Tim Thomas

Tim Thomas
Position	Goaltender
Catches	Left
Height Weight	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) 201 lb (91 kg)
NHL Team F. Teams	Boston Bruins SM-l Jokerit Kärpät HIFK SEL AIK
Born	(1974-04-15)April 15, 1974, Davison, Michigan, United States
NHL Draft	217th overall, 1994 Quebec Nordiques
Pro Career	1997 – present

Medal record
Men's ice hockey
Competitor for the  United States
Olympic Games
Silver	2010 Vancouver	Tournament
World Championships
Bronze	1996 Austria

Timothy Thomas, Jr. (born April 15, 1974), nicknamed The Tank, is an American professional ice hockey goaltender for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League (NHL) and an Olympian. Raised in Flint, Michigan, Thomas played college hockey for the University of Vermont for four years from 1993–1997, during which, he was drafted 217th overall by the Quebec Nordiques in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft. He played for several years in the minor leagues and Europe before emerging as the Boston Bruins' starting goaltender. Thomas is a two-time NHL All-Star, was the winner of the 2009 Vezina Trophy as the league's best goaltender, and played in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Playing career

Thomas played four seasons (1993–97) of college hockey for the University of Vermont, posting an 81-43-15 record to go with a 2.70 GAA and .924 save percentage and remains third in the NCAA Division I record book in career saves (3,950). He led the nation in save percentage in 1996 (.924) and helped the Catamounts to NCAA tournament appearances in his final two seasons, including a berth in the 1996 NCAA Frozen Four (a program first). He was a two-time All-ECAC Conference selection and a two-time NCAA East All-American. He ranks first all-time amongst Vermont goalies in games played (140), wins (81), and saves (3,950). After his freshman year, Thomas was drafted 217th overall by the Quebec Nordiques in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft.

Completing his four-year tenure with Vermont, Thomas played briefly for the Birmingham Bulls of the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) and Houston Aeros of the International Hockey League (IHL) in 1997–98, before transferring overseas mid-season to HIFK of the SM-Liiga. Thomas played 18 games with a save percentage of .947 as the team advanced through the playoffs to defeat Ilves in the finals and win the Finnish championship. After signing with the Edmonton Oilers on June 4, 1998, Thomas initially returned to the AHL the following season with the Hamilton Bulldogs, where he played 15 games, before again transferring to HIFK. Thomas recorded a .917 save percentage in 14 games as HIFK made it to the league finals once more but finished as runners-up to TPS.

In 1999–00, Thomas returned once again to North America to play for the Detroit Vipers of the IHL, then spent the next season with AIK of the Elitserien. Thomas was very popular among the fans and was an important factor for bringing the team to the playoffs for the first time in four years. During regular season, Thomas played 43 games with a save percentage of .918.

In 2001, Thomas joined the Boston Bruins organization, but chose to continue playing in Europe, spending his first full SM-liiga season in 2001–02 with Kärpät. Although the team didn't get far in the playoffs, Thomas played a successful season of 32 games with a .925 save percentage. Beginning in 2002–03, Thomas played his initial two seasons with Boston's AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins. He made his National Hockey League (NHL) debut with the Bruins during the 2002–03 season, appearing in four games total, with a .907 save percentage and a 3-1 record. Thomas recorded his first NHL win in his league debut with the Bruins on October 19, 2002, in a 31-save, 4–3 win against the Edmonton Oilers.

In 2004–05, Thomas joined Jokerit of the SM-Liiga, his fourth stint in Finland. He played in all games of the season except one, 54 games in total, and racked up a league-high .946 save percentage. He also surpassed the previous record of 13 shutouts in the league by achieving 15 shutouts during the regular season. Thomas continued to perform in the playoffs, where he played 12 games with a .938 save percentage. The team was unable to defeat Kärpät in the finals, however, and Thomas was awarded his second silver medal in the SM-liiga. He received the Lasse Oksanen trophy (as the league's best player) and the Kultainen kypärä award (as the league's best player award as voted by the players), becoming the first Jokerit player to win the award since Teemu Selänne.

In August 2005, Thomas signed on to play with Jokerit for the 2005–06 season, but his contract included an NHL option, and on September 14, one day before the regular season in the SM-liiga started, Thomas announced he had signed with the Boston Bruins, leaving Jokerit with rookie goaltender Joonas Hallikainen as their sole goaltender. Eventually Jokerit used three North American goaltenders (Karl Goehring, Steve Passmore and Tom Askey) that season but missed the playoffs. When he returned to North America, he was assigned to Providence of the AHL out of training camp. However, as Boston suffered injuries to their two goalies Andrew Raycroft and Hannu Toivonen, Thomas earned his first call-up to the NHL in 3 years and took over as the Bruins starting goalie, with a 12–13–7 record, 2.77 goals against average (GAA), .917 save percentage, and his first NHL shutout to complete the 2005–06 season. As a result, Thomas was awarded the Boston Bruins 7th Player Award, voted by the fans as having gone beyond expectations. In the off-season, Thomas was re-signed by the Bruins to a 3-year deal.

