Saku Koivu

Saku Antero Koivu (born November 23, 1974 in Turku, Finland) is a former Finnish professional ice hockey player and an alternate captain of the Anaheim Ducks of the National Hockey League (NHL). He began his NHL career with the Montreal Canadiens in 1995–96 after three seasons with TPS of the Finnish SM-liiga. Koivu served as the Canadiens' captain for nine of his thirteen seasons with the club (not including the locked-out 2004–05 season), which makes his the second longest captaincy tenure in team history after Jean Béliveau. Koivu was the first European to captain the Montreal Canadiens.

Saku Koivu
Sakukoivu halifax2008.png
Born (1974-11-23) 23 November 1974 (age 49)
Turku, FIN
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight 178 lb (81 kg; 12 st 10 lb)
Position Center
Shot Left
NHL team
Former teams
Anaheim Ducks
Montreal Canadiens
TPS (SM-liiga)
National team Flag of Finland.svg Finland
NHL Draft 21st overall, 1993
Montreal Canadiens
Playing career 1992–2014

On September 6, 2001, Koivu was diagnosed with Burkitt's lymphoma, a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and he nearly all of the 2001–02 season. After he had been suffering serious pains in his stomach and was vomiting went to see the Canadiens' physician David Mulder, who, after many tests discovered the cancer. He was expected to miss the season but he made a comeback in time for the last few games. The fans gave Koivu an eight-minute standing ovation when he skated onto the Molson Centre ice for the first time on April 9, 2002.[1] For both his courage and his off-ice team leadership while he was undergoing cancer treatment, Koivu was awarded the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy following the 2002 playoffs.

Awards and honors

SM-liiga

NHL

International

Medal record
Men's ice hockey
Competitor for   Finland
Olympic Games
Bronze 1994 Lillehammer
Bronze 1998 Nagano
Silver 2006 Turin
Bronze 2010 Vancouver
World Championships
Silver 1994 Italy
Gold 1995 Sweden
Silver 1999 Norway
Bronze 2008 Canada
World Cup
Silver 2004 World Cup of Hockey
Year Team Event Result   GP G A Pts PIM
1993 Finland WC 6 0 1 1 2
1994 Finland OLY   8 4 3 7 12
1994 Finland WC   8 5 6 11 4
1995 Finland WC   8 5 5 10 18
1996 Finland WCH 4 1 3 4 4
1997 Finland WC 6 2 2 4 2
1998 Finland OLY   6 2 8 10 4
1999 Finland WC   10 4 12 16 4
2003 Finland WC 7 1 10 11 4
2004 Finland WCH   6 3 1 4 2
2006 Finland OLY   8 3 8 11 12
2008 Finland WC   6 0 3 3 4
2010 Finland OLY   6 0 2 2 6
WC totals 51 17 39 56 38
OLY totals 28 9 21 30 34
WCH totals 10 4 4 8 6
Int'l totals 89 30 64 94 78

Career statistics

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM +/– GP G A Pts PIM
1992–93 TPS SM-L 46 3 7 10 28 -5 11 3 2 5 2
1993–94 TPS SM-L 47 23 30 53 42 +27 11 4 8 12 16
1994–95 TPS SM-L 45 27 47 74 73 +33 13 7 10 17 16
1995–96 Montreal Canadiens NHL 82 20 25 45 40 -7 6 3 1 4 8
1996–97 Montreal Canadiens NHL 50 17 39 56 38 +7 5 1 3 4 10
1997–98 Montreal Canadiens NHL 69 14 43 57 48 +8 6 2 3 5 2
1998–99 Montreal Canadiens NHL 65 14 30 44 38 -7
1999–00 Montreal Canadiens NHL 24 3 18 21 14 +7
2000–01 Montreal Canadiens NHL 54 17 30 47 40 +2
2001–02 Montreal Canadiens NHL 3 0 2 2 0 0 12 4 6 10 4
2002–03 Montreal Canadiens NHL 82 21 50 71 72 +5
2003–04 Montreal Canadiens NHL 68 14 41 55 52 -5 11 3 8 11 10
2004–05 TPS SM-l 20 8 8 16 28 +11 6 3 2 5 30
2005–06 Montreal Canadiens NHL 72 17 45 62 70 +1 3 0 2 2 2
2006–07 Montreal Canadiens NHL 81 22 53 75 74 -21
2007–08 Montreal Canadiens NHL 77 16 40 56 93 -4 7 3 6 9 4
2008–09 Montreal Canadiens NHL 65 16 34 50 44 +4 4 0 3 3 2
2009–10 Anaheim Ducks NHL 71 19 33 52 36 +14
2010–11 Anaheim Ducks NHL 75 15 30 45 36 -8 6 1 6 7 6
2011–12 Anaheim Ducks NHL 74 11 27 38 50 +7
2012–13 Anaheim Ducks NHL 47 8 19 27 18 +4 7 1 2 3 6
2013–14 Anaheim Ducks NHL 65 11 18 29 46 +3 13 0 1 1 8
NHL totals 1124 255 577 832 809 +10 80 18 41 59 62
SM-L totals 158 61 92 153 171 +66 41 17 22 39 64

Saku Koivu Media

References

  1. "Big night starts with Koivu, ends with playoffs". ESPN. Retrieved 2014-10-26.

Other websites