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It’s entirely unsurprising that when Miikka Kiprusoff is asked about the Calgary Flames’ run to the Stanley Cup final in 2004, he downplays his contributions just a bit.
That magical couple of months is a huge part of Kiprusoff’s legacy in Calgary, with the Finnish shot-stopper making save after save as the Flames shocked the hockey world by knocking off the Vancouver Canucks, Detroit Red Wings and San Jose Sharks before failing in heartbreaking Game 7 fashion to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
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None of it happens without Kiprusoff standing on his head. Anyone who watched would tell you that.
Except for Kiprusoff.
“I had some games I played unreal and helped the team and it was the other way, too,” Kiprusoff said at a media availability on Friday before his jersey retirement ceremony on Saturday night. “Our team played unreal defence the whole year. They made me look good, too. It worked both ways.”
That’s all probably true, but with respect to the great goalie, it might understate his importance in the Flames’ run to the Cup final.
His teammates during the run certainly remember Kiprusoff having a more outsized influence than he might admit.
“We went to the Cup final and almost beat Tampa, and a giant part was Kipper,” said Shean Donovan, who scored five goals and added 10 assists for the Flames during the 2004 playoffs and is now a development coach with the Ottawa Senators.
“Not a small percentage. A giant part.”
You won’t find anyone around Calgary who is willing to debate that point. Kiprusoff was outstanding during the ’04 run. He was incredible. Amazing. Pick your superlative, they all fit.
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The numbers back it all up, too. In 26 games that post-season, he posted a 1.85 goals-against average and a .928 save percentage.
“As a team, when you see and feel a player that’s playing that well and you’re seeing the results of how Miikka was playing, you feel more confident,” said former Flames defenceman Robyn Regehr. “Playing in front of a goaltender who is playing at that level, it provides a level of confidence for you as an individual but also as a team because you know that if you go out and do your job you’re going to have a really good job of winning the game because of all those factors and having him back there.”
So when exactly did that confidence start to set in for the Flames? When did they start to believe that they could make something special happen in the spring of ’04.
That’s different for every player.
According to Regehr, head coach Darryl Sutter had asked the group who their ideal first-round opponent would be before they’d even officially booked their place in the post-season.
There was general agreement that if the Flames had their druthers, they’d want the Canucks. The way that back-and-forth seven-game series played out showed the Flames that they were up for the fight, and Kiprusoff’s heroics gave them a chance.
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For Donovan, it was in the next round. In the previous 11 years, only the Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings and Colorado Avalanche had managed to emerge from the Western Conference and compete for the Stanley Cup.
And the Flames just happened to be up against the Red Wings in Round 2.
“It was Game 1 or 2 in Detroit and Kipper stole that game with his play,” Donovan recalled of a series the Flames won in six games. “I just remember seeing a couple guys for supper and we were like ‘Guys, we can win.’
“That was the turning point and Kipper gave us that confidence. The Detroit Red Wings hasn’t lost a lot but there was just a belief after that game. We felt like we could do it.”
For Jamie McLennan, the moment he realized something special was happening came a little later.
McLennan had been with the Flames for most of the 2003-04 season but had been traded to the New York Islanders in March. He wasn’t with the Flames in the playoffs, but had witnessed Kiprusoff’s special skill-set up close after the team had acquired him from the San Jose Sharks earlier in the year.
He’d actually met up with a couple of his former Flames teammates right after they’d finished off the Red Wings. Two nights later, something special happened.
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“They were playing in San Jose, Game 1 (of the conference final), and Miikka made 49 saves in a 4-3 overtime win. That was the other level,” McLennan said. “That season you just watched him get better and better and better and more comfortable and more dominant. In the playoffs, on a night when you don’t deserve to win — and I don’t think they deserved to win that game — but they did because Kipper gave them a chance and Steve Montador scored in overtime.
“He stole that game. It was a slow burn, watching him build, but he was that good. It wasn’t lightning in a bottle, you just saw him get a runway and a pathway where he said ‘This is my net and the sky’s the limit.’ “
The Flames went on to win the conference final in six games.
Asked what allowed Kiprusoff to elevate his game to such a high level, there were no shortage of explanations from his former teammates.
But each one of them also came back to one thing: His unflappability.
Kiprusoff was famous for maintaining the same sense of calm whether he was playing at his best or having a tough game. His body language never betrayed him. His demeanour stayed steady.
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And for a Flames team that was going deep into the playoffs together for the first — and only — time, Kiprusoff’s never-panic attitude permeated through the locker-room.
“When there’s turbulence, you look at the stewardess or the captain on your flight and you want them to be calm,” Donovan said. “Kipper was one of our captains and he’d be calm as can be and you’d think ‘OK, we’re alright here.’ “
In the end, the Flames fell just short of hoisting the Stanley Cup.
It was heartbreaking, but 20 years later hockey fans in Calgary still tell stories about where they were and what they were doing that spring. The legend of the Red Mile lives on and Calgarians hope and pray for a team that can one day capture a similar magic.
And none of it would have happened without Kiprusoff’s performances in those 26 games.
It’s not the only reason, but it’s a big part of why his time in Calgary is being immortalized by the Flames as they retire his jersey on Saturday night.
Decades from now, when fans look up and see his number 34 hanging from the rafters of some new arena, they’ll remember that spring of 2004.
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