  Finland's head coach Raimo Summanen, left, and Saku Koivu keep an eye on the action during practice in Toronto Sunday September 12, 2004. Canada faces Finland in the World Cup of Hockey final Tuesday Sept. 14th.(CP PHOTO/Ryan Remiorz) |
Jarome Iginla was asked yesterday if he plans on sharing any secrets with his Canada teammates regarding Finnish netminder Miikka Kiprusoff, who just happens to be a teammate of Iginla's with the Calgary Flames. What's Iginla going to do, gather his friends in the dressing room before the World Cup final tomorrow night and tell them Kiprusoff wears funny-coloured underwear and thinks Britney Spears is kind of cute? Because as far as hockey goes, Iginla won't have any secrets to tell about how to beat Kiprusoff.
We're talking about a guy whose goals-against average last season was 1.69, the lowest since 1939-40, and then helped lead the Flames to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup. He has proven in the World Cup he is no flash in the pan, posting two shutouts with a 1.18 goals-against average and a .948 save percentage.
TOP GOALIES SIMILAR
"There are no glaring weaknesses," Iginla said. "It's pretty basic. Miikka is a very good goalie.
"The top goalies in the league are similar. Their (open) spots are just a little bit smaller."
One person who knows a thing or two about getting the best of Kiprusoff is Canada forward Brad Richards. The latter scored four goals in the Stanley Cup final, propelling the Tampa Bay Lighting past the Flames. But even Richards acknowledged that getting a puch past Kiprusoff won't be a walk in the park.
"If he sees a shot from the outside, you are not going to score on him a whole lot," Richards said. "Three of my goals against him were probably within five to 10 feet of the crease. We aren't going to get much off the rush with tic-tac-toe plays and stuff like that. We're going to have to be as ugly as we can be with our chances."
Although Kiprusoff has the ability to shut out a potent group of Canadians that has scored 19 goals in five games, Iginla is looking forward to clashing with his Flames pal.
"He plays hard and competes on every puck in practice and that's not something all goalies do," Iginla said.
"It's fun to play against him because it is such a competition."
