Kai Ilmari Nurminen (born March 29, 1969) is a Finnish former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

forward, who last played with

Herlev Hornets The Herlev Hornets were a Denmark, Danish professional ice hockey team playing in the top Danish ice hockey league Oddset Ligaen, AL-Bank Ligaen. The team is located in the Copenhagen suburb of Herlev. In 2011, the team returned to the top Danish ...

in the Danish

Oddset Ligaen Metal Ligaen is the premier league in Danish ice hockey. The league consists of 9 professional teams. The name of the league has changed many times, but is being sponsored by Dansk Metal and therefore got the name Metalligaen. History It is ...

Career

Nurminen started and played most of his ice hockey career with TPS in SM-liiga. He has also played for two seasons in the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

Elitserien. During the 1994–1995 season, he played successfully with Esa Keskinen for HV71, together making up a fearsome duo. For the 1996–97 season, he was contracted by

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent ...

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

. After only one season in NHL with 67 matches played (scoring 16 goals and 11 assists) he returned to

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...

. In the 2000–01 season, he played two games for the

Minnesota Wild The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Wild competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference and play their home games at the Xcel Ener ...

and registered one goal. Nurminen also played for

HPK Hämeenlinnan Pallokerho (HPK) is a professional ice hockey team in the Liiga, the top men's ice hockey league in Finland. Their home ice is the Ritari-areena in Hämeenlinna. HPK was established in 1929. The parent club of the team is HPK Edu ...

and

Jokerit Helsingin Jokerit (English: Jokers or Jesters) are a professional ice hockey team based in Helsinki, Finland. The team won six league championships as a member of the Finnish SM-liiga (1973, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1997, and 2002). Jokerit plays its h ...

in SM-liiga;

HC Davos Hockey Club Davos is a professional Swiss ice hockey club based in Davos, Switzerland. Davos plays in the National League (NL). The team is usually a strong force in the league and often bolster their roster with Swiss national team players and ...

in Nationalliga A; and Frölunda HC and

HV71 HV71 (), often referred to as just HV, is a Swedish professional ice hockey club based in Jönköping, playing in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), the first tier of Swedish ice hockey. The team played in the 2008–09 Champions Hockey League ...

in Elitserien. Nurminen won the Finnish Championship twice. He also won the 1993 European Champions Cup with TPS. Nurminen scored 7 goals in 12 games in World Championships and 243 goals in

SM-liiga The SM-liiga (marketed as just Liiga from 2013 on), (Finnish for ''League'') colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. It is one of the six founding leagu ...

. During the 1999–2000 season he played 64 games and scored 46 goals in SM-liiga. Nurminen ended his active playing career with the Danish team

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nurminen, Kai 1969 births Living people Cleveland Lumberjacks players Finnish ice hockey left wingers Frölunda HC players HC Davos players HC TPS players Herlev Hornets players HPK players HV71 players Jokerit players Los Angeles Kings draft picks Los Angeles Kings players Minnesota Wild players Sportspeople from Turku TuTo players