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Niko Hovinen

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Niko Hovinen
Born (1988-03-16) 16 March 1988 (age 36)
Helsinki, Finland
Height 6 ft 7 in (201 cm)
Weight 200 lb (91 kg; 14 st 4 lb)
Position Goaltender
Catches Left
Liiga team
Former teams
Vaasan Sport
Jokerit
Pelicans
Oklahoma City Barons
Metallurg Novokuznetsk
Admiral Vladivostok
EC Red Bull Salzburg
Luleå HF
Oulun Kärpät
Medveščak Zagreb
KalPa
KooKoo
Lausanne HC
Iserlohn Roosters
National team  Finland
NHL draft 132nd overall, 2006
Minnesota Wild
Playing career 2005–present

Niko Hovinen (born 16 March 1988) is a Finnish professional ice hockey goaltender. He is currently playing for HIFK of The SM-Liiga in Finland.

Playing career

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Jokerit

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Niko Hovinen's SM-liiga career started during the 2005–06 season when Hovinen dressed for a single regular-season Jokerit game as backup to Joonas Hallikainen, after Tim Thomas abruptly left the team only a day before the start of the 2005–06 regular season. Hovinen returned to the junior team for the rest of the season. He made his first SM-liiga start on 23 November 2006, against SaiPa, again called up when three Jokerit goaltenders were injured.

During the 2007–08 season, Hovinen served as backup to Jussi Markkanen. Hovinen was relegated to no. 3 goaltender when Jokerit acquired Joni Puurula from SaiPa just before the end of regular season. Hovinen dressed up to serve as backup for Joni Puurula in several games during the 2007–08 playoffs as Jussi Markkanen got himself injured during the first game of playoffs.

Pelicans

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During the off-season of 2007–08 SM-liiga season, Niko Hovinen was contracted to Pelicans. For the first time, Niko Hovinen will play outside of Jokerit-organization in 2008–09 season.

A tall goaltender at 196 cm, Hovinen covers the net very well and is considered a highly promising goaltender prospect.[citation needed]

Niko Hovinen with the Oklahoma City Barons.

Hovinen was ranked #10 on the International Scouting Service's list of goaltender prospects for the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. He was drafted in the fifth round, 132nd overall, by the Minnesota Wild.

North America

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Hovinen signed a two-year entry-level contract with the National Hockey League's Philadelphia Flyers on 17 May 2011.[1] He remained with the Pelicans through the 2011–12 season.[2]

On 25 January 2013 the Edmonton Oilers claimed Hovinen off unconditional waivers.[3] He was assigned to AHL affiliate, the Oklahoma City Barons, where he remained to end the 2013–14 season.

Back to Europe

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On 2 July 2013, Hovinen's NHL rights were retained by the Oilers after he was tendered a qualifying offer. He opted to return to Europe signing a contract with Metallurg Novokuznetsk of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), before moving on to fellow KHL team Admiral Vladivostok.

He split the 2014–15 season between EC Salzburg of Austria and Swedish teams Luleå HF and Malmö Redhawks. In the 2015–16 campaign, Hovinen was back in his native Finland for a second stint with the Pelicans. On 13 June 2016, he put pen to paper on a deal with Medvescak Zagreb of the Kontinental Hockey League[4] and parted ways with the club in November 2016. Later that month, he was picked up by KalPa of the Finnish top-flight Liiga.[5] Following a stint at fellow Liiga outfit KooKoo, he signed with Lausanne HC of the Swiss NLA on February 7, 2017.[6]

A free agent from his 2018–19 season stint in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga with the Iserlohn Roosters, Hovinen familiarly returned to the Ligga, agreeing to a one-year contract with Vaasan Sport on 7 October 2019.[7]


Medal record
Representing Finland Finland
Ice hockey
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2011 Slovakia

Career statistics

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Regular season and playoffs

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Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP W L T/OT MIN GA SO GAA SV% GP W L MIN GA SO GAA SV%
2006–07 Jokerit SM-l 1 0 1 0 60 4 0 4.00 .871
2007–08 Jokerit SM-l 4 0 1 0 125 12 0 5.78 .833
2008–09 Pelicans SM-l 21 7 12 1 1110 54 2 2.92 .896 1 0 0 11 3 0 15.72 .667
2009–10 Pelicans SM-l 18 5 7 3 944 47 1 2.99 .914
2010–11 Pelicans SM-l 49 17 25 5 2826 122 3 2.59 .921
2011–12 Pelicans SM-l 41 21 12 6 2358 89 5 2.26 .921 8 5 2 442 17 2 2.30 .925
2012–13 Trenton Titans ECHL 16 4 6 3 841 44 0 3.14 .889
2012–13 Oklahoma City Barons AHL 10 5 3 2 612 30 1 2.94 .892
2013–14 Metallurg Novokuznetsk KHL 18 2 13 0 856 43 0 3.01 .916
2013–14 Admiral Vladivostok KHL 7 1 4 0 382 16 0 2.51 .921
2014–15 EC Red Bull Salzburg EBEL 5 4 0 0 248 5 2 1.21 .955
2014–15 Luleå HF SHL 1 0 1 0 40 4 0 6.00 .692
2014–15 Malmö Redhawks Allsv 9 6 3 0 543 21 0 2.32 .916 12 2.38 .915
2015–16 Oulun Kärpät Liiga 1 0 0 0 16 3 0 11.30 .500
2015–16 Pelicans Liiga 23 5 9 3 1080 59 1 3.28 .876 4 2 2 241 8 0 1.99 .932
2016–17 KHL Medveščak Zagreb KHL 5 1 4 0 245 22 0 5.39 .842
2016–17 KalPa Liiga 8 4 2 2 481 21 0 2.62 .910
2016–17 KooKoo Liiga 13 4 5 4 759 32 0 2.53 .910
2016–17 Lausanne HC NLA 1 0 0 0 40 2 0 3.00 .936
2017–18 KalPa Liiga 22 12 7 3 1319 37 5 1.68 .937 6 2 3 335 14 0 2.51 .902
2018–19 KalPa Liiga 5 1 2 2 305 14 0 2.75 .880
2018–19 Iserlohn Roosters DEL 23 8 15 0 1382 75 0 3.00 .900
Liiga totals 179 63 74 14 9630 443 12 2.69 .908 13 7 4 695 28 2 2.58 .920

References

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  1. ^ "Flyers sign (G) Hivonen". philadelphiaflyers.com. 17 May 2011. Retrieved 17 May 2011.
  2. ^ Sarah Baicker (17 May 2011). "Flyers sign goalie Hovinen to entry-level contract". CSNPhilly.com. Archived from the original on 24 July 2012. Retrieved 17 May 2011.
  3. ^ "Oilers claim G Niko Hovinen off waivers from the Philadelphia Flyers - Edmonton Oilers - Transactions". edmontonoilers.com. 25 January 2013. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  4. ^ "Finn Hovinen will be in goal in Zagreb's Den". www.medvescak.com. Archived from the original on 2 October 2016. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
  5. ^ "Uutiset - Eero Kilpeläinen sivussa jouluun asti, Niko Hovinen KalPa-paitaan". www.kalpa.fi. Retrieved 15 November 2016.
  6. ^ Club, Lausanne Hockey. "Nouvelle arrivée. - Lausanne Hockey Club". www.lausannehc.ch (in French). Archived from the original on 7 February 2017. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  7. ^ "Niko Hovinen signs with Sport" (in Finnish). Vaasan Sport. 7 October 2019. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
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