Ice Hockey Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Ville Nieminen
Position Left wing
Shoots Left
Height
Weight
6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
200 lb (91 kg)
SM-liiga Team
F. Teams
Tappara
Colorado Avalanche
Pittsburgh Penguins
Chicago Blackhawks
Calgary Flames
New York Rangers
San Jose Sharks
St. Louis Blues
Malmö Redhawks
Nationality Flag of Finland Finnish
Born (1977-04-06)April 6, 1977,
Tampere, Finland
NHL Draft 78th overall, 1997
Colorado Avalanche
Pro Career 1999 – present


Ville Nieminen (born April 6, 1977 in Tampere, Finland) is a Finnish professional ice hockey forward currently playing for Tappara of the Finnish SM-liiga.

Playing career[]

Nieminen started his professional hockey career with Tappara in the Finnish SM-liiga, in the 1994–95 season. He was drafted by the Colorado Avalanche as their third-round pick, #78 overall, in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft. Nieminen spent three seasons in the AHL with the Hershey Bears, and moved to the NHL and won the Stanley Cup with the Avalanche in 2001.

Known for his non-stop motor and aggressive in-your-face style of play, Nieminen is an annoying opponent in the rink, whose style is heavily reminiscent of Esa Tikkanen. Nieminen has a relaxed personality outside the rink and his odd sense of humour is his trademark.

Nieminen has played for several teams in the NHL, and spent the 2004–05 lockout season playing for his home team, Tappara. He signed with the New York Rangers for the 2005–06 NHL season, and was traded to San Jose on March 8, 2006.

He represented Finland in international play at the 2004 World Cup of Hockey, and when he was unable to compete at the 2005 IIHF World Championships, he provided commentary on Finnish television with fellow NHL player Tuomo Ruutu. Ville is a popular colour commentator due to his sense of humour and knowledge of the game.

On February 27, 2007, he was traded to the St. Louis Blues. His contract expired in July, and he signed a two-year contract with the Malmö Redhawks, then of the Swedish Allsvenskan.

Awards[]


Career statistics[]

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1994–95 Tappara SM-l 16 0 0 0 0
1995–96 Tappara SM-l 4 0 1 1 8
1996–97 Tappara SM-l 49 10 13 23 120 3 1 0 1 8
1997–98 Hershey Bears AHL 74 14 22 36 85
1998–99 Hershey Bears AHL 67 24 19 43 127 3 0 1 1 0
1999–00 Hershey Bears AHL 74 21 30 51 54 9 2 4 6 6
1999–00 Colorado Avalanche NHL 1 0 0 0 0
2000–01 Hershey Bears AHL 28 10 11 21 48
2000–01 Colorado Avalanche NHL 50 14 8 22 38 23 4 6 10 20
2001–02 Colorado Avalanche NHL 53 10 14 24 30
2001–02 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 13 1 2 3 8
2002–03 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 75 9 12 21 93
2003–04 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 60 2 11 13 40
2003–04 Calgary Flames NHL 19 3 5 8 18 24 4 4 8 55
2004–05 Tappara SM-l 26 14 13 27 32 8 2 4 6 12
2005–06 New York Rangers NHL 48 5 12 17 53
2005–06 San Jose Sharks NHL 22 3 4 7 10 11 0 2 2 24
2006–07 San Jose Sharks NHL 30 1 1 2 14
2006–07 St. Louis Blues NHL 14 0 0 0 29
2007–08 Malmö Redhawks Swe-1 34 9 15 24 124 3 1 3 4 6
2008–09 Tappara SM-l 55 21 20 41 82
NHL totals 385 48 69 117 333 58 8 12 20 99

International play[]

Medal record
Competitor for Flag of Finland Finland
Ice hockey
Men's Winter Olympics
Silver 2006 Turin Ice hockey
World Cup
Silver 2004 Toronto Ice hockey

Played for Finland in:

International statistics[]

Year Team Comp GP G A Pts PIM
1997 Finland WJC 6 2 5 7 2
2002 Finland OG 4 0 1 1 2
2004 Finland WCH 2 0 0 0 0
2006 Finland OG 8 0 1 1 4
Junior int'l totals 6 2 5 7 2
Senior int'l totals 14 0 2 2 6


External links[]

This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Ville Nieminen. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Ice Hockey Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA).


Advertisement