in the NHL until his breakout 2003-04 campaign. He led the Calgary Flames into the playoffs that season and, as the sixth seed, took them as far as Game 7 of the finals. That’s as close as he ever got to winning the Stanley Cup.

Even still, he’s been a workhorse and ranks 23rd in the NHL all-time list with 317 wins. He had a career-high 10 shutouts in 2005-06 en route to winning the Vezina Trophy.

“Was he perfect? No. Nobody is,” former goaltending coach David Marcoux said. “But he brought it all to his hockey club and was accountable to his teammates. You ask anybody from 2003 to today ‘Do you trust Miikka Kiprusoff?’ and the answer would be unanimous.”