It was supposed to be a two horse race.
Apparently there were three horses.
This morning, Finland announced it’s roster that’ll be headed to Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympics. The forwards included names you’d expect: Anaheim’s Saku Koivu, Minnesota’s Miiko Koivu, Calgary’s Olli Jokinen, Detroit’s Valtteri Filppula and, of course, “the Finnish Flash” Teemu Selanne. Even the blue line looks solid with names like Sami Salo of the Canucks, Joni Pitkanen of the Hurricanes and Philadelphia Flyers d-man (and former Predators captain) Kimmo Timonen.
But, in net, it’s a different story.
It was no secret that the Calgary Flames’ Miika Kiprusoff was going to be the starter for Team Finland. The guy’s won 40 games or more in a season three times, he’s a workhorse playing at least 74 regular season games each of the past four years and, if all that wasn’t enough, one of his saves was just selected as the greatest save of the decade by Yahoo’s Puck Daddy.
Which brings us to the supposed two-horse race.
Minnesota’s Niklas Backstrom and Nashville’s Pekka Rinne were supposed to be fighting it out for the primary back-up job. This morning we learned that Rinne didn’t get the back-up job. We also learned he’ll be at home during the Winter Games and not in British Columbia. Tampa Bay’s Antero Niittymaki was named to the roster as the third goalie, leaving last season’s should-have-been Calder Trophy winner Rinne off the roster.
As much as we’d love to be homers here, let’s be honest, Backstrom deserved to be the number two guy for Finland. He’s got more NHL experience than Rinne and, given that this is the Olympics, it only makes sense that experience be the difference maker. Besides, this is a “what have you done for me lately” age in sports. And, well, Rinne hasn’t “done much” lately.
Since November 27 – which coincedentally was Rinne’s first loss in seven games – Backstrom is 10-3-0 with a .910 save percentage. Also, since that same date, Rinne hasn’t won more than two games in a row and Backstrom has three different streaks of three wins or more. Bottom line is, Backstrom is the logical choice as the number two guy for Finland.
The really puzzling part of this is how Nittymaki made the roster. He’s 7-5-4 this season which is hardly an impressive record. Sure he plays on a bad team (currently 10th in the Eastern Conference) but that’s where you ignore the win-loss record and focus on the save percentage. Well that doesn’t help his case either. Nittymaki has an abysmal .877 save percentage so far in the month of December. Furthermore, he’s never really been a full-time starter in the NHL. He’s never started more than 46 games in any one season and he’s only won more than 20 games once (23 in 2005-06). He’s got a career .903 save percentage and 2.96 goals against average which are “average” at best and has a mere four shutouts in his career. By comparison, Rinne had seven shutouts last season alone.
Rinne is the obvious choice as the third string goaltender for Team Finland. Why Nittymaki is on the team instead is absolutely mind-boggling. If you look at both of them side-by-side, it’s no contest. Does Nittymaki know someone high up in the Finnish selection committee? Did Rinne piss off someone on the selection committee? Did Finland think Rinne’s one and a half seasons of often-spectacular NHL experience wasn’t as good as Nittymaki’s five seasons of mediocre NHL experience?
There really is no explanation for the omission and the hockey world, the Nashville Predators organization and Pekka Rinne himself would love your opinions on why. Please leave your thoughts and opinions in the comment section below.
For the complete Team Finland roster, click here.
EDITED: Goaltenders such as Boston’s Tuuka Rask and Chicago’s Antti Niemi were also left off the Finnish roster but the reasons for their absence is quite obvious: both are rookies. Rask has a whopping 20 games of NHL experience and Niemi has 15. Rinne, by default, would be a better choice than either of those two guys based on that alone. When 2014 rolls around however, it’ll be a different story.