Marko Kristian Kiprusoff (born June 6, 1972) is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

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 hock ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the la ...

. He is currently an assistant junior coach in Finnish hockey club TPS.

Draft

He was drafted by the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

as their third-round pick, 70th overall, in the

1994 NHL Entry Draft The 1994 NHL Entry Draft was the 32nd NHL Entry Draft. It was held at the Hartford Civic Center on June 28–29, 1994. The last active players in the NHL from this draft class were Patrik Elias and Eric Boulton, who both played their last NHL g ...

Playing career

SM-liiga Career

Marko Kiprusoff started his hockey career with TPS. Kiprusoff also had a three-game visit to

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 ...

during his earlier seasons in the

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 ...

. Kiprusoff earned a reputation as a solid offensive defenceman at TPS and after his successful performances for the Finnish National team and TPS, Kiprusoff was contracted by the

. Kiprusoff won the SM-liiga championship twice, in 1993 and 1995. Kiprusoff also captured the European Championship with TPS in 1994.

First NHL visit

Kiprusoff spent the 1995–96 season with the

but he didn't make much of an impact in the NHL. Kiprusoff played 24 games for the Canadiens and 28 more for Montreal's AHL-affiliate, the

Fredericton Canadiens The Fredericton Canadiens, or the 'Baby Habs' were a professional ice hockey team in Fredericton, New Brunswick. The Canadiens played their home games at the Aitken Centre. They were a member of the American Hockey League from 1990 to 1999, and w ...

Return to Europe

After his initial season in the NHL, Kiprusoff played 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 Elitserien (literally, "the Elite League") is the name of several Swedish nationwide sport leagues. In many sports, Elitserien is the highest league, with the second highest named Allsvenskan. Elitserien leagues at present: * Elitserien (badmint ...

for

Malmö IF Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal popu ...

, after which he returned to TPS in 1998. Kiprusoff won two more SM-liiga championships with TPS, making him a four-time SM-liiga champion. Kiprusoff then played the 2001–02 with the

New York Islanders The New York Islanders (colloquially known as the Isles) are a professional ice hockey team based in Elmont, New York. The Islanders compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference ( ...

and played after that for

EHC Kloten EHC Kloten is an ice hockey team based in the city of Kloten in Switzerland. The team plays in the National League (NL). It has one of the best youth systems in Swiss ice hockey as its youth teams have won 19 championships during the last 50 year ...

in Switzerland. In 2004 Kiprusoff returned again to TPS, where he played until the end of the 2008-09 season. On 21 May 2009 he signed a contract with French team

Ducs d'Angers The Association des Sports de Glisse d'Angers is a French professional ice hockey team based in Angers playing in the Ligue Magnus. The team currently use the name of "Les Ducs d'Angers". The team's mascot is an eagle-owl, or grand duc (literally ...

of the

Ligue Magnus The Ligue Magnus, currently known as Synerglace Ligue Magnus for sponsorship reasons, is the top men's division of the French ice hockey pyramid, established in 1906. The league operated under a variety of names before taking that of its champion ...

. Kiprusoff made a two-year player/coach-contract with the Kuusamon Pallo-Karhut in June 2011. He played in Kuusamo in January 2011, one game, making two points.

International play

Kiprusoff was a mainstay on the Finnish national team during the most of the '90s. Kiprusoff played 198 National Team games and was on the Finnish national team when they won Finland's first

Ice Hockey World Championships The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). First officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics, it is the sport's highest profile annua ...

gold medal in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

. Kiprusoff's last international tournament callup was during the 2003 World Championship Tournament.

Awards

Pekka Rautakallio trophy The Pekka Rautakallio trophy is an ice hockey award given by the Finnish Liiga to the best defenceman of the season. In 1995 the award was renamed to carry the name of its first winner Pekka Rautakallio. In 2019 it was awarded to Oliwer Kaski of Pel ...

for best defenceman in the SM-liiga - 1995 *

Raimo Kilpiö trophy The Raimo Kilpiö trophy is an ice hockey trophy awarded by the Finnish Liiga to the player who has shown the most sportsmanship and good behaviour as well as high quality performance for their team. It is named after Raimo Kilpiö who played in the ...

for gentleman player in the SM-liiga - 1999

Personal life

He is the older brother of

Miikka Kiprusoff Miikka Sakari Kiprusoff (; born October 26, 1976), nicknamed "Kipper", is a Finnish former professional ice hockey goaltender who played for the San Jose Sharks and Calgary Flames during his National Hockey League (NHL) career. He was selected in ...

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kiprusoff, Marko 1972 births Cleveland Barons (2001–2006) players Ducs d'Angers players Finnish ice hockey defencemen Finnish ice hockey world championship gold medalists Finnish people of Russian descent HPK players Ice hockey players at the 1994 Winter Olympics EHC Kloten players KooKoo players Living people Malmö Redhawks players Montreal Canadiens draft picks Montreal Canadiens players New York Islanders players Olympic bronze medalists for Finland Olympic ice hockey players of Finland Olympic medalists in ice hockey Sportspeople from Turku HC TPS players TuTo players Medalists at the 1994 Winter Olympics