Although Boston's previous starter, Andrew Raycroft was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the off-season, Thomas began the 2006–07 season as the Bruins' backup, behind Hannu Toivonen instead. However, as Toivonen struggled, Thomas was again promoted as the Bruins' starting goaltender, posting a 30–29–4 record with a .904 save percentage. He won the 7th Player Award for the second consecutive season and became the first goalie in team history to win the award twice.

During the summer of 2007 Thomas began a yoga-based physical conditioning program to increase his flexibility and strength, a concept that would greatly increase his abilities during the 2007–08 NHL season and onwards.

On July 1, 2007, the Bruins acquired goaltender Manny Fernandez from the Minnesota Wild, and later traded Thomas' previous backup, Toivonen, to the St. Louis Blues. Many hockey analysts presumed that Thomas would support Fernandez as a backup goaltender once again for the 2007–08 season. However, as Fernandez went down to injury early in the season, Thomas seized the opportunity and once again emerged as the Bruins' starting goalie. He was selected to his first NHL All-Star Game on January 22, 2008 as a replacement for Martin Brodeur and played in the third period of the game, stopping 14 of 18 shots. Thomas was attributed the win, as the Eastern Conference defeated the Western Conference 8-7.

Early in the 2008–09 season, Thomas became the first Bruins goalie to record back-to-back shutouts since Byron Dafoe in 1999, winning 1-0 games against the Edmonton Oilers on October 27, 2008 and the Vancouver Canucks on October 28. His overall shutout streak came to end the next game at 154:43 minutes in against the Calgary Flames on October 30. In late November, Thomas missed a few games due to an illness. He was chosen to play in his second All-Star Game in 2009, and was once again the winning goaltender for the Eastern Conference, beating the Western Conference 12–11 in a shootout (the first time the All-Star Game required the tie-breaker since 2005). A month later, on February 26, 2009, Thomas recorded his 100th NHL win, in a 6–0 shutout against Anaheim Ducks.

On April 2, 2009 Thomas agreed to a four-year extension with the Bruins, through to the 2012–13 season. The contract will see him make $6 million the first two seasons, then $5 million and $3 million the final two seasons for an average annual salary of $5 million. Two days later, on April 4, he posted his career-high fifth shutout of the season in a 1–0 win against the New York Rangers, clinching top spot in the Eastern Conference, Boston's first title since 2001–02. His strong play allowed the Bruins to sweep the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs, but the Bruins bowed out to the Carolina Hurricanes in seven games in Round 2.

On June 18, 2009, Thomas was awarded the Vezina Trophy at the NHL awards, beating out Minnesota Wild netminder Niklas Bäckström and the Blue Jackets' rookie goaltender Steve Mason. He led the NHL with his 2.10 goals-against average and .933 save percentage.

Thomas started for the Bruins in the 3rd NHL Winter Classic on January 1, 2010. The game, held at Fenway Park in Boston, resulted in a 2-1 overtime victory over the visiting Philadelphia Flyers.

International play

During Thomas' college career, with the University of Vermont, he was named to Team USA twice for the World Championships. Following his sophomore year, he was chosen for the 1995 World Championships, but did not appear in any games as the United States finished in sixth place. He was chosen for the tournament for the second consecutive year in 1996 and made his international debut, playing in 21 minutes for one game, allowing one goal. Thomas picked up his first medal as the United States won bronze.

Graduated from the college program, Thomas was named to Team USA for the 1998 World Championships after his rookie professional season and played his first full international game. However, the United States finished a disappointing twelfth. Thomas would not make another World Championships appearance until 2005, where was named to Team USA in another limited role, not appearing in any games behind starter Rick DiPietro as they failed to medal.

Established as an NHL starter following the 2007–08 NHL season, Thomas was named to his fifth World Championships in 2008. He appeared in three games before suffering a groin injury, splitting starts with Robert Esche and posted a 1.50 GAA with one shutout against Latvia in the preliminaries. Team USA finished in sixth.

On January 1, 2010, Thomas was selected to be a member of the U.S. men's hockey team for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

On February 26, 2010, Thomas made his Olympic debut in the USA - Finland semifinal, entering the game with approximately 11:30 remaining in the 3rd period and a 6-0 lead. He replaced Ryan Miller to prevent any chance of injury to the American starter.

