Niko_Hovinen
Niko Hovinen
Finnish ice hockey player
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.
| 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 | ||
Jokerit
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
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]
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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
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
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 | ||
| Ice hockey | ||
| World Championships | ||
 | 2011 Slovakia | |
Regular season and playoffs
| 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 | ||||
- "Flyers sign (G) Hivonen". philadelphiaflyers.com. 17 May 2011. Retrieved 17 May 2011.
- 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.
- "Oilers claim G Niko Hovinen off waivers from the Philadelphia Flyers - Edmonton Oilers - Transactions". edmontonoilers.com. 25 January 2013. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
- "Finn Hovinen will be in goal in Zagreb's Den". www.medvescak.com. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
- "Uutiset - Eero Kilpeläinen sivussa jouluun asti, Niko Hovinen KalPa-paitaan". www.kalpa.fi. Retrieved 15 November 2016.
- 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.
- "Niko Hovinen signs with Sport" (in Finnish). Vaasan Sport. 7 October 2019. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
- Biographical information and career statistics from NHL.com, or Eliteprospects.com, or Eurohockey.com, or The Internet Hockey Database
- Jatkoaika.com player profile (in Finnish)