Anyone even remember back in October when the Chicago Blackhawks were in Helsinki, Finland playing the Florida Panthers? No? Probably because the games were also on during the week at midday because of the time zones.
As an unemployed student at the time I was home and able to watch and remembering in game two Chicago decided to play this 'unknown' rookie goalie that just happened to be from Finland. The game started off with just that feel good feeling of 'awww they are letting him get his NHL debut in his home country' but turned into 'wow this kid is actually pretty good' and further into "Wow this Antti Niemi just recorded a shutout in his NHL debut in his home country."
For the life of me I can't find the article but someone had asked Niemi if he was going to take over the number one spot from Christobal Huet. I believe his answer was along the lines of "I'll try".
In the words of Yoda "Do or do not ... there is no try."
Young master Niemi did and now he is leading the Blackhawks into Game Three of the Stanley Cup finals as a rookie goalie (who was not nominated for Calder) with a 2-0 series lead.
May the force be with you...
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