Ville Juhani Nieminen (born April 6, 1977) 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 h ...

forward who played over 400 games in the

National Hockey League 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 ...

Playing career

Nieminen started his professional hockey career with

Tappara Tappara (; Finnish for "Battle axe") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team playing in the Liiga. They play at ''Tampere Deck Arena'' in Tampere, Finland. The team has won 18 Finnish league championships (1959, 1961, 1964, 1975, 1977, 1979, ...

in the Finnish

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 ...

, in the 1994–95 season. He was drafted by the

Colorado Avalanche The Colorado Avalanche (colloquially known as the Avs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Denver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The Avalanche play thei ...

as their third-round pick, #78 overall, in the

1997 NHL Entry Draft The 1997 NHL Entry Draft was the 35th NHL Entry Draft. It was held at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on June 21, 1997. As of 2022, the only remaining active player in the NHL from the 1997 draft class is Joe Thornton. Selections ...

. Nieminen spent three seasons in the AHL with the

Hershey Bears The Hershey Bears are a professional ice hockey team based in Hershey, Pennsylvania, a town located 14 miles east of the state capital of Harrisburg. The current Bears club has played in the American Hockey League since the 1938–39 season maki ...

before moving to the NHL. Known for his non-stop motor mouth and aggressive in-your-face style of play, Nieminen was infamous as an annoying opponent on the ice, whose style was heavily reminiscent of

Esa Tikkanen Esa Tikkanen (born January 25, 1965) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey forward. He played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Edmonton Oilers, New York Rangers, St. Louis Blues, New Jersey Devils, Vancouver Canucks, Florida P ...

. Nieminen was also known for a relaxed personality and his trademark odd sense of humour outside the rink. Nieminen played for several teams in the

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 ...

, and spent the 2004–05 lockout season playing for his home team, Tappara. He signed with the

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...

for the

2005–06 NHL season The 2005–06 NHL season was the 89th season of operation (88th season of play) of the National Hockey League (NHL). This season succeeded the 2004–05 season which had all of its scheduled games canceled due to a labor dispute with the Natio ...

, 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 Tuomo Iisakki Ruutu (born 16 February 1983) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey forward and current assistant coach with the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League. Ruutu was drafted in the first round, ninth overall, at the 2 ...

. 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 The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the ...

. His contract expired in July, and he signed a two-year contract with the

Malmö Redhawks The IF Malmö Redhawks (colloquially referred to simply as Malmö or by past abbreviation MIF) is a Swedish professional ice hockey team based in Malmö which plays in the SHL, with Malmö Arena as the venue for home games. The history of the ...

, then of the Swedish Allsvenskan. After a single season Nieminen returned to his native land signing with his original club Tappara of the SM-liiga. On June 16, 2010, Nieminen signed a one-year contract with Russian team,

HC Sibir Novosibirsk Hockey Club Sibir Novosibirsk Oblast (russian: ХК Сибирь, en, Siberia HC), also known as HC Sibir or Sibir Novosibirsk, is a Russian professional ice hockey team based in Novosibirsk. They are members of the Chernyshev Division in the Ko ...

, of the KHL. On May 6, 2011, Nieminen signed a one-year deal to remain in Russia Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk. During the 2011–12 season, Nieminen remained unsettled, and moved twice in stints with Dinamo Riga and

Örebro HK Örebro HK is a Swedish ice hockey club located in Örebro. The team is currently playing in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL; formerly Elitserien), the top tier of Swedish ice hockey, since the 2013–14 season. The team's home arena is Behrn Are ...

of the HockeyAllsvenskan. Nieminen returned to Finland the following season, re-joining original club, Tappara on a two-year deal on May 2, 2012. During the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

season, Nieminen enjoyed a scoring resurgence, leading the team with 22 goals and 50 points in a second place regular season finish. He helped Tappara to a silver medal finish in the playoffs, leading the league with 41 penalty minutes. Nieminen played a final professional season in 2014–15 with

Lukko Rauman Lukko (Finnish for "lock") is a Finnish sports club based in Rauma, Finland, best known for its men’s professional ice hockey team. The club was founded as Rauma Woodin Lukko in 1936. The representative team currently plays in the Fi ...

, scoring 14 points in 50 games, before opting to pursue a coaching career as head coach with

Mestis Mestis (from fi, Mestaruussarja, meaning 'Championship series') is the second-highest men's ice hockey league in Finland. The league was established by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association in 2000 to replace the I-divisioona ('First Division' ...

club KeuPa.

Coaching career

KeuPa HT KeuPa HT are a semi-professional ice hockey team based in Keuruu, Finland. They are members of the second highest league in Finland, Mestis. The club was founded in 1995 in the Finnish fourth division II-Divisioona after the ice hockey club d ...

2015–2016,

. *

Jukurit Mikkelin Jukurit is a professional ice hockey team in Liiga, the top tier Finnish ice hockey league. They play in Mikkeli, Finland, at the Kalevankankaan jäähalli (known since 2016 as Ikioma Areena). The team has won 7 Mestis (2nd highest lev ...

2016–2018,

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 lea ...

. *

Lahti Pelicans The Lahti Pelicans are a Finnish professional ice hockey team playing in the Liiga. Founded in 1996, they play in the city of Lahti at Isku Arena. The team is co-owned by (among others) former National Hockey League (NHL) goaltender Pasi Nurmine ...

2018–2020,

. *

Modo Hockey Modo Hockey (or MoDo with uppercase letters) is a professional ice hockey club in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. The team plays in Sweden's second-tier league HockeyAllsvenskan. The club was founded in 1987 and has won one SHL championships; in 2007. ...

2020–,

HockeyAllsvenskan HockeyAllsvenskan (previously Allsvenskan and SuperAllsvenskan) is a professional ice hockey league, and the second-highest league in the Swedish ice hockey system (after the SHL). Since the 2009–10 season, the league consists of fourteen team ...

. Fired.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and honours

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nieminen, Ville 1977 births Living people Calgary Flames players Chicago Blackhawks players Colorado Avalanche draft picks Colorado Avalanche players Dinamo Riga players Finnish ice hockey left wingers HC Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk players HC Sibir Novosibirsk players Hershey Bears players Ice hockey players at the 2002 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2006 Winter Olympics Ice hockey people from Tampere KOOVEE players Lukko players Malmö Redhawks players Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics New York Rangers players Olympic ice hockey players of Finland Olympic medalists in ice hockey Olympic silver medalists for Finland Örebro HK players Pittsburgh Penguins players St. Louis Blues players San Jose Sharks players Stanley Cup champions Tappara players