Awards

College

• Named to the ECAC First All-Star Team in 1995 and 1996.
• Named to the NCAA East All-American Second Team in 1995.
• Named to the NCAA East All-American First Team in 1996.

Source: Tim Thomas on HockeyGoalies.org

SM-Liiga

• Awarded the Urpo Ylönen trophy (best goaltender) in 1998.
• Awarded the Kultainen kypärä award (best player as voted by the players) in 2005.
• Awarded the Lasse Oksanen trophy (best player) in 2005.

NHL

• Played in the All-Star Game in 2008 and 2009.
• 2009 William M. Jennings Trophy Winner along with teammate Manny Fernandez for fewest goals allowed by team goaltenders
• 2009 Roger Crozier Saving Grace Award Winner for best save percentage amongst NHL goaltenders (minimum 25 games started) - .933
• 2009 Vezina Trophy Winner of the NHL's top goaltender award
• Named to the NHL First All-Star Team in 2009.
• Named as goalie to the USA Olympic Team for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Hockey camps

• Tim Thomas runs several ice hockey camps in the Northeast United States during the NHL off-season for both goaltenders and skaters.

Career statistics

Regular season

Season	Team	League		GP	W	L	T/OTL	MIN	GA	SO	GAA	SV%
1992–93	Davison High School	Big 9		27	18	5	4	1580	87	9	3.30	.926
1993–94	University of Vermont	NCAA		33	15	12	6	—	—	—	—	—
1994–95	University of Vermont	NCAA		34	19	14	2	—	—	—	—	—
1995–96	University of Vermont	NCAA		37	26	7	4	2254	88	3	2.34	.924
1996–97	University of Vermont	NCAA		36	22	11	3	2158	101	2	2.81	—
1997–98	HIFK	SM-l		18	13	4	1	1034	28	2	1.62	—
1997–98	Birmingham Bulls	ECHL		6	4	1	1	360	13	1	2.17	.944
1997–98	Houston Aeros	IHL		1	0	0	1	59	4	0	4.01	.852
1998–99	Hamilton Bulldogs	AHL		15	6	8	0	837	45	0	3.23	—
1998–99	HIFK	SM-l		14	8	3	3	831	34	2	2.23	—
1999–00	Detroit Vipers	IHL		36	10	21	3	2020	120	1	3.56	.892
2000–01	AIK	SEL		43	17	16	10	2542	105	3	2,48	.918
2001–02	Kärpät	SM-l		32	15	12	5	1937	79	4	2.45	—
2002–03	Providence Bruins	AHL		35	18	12	5	2049	98	1	2.87	.906
2002–03	Boston Bruins	NHL		4	3	1	0	220	11	0	3.00	.907
2003–04	Providence Bruins	AHL		43	20	16	6	2544	78	9	1.84	.941
2004–05	Jokerit	SM-l		54	34	7	13	3267	86	15	1.58	.946
2005–06	Providence Bruins	AHL		26	15	11	0	1515	57	1	2.26	.923
2005–06	Boston Bruins	NHL		38	12	13	10	2187	101	1	2.77	.917
2006–07	Boston Bruins	NHL		66	30	29	4	3619	189	3	3.13	.905
2007–08	Boston Bruins	NHL		57	28	19	6	3342	136	3	2.44	.921
2008–09	Boston Bruins	NHL		54	36	11	7	3259	114	5	2.10	.933
2009–10	Boston Bruins	NHL		43	17	18	8	2442	104	5	2.56	.915
NHL totals				262	126	91	35	15068	655	17	2.62	.918

Playoffs

Season	Team	League		GP	W	L	MIN	GA	SO	GAA	SV%
2001	AIK	SEL		5	1	4	300	20	0	4.00	0.875
2008	Boston Bruins	NHL		7	3	4	430	19	0	2.65	0.914
2009	Boston Bruins	NHL		11	7	4	680	21	1	1.85	0.935
NHL totals				18	10	8	1110	40	1	2.25	0.925

References

• Elitserien 2000/2001. Swedish Ice Hockey Association. Retrieved on 2008-04-09.
• SM Slutspel Elitserien 2000/2001. Swedish Ice Hockey Association. Retrieved on 2008-04-09.
• Matchfakta, Elitserien 2000/2001 (Swedish). AIK Hockey. Retrieved on 2008-04-09.

External links

• Tim Thomas's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database
• Tim Thomas's biography at Legends of Hockey
• Tim Thomas's NHL player profile
• Tim Thomas - player profile and career stats at European Hockey.Net