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Nieminen, Ville

NHL, the National Hockey League is a premier professional North American Sports League played in indoor stadiums. It’s divided into two conferences, each comprising of three divisions of ice hockey teams. The league was established in 1917 in Montreal, Quebec and it is composed of 30 teams out of which 24 teams based in U.S. and 6 in Canada. They have a regular season and playoffs leading to the Stanley Cup, which is the NHL Championship final.

Ville Nieminen is NHL player who is currently playing with San Jose Sharks team on Left Wing position. He is born in Tampere, Finland. His height is six foot one inches and weight is 210 pounds. Ville Nieminen played with the local Tappara club for several years and was taken 78th overall by the Colorado Avalanche in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft.

He was a member of Finland's 1997 World Junior team, Nieminen came to North America in 1997-98 and spent most of the next three years apprenticing with Colorado's AHL American Hockey League affiliate in Hershey. The hard working forward scored 14 goals in 2000-01 and contributed ten points in 23 post-season contests as Colorado won the second Stanley Cup in franchise history. Late in the 2001-02 season he was sent to the Pittsburgh Penguins as part of the package for veteran defenceman Darius Kasparaitis.

Nieminen's stay in the Windy City was short lived as he was dealt to the Calgary Flames in the latter stages of the 2003-04 season. Upon his arrival with the Flames, the gritty Nieminen was a key contributor in the club's run to the 2004 Stanley Cup final. Despite Nieminen's strong play, the Flames lost a hard-fought seven game series to the eventual Cup champions from Tampa Bay. Comming off a heartbreaking loss in the Stanley Cup final, Nieminen was a member of Finland's World Cup of Hockey team in the summer of 2004 and in the summer of 2005 was acquired by the New York Rangers.

Despite his strong play for the Ranges, Nieminen was dealt to the San Jose Sharks just prior to the NHL trading deadline His regular season total statistics included 271 GP, games played 39 G, goals, 52 A, assists,91 pts, points and 227 PIM, penalty minutes.

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