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Flames' Nieminen has Sutters to thank for revitalized career

www.telus.com
Wednesday, May 12, 2004

CALGARY (CP) - Ville Nieminen's hockey career was stalled before the Sutters - Brian in Chicago and Darryl in Calgary - got him going again.

Now he's skating full throttle on a key line with Marcus Nilson and Shean Donovan as the Flames try to become the first Canadian team in 10 years to advance to the NHL's championship series. They're up 2-0 on the San Jose Sharks going into Game 3 of the Western Conference final Thursday night.

"He's a playoff-type player," Calgary coach Darryl Sutter says of Nieminen, who has been a Flame for less than three months.

He's become a fan favourite in this short time for his effective two-way play, for constantly agitating opponents, and for the weird faces he makes on the ice. He sometimes flashes a devilish grin with his mouth wide open for no apparent reason.

He reminds a lot of people of fellow Finnish winger Esa Tikkanen, who was a real pain in the neck to opponents when he helped the Edmonton Oilers win four titles and the New York Rangers one.

"He's a character," defenceman Robyn Regehr said of Nieminen after the Flames' optional practice Wednesday. "It was a little scary the first time he was in the starting lineup because he skated by the bench and he was yelling at everybody and he was hard to understand.

"He speaks three or four different languages and you can't understand any of them."

It was also hard to understand what happened to Nieminen after he helped the Colorado Avalanche win the Stanley Cup three years ago. He was only 24 at the time, and many envisioned him being in Denver for a long, long time - one of the young players the franchise could count on for many years. But he was traded to Pittsburgh towards the end of the following season and his career stalled. He scored only 10 goals in 88 games with the Penguins.

"I grew up at a hockey rink and I feel I belong to the hockey rink and the hockey atmosphere," said the six-foot-one Finn. "In Pittsburgh, the hockey atmosphere was dying.

"I wasn't myself. I didn't try hard enough. I felt as if I was in a passenger seat."

He was traded to Chicago, where coach Brian Sutter made him feel as if he'd been bumped up to first class.

"In Chicago, I found myself," he said. "There was a good hard-nosed coach who helped me find myself.

"They told me what my role was going to be. I felt important again when I was there."

When he scored only two goals in 60 games with the Blackhawks, he was traded to Calgary last Feb. 24 for prospect Jason Morgan as part of a harried housecleaning.

Darryl Sutter pushed some of the same buttons his brother pushed in Chicago, and Nieminen fit in perfectly with the lunchbucket style of hockey played by the Flames. He also stepped up the agitating.

"I always wanted to be a better player than just an agitator but, I'll tell you right now, I'd be out of a job before if I would be relying on just playing skilled hockey," he said.

On the success of his line, it's clear what makes it tick.

"It's more hard work and more skating than skill," he said. "We don't sit back.

"It's not our team's style to sit back. We really enjoy the speed game with a good pace. That's the only way we can get scoring opportunities."

The devilish smiles continue to perplex opponents.

"Nemo is a wild man," said Donovan.

Nieminen on Donovan: "He is one of the fastest guys in the league but he never gets enough credit for making plays, and in our defensive zone his play along the boards is so strong that he gets the puck out almost every time."

Nieminen on Nilson: "He's so strong with the puck and he's patient. He's our safety valve."

Meaning that, when Nieminen and Donovan go out of position to try and make plays, Nilson covers for them.

The unit is getting plenty of ice time.

"That line is hot right now so you have to keep them out there," said Sutter.

Nieminen was suspended for one playoff game by the NHL for piling into Detroit goalie Curtis Joseph in the previous round.

"That's one thing I'm not proud of," he says.

What he is proud of is being more important to the Flames than he was when he helped the Avs win three years ago.

"I was a small part of the team in Colorado," he said. "I hope I'm a little bigger small part now."

Meanwhile, the Sharks practiced before flying to Calgary on Wednesday. The Sharks are tense. Goalie Evgeni Nabokov snapped at reporters, and coach Ron Wilson contemplated big changes to a lineup that hasn't changed since the end of the regular season.

"I'm just shaking the tree right now in practice to see what results," Wilson said. "We've changed our lines, promoted or demoted guys accordingly, just to change our practice, get guys to work a little bit different.

"What we'll decide to do for the game is an entirely different story."

Nils Ekman has only two playoff points after getting 55 during the regular season, Curtis Brown has only two points and is a minus-4, and Wayne Primeau has one goal and is a minus-7.

Wilson said being down 0-2 in a series is hardly a disaster. The rally from such a hole has been completed 35 times in league history.

"We did this to ourselves, but we're confident we can get out of it," centre Vincent Damphousse said.

The Flames certainly aren't looking ahead to a championship series yet.

"We're a long ways from the finals," said Donovan. "All season, we've never looked five or 10 games down the road.

"We always just concentrate on the next game."

Up 2-0 or down 0-2, the plan - get the nose dirty and dig like a deranged dog - remains the same, said Sutter.

"It doesn't matter. Our mindset remains the same.".

