Antero Niittymäki

Antero Pertti Elias Niittymäki (born 18 June 1980) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey goaltender. He played parts of 7 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL). He played for the Philadelphia Flyers, Tampa Bay Lightning, and San Jose Sharks. Outside of the NHL, Niittymäki has also played for TPS of the SM-liiga.

He is a two-time Kanada-malja champion, winning back-to-back with TPS in 2000 and 2001. Internationally, Niittymäki plays for Finland.He won a silver medal with them at the 2006 Winter Olympics and a bronze medal with them at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Career
Before playing in the NHL, Niittymäki played parts of three seasons with TPS of the SM-liiga. He had a successful time with TPS, helping hem win the SM-liiga championship and being awarded the Jarmo Wasama Memorial Trophy for being named Rookie of the Year.  In his rookie year, he went 23–6.

He was drafted 168th overall by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 1998 NHL entry draft. He never played a game with the Blues and mainly played for their AHL-affiliate Worcester IceCats.

On 4 February 2004, Niittymäki made his NHL debut in a 5–1 win against the Washington Capitals. On 6 December 2005, he recorded his first NHL career shutout, stopping 28 shots in a 1–0 shootout win against the Calgary Flames. He spent most of his time playing bouncing between playing for the Flyers and their AHL-affiliate Philadelphia Phantoms. On 11 April 2004, Niittymäki was able to score a game-winning, empty net, overtime, shorthanded, unassisted goal in a 3–2 win over the Hershey Bears. Niittymäki played a big role in helping the Phantoms during the playoffs. They defeated the Norfolk Admirals, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, and Providence Bruins. They went on to sweep and defeat the Chicago Wolves four games to zero to win the Calder Cup. During the playoffs, he was praised for his performance. He finished with a 1.75 GAA and 15 wins, with three of them being shutouts. He was awarded the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy for MVP of the playoffs. On July 5, 2006, Niittymäki signed a 1-year, $2.45 million contract to stay with the Flyers. Niittymäki became the starting goaltender for the Flyers after Robert Esche had disagreements with the coach. He returned to backup goaltender after the Flyers brought in Martin Biron. On 14 June 2007, Niittymäki signed a two-year, $2.45 million contract to stay with the Flyers.

On 14 June 2007, Niittymäki signed a one-year, $600,000 contract to join the Tampa Bay Lightning. He played 49 regular season games with the team, with a record of 21–18.

On 1 July 2010, Niittymäki signed a 2 years, $4 million contract to join the San Jose Sharks. He played well but suffered an injury to his hip and had to have surgery which took him out of action for 12 weeks.

On 12 April 2013, Niittymäki announced that was retiring from playing professional ice hockey after multiple hip injuries had forced his retirement. After retiring, he became a European goaltender scout for the Philadelphia Flyers.

References

 Other websites 

Category:1980 births
Category:Living people
Category:Finnish ice hockey goaltenders
Category:Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics
Category:Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics
Category:Olympic bronze medalists for Finland
Category:Olympic silver medalists for Finland
Category:Ice hockey people from Turku
Category:Philadelphia Flyers players
Category:Philadelphia Phantoms players
Category:San Jose Sharks players
Category:Syracuse Crunch players
Category:Tampa Bay Lightning players
Category:Worcester Sharks players