NHLPA Player Of The Day - Ville Nieminen

NHLPA.com
14/05/2004

Ville Nieminen

Position: Left Wing

Team: Calgary Flames

Shoots: Left

Height: 6'

Weight: 210

Birth Date: 1977-04-06

Hometown: Tampere, Finland

Year Drafted: 1997

Round Drafted: 3

Overall Choice: 78

Jersey Number: 24

Need to Know:
The only thing wider than the future of the Calgary Flames, is the smile on winger Ville Nieminen’s face. His trademark grin – like Michael Jordan’s tongue, a measure of his intensity in competition – may be a little brighter these days, with his game coming back to the level he has long-expected of himself. After two years shutout from postseason play in Pittsburgh, he was heading towards a third very early in 2003-04 with the Blackhawks, before the Flames dealt for the 27-year-old Finn in late February. With the confidence of his new coach behind him, Ville took on an expanded role in his new surroundings. He helped the team into the playoffs and has now upped his playing time with Shean Donovan and fellow newcomer Marcus Nilson. Originally drafted by Colorado in the third round in 1997, Ville matured in Finland’s top flight for two seasons with Tappara Tampere, where he starred with current teammate Toni Lydman, and Buffalo goaltender Mika Noronen. In his debut campaign with the Avalanche, he won a Stanley Cup. He was later traded to Pittsburgh, and signed with the Blackhawks last summer.

Recently:
Ville used a decoy to perfection and ripped a wristshot past Evgeni Nabokov last night to put the Flames up for good, en route to a 4-1 win in Game 2 of the Western Conference Final. He also had an assist on Shean Donovan’s winner.

Did You Know:
Ville grew up admiring former Oilers and Kings star Jari Kurri.

Position: Left Wing
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 205
Shoots: Left
Birth Date: 04/06/1977
Place of Birth: Tampere, Finland

NHLPA.com Bio:
Ville Nieminen was drafted 78th overall in the 1997 Entry Draft by the Colorado Avalanche. He made his NHL debut on January 29, 2000 against the Blues. In 2000-01, Ville scored 14 goals and helped the Avalanche win the Presidents' Trophy with 52 wins and 118 points (both club records). In the playoffs, he helped his team win their second Stanley Cup. He scored 10 points in those playoffs.

Finding Nemo - right in the thick of things

By Larry Wigge
NHL.com - May 19, 2004

Playing on the edge. Playing mean and tough with passion and fierce determination and, yes, nasty. These are some of the qualities required of players to win the little battles ... and get into the heads of an opponent, when the stakes are so high at this time of the year.

Going to the edge -- and yes sometimes over that edge -- is all a part of playoff hockey, and there's one name that seems to be on the lips of all of his opponents so far this playoff year: Calgary Flames winger Ville Nieminen.

Finding "Nemo" in this case isn't difficult.

In the Detroit series, Nieminen skated straight for Red Wings goaltender Curtis Joseph and rammed him down to the ice for no good reason -- and he incurred a one-game suspension for the uncalled-for hit.

In the San Jose series, he's been caught spearing Sharks defenseman Rob Davison, sticking a couple of others and just being a pest.

And that doesn't count some important offense he's contributed throughout the playoffs -- including a one-goal, one-assist performance as he and linemates Marcus Nilson and Shean Donovan were the key cogs in a Game 2 triumph in San Jose as well as a skilled setup for Nilson's quick goal in the Sharks' 3-0 victory in Game 5 at San Jose.

Three goals and three assists in 17 playoff games may not sound like much, but Nieminen's contributions are normally expected in the checking, hitting and just plain playing-on-the-edge sort of game that is required at this time of the year.

"He's a cheap-shot artist," Detroit winger Kirk Maltby said after the attack on Joseph.

"He violated the code by driving right into Cujo," Red Wings coach Dave Lewis said. "Rules are rules, but there's a code in the NHL, but I've never seen anyone just cross the line like that so deliberately."

"There's nothing he won't try out there," Davison said, shaking his head in disdain.

But that's from the guys who have to face the unpredictable Nieminen, who has become one of those players you love to hate when he's on the other side ... but who is invaluable if he's on your team.

Earlier in the playoffs, Flames captain Jarome Iginla just smiled when the conversation got around to Nieminen. In fact, Iginla went on the say that the Flames' acquisition of Nieminen from Chicago in a late February trade might have been the most underrated deal for his team -- and that's saying a lot in a season of trades that has brought goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff from San Jose, Nieminen from Chicago, Nilson from Florida and Chris Simon from the New York Rangers.

"Nemo's been a warrior for us in the playoffs," Iginla said. "In the postseason, you want everyone to try to be in the face of an opponent -- and that's Ville's game. He'll hit you and then give you a big smile and get under your skin, make you angry enough to want to get back at him."

"He's a real agitator -- and a great playoff player," Flames coach Darryl Sutter said. "In the playoffs, everyone has to bring his 'A' Game every night and Nemo's been one of our most consistent and aggravating players to play against."

Nieminen reminds a lot of people of fellow Finnish winger Esa Tikkanen, who was a real pain in the neck to opponents when he helped the Edmonton Oilers win four Stanley Cups and then one more for the New York Rangers.

"He's a real character," Flames center Craig Conroy said, shaking his head.

"It was a little scary the first time he was in the starting lineup for us and he skated by the bench and he was yelling at everybody at the top of his lungs. We all kind of sat there trying to figure out what he was trying to say," laughed Flames defenseman Robyn Regehr. "Since then, it's become kind of a ritual for him to do that before each game. It's obviously his way of giving us some encouragement. But ...

"We jokingly call him Esa Tikkanen, because, like Tikkanen, he is supposed to speak three or four different languages -- but half the time I don't think you could understand him in any of those tongues."

A well-meaning Nieminen said, "Just call it Finn-glish."

Then he added, "I don't know how I can make anybody mad when they don't understand me most of the time, do you?"

What hasn't been lost in the translation is the effort and passion and grit the 27-year-old native of Tampere, Finland gives in the playoffs. Remember he also played a big part of Colorado's Stanley Cup run in 2001, with four goals and six assists -- plus more unpredictable actions on the ice.

What it comes down to is this: We know that not all plays, all goals, all defensive efforts are not pretty when teams get as far as the conference finals -- and the team that has the most players who play on the edge the most win more of the little battles that win games.

And finding Nemo in that role is not uncommon at this time of the year, even if he didn't really make as much of an impact after leaving Denver for Pittsburgh and Chicago.

Some say he has responded to the hard-work ethic demanded of him by Brian Sutter in Chicago and Darryl Sutter in Calgary. More likely, going from last place in Chicago to a contender in Calgary has been plenty of impetus.

"I always wanted to be a better player than just an agitator," Nieminen said with a big smile late in the Detroit series. "I thought I showed some of that in our Cup season in Denver when I scored 14 goals in the regular season and had another four in the playoffs and had an opportunity to play on one of the Avs top lines (because of an injury to Peter Forsberg).

"But I've come to learn that I'd be out of a job if a coach try to rely on me to just be a skilled hockey player."

But when you start to wonder just what kind of life it is trying to get under every opponent's skin and start to think that everything seems to be all fun and games for Nieminen, you can learn that this 6-1, 200-pounder has his serious side as well. Like when I brought up the Esa Tikkanen comparisons.

At first, Nieminen cringes a little when anyone brings up the name Tikkanen. But not because he didn't like the way Tikkanen played -- there's no question he learned a lot of his techniques from the loquacious Tikk.

"Esa was my dad's name," Nieminen told me during that Stanley Cup run in 2001 as he paused, choking on his words. "I don't talk about this much. But my dad taught me a lot about this game. He was a pretty good player in Finland and had me on skates when I was 4 and he challenged me to be beat him 1-on-1 all the time. The reason I'm a little melancholy about this subject is that my dad always had an alcohol problem and it had an effect on the whole family.

"Earlier this year when I was playing at Hershey (American Hockey League), I got the call early in the season that my dad had died. It really hit me hard. But the thought I take with me is that at least he didn't wake up with a hangover that morning."

A rather spacey look replaced that contagious Nieminen smile about this time. It was a time of reflection that led to a smile.

"I'm convinced he sees all of my games now, you know what I mean?" Ville said. "And I'm sure he's proud of what I've accomplished. I play like he taught me how to play. While I don't think he would have ever won a Dad of the Year award, to me, I looked at him as kind of a role model, because of how he taught me how to play this game."

That was three years ago, but you can see that Nieminen hasn't lost any of that grit and passion for the game -- and, oh yes, that aggravating, agitating style.

And you know something, I think Ville Nieminen is right.

Truth be told, Ville never really gave himself much of a chance to play in the NHL. But he is clearly making a difference, just like Esa Nieminen always thought his son would.

Pesky Finn won't drop
Nieminen's play cut the mustard

By DAN TOTH, CALGARY SUN
19/05/2004

Pesky Flames winger Ville Nieminen could have flopped to the ice while being force-fed the blade of Sharks forward Niko Dimitrakos' stick. After stealing the puck from Dimitrakos inside the Calgary blueline and racing into Sharks territory in Game 5 Monday night, Nieminen kept skating, kept digging, fighting off the blatant hook to to his face.

Nieminen circled inside the Sharks blueline, whipping a cross-ice pass to a wide-open Marcus Nilson for the Flames' second goal.

"He got me in the mouth and I just about ate the whole blade," Nieminen recalled of Dimitrakos' infraction.

"I knew the penalty was coming, so I tried to make a play that you should not even be allowed to think about five-on-five.

"That pass across, stopping up inside the blueline to pass it across. Nobody picked up Marcus so he was wide open."

Nieminen said the delayed hooking penalty allowed him to attempt the dangerous pass, which Nilson blasted behind goalie Evgeni Nabokov for a 2-0 lead just two minutes after Jarome Iginla posted the all-important first goal of the game.

"When there's a delayed penalty coming you try that little mustard play when you can put some mustard on it," said Nieminen, knowing the play would be whistled dead had San Jose intercepted the puck.

Nieminen has three goals and three assists in 17 post-season contests, missing only the fifth game of the Detroit series while serving a suspension for running into Wings goalie Curtis Joseph.