Mika Noronen

Mika Noronen
Born	(1979-06-17) June 17, 1979 Tampere, Finland
Height	6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Weight	191 lb (87 kg; 13 st 9 lb)
Position	Goaltender
Catches	Left
SHL team Former teams	Malmö Redhawks HIFK JYP Buffalo Sabres Vancouver Canucks AK Bars Kazan HPK Tappara Lukko HC Davos
National team	Finland
NHL Draft	21st overall, 1997 Buffalo Sabres
Playing career	2000–present

Mika Noronen (born June 17, 1979 in Tampere, Finland) is a Finnish professional ice hockey goaltender, Malmö Redhawks of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL).

Career

Noronen was drafted by the Buffalo Sabres in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft with pick number 21. In his native Finland, he has played for Tappara and HPK in the SM-liiga. He has also played for the Rochester Americans in the AHL.

While with the Rochester Americans, he gained some notoriety in a 2002 game against the Syracuse Crunch. A Crunch forward fired a slap shot past Noronen which hit the cross bar and bounced away. However, the goal judge signaled it was a goal. Play was stopped and the goal was counted. Noronen proceeded to spray the contents of his water bottle on the glass and wipe it away, pretending to clean the glass for the goal judge.

At the trade deadline in the 2005–06 season, Noronen was traded to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for a second-round pick in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. On March 14, 2006, Noronen played his first game as a Vancouver Canuck, allowing five goals in a 5–0 loss to the Nashville Predators.

Noronen was the first Finnish goaltender to be credited with a goal in the National Hockey League, a rare feat in itself. He was also the first Buffalo Sabres goaltender to accomplish the feat when he was the last Buffalo player to touch the puck before it entered the opponent's empty net on a delayed penalty on February 14, 2004.

In August 2006, Noronen opted to sign with Russian Hockey Super League team AK Bars Kazan rather than serving as back up to Roberto Luongo, making Noronen an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. Then he joined Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod in the RSL. In January 2009 Noronen joined Linköpings HC of Elitserien. Noronen returned to Finland for the 2009-10 season. He began the season by signing a short-term contract with JYP Jyväskylä. After the contract had expired, he signed a contract with HIFK Helsinki.

Honours

• European Champions cup: 2007 (with Ak Bars)

Awards

• Dudley "Red" Garrett Memorial Award - 2000
• Hap Holmes Memorial Award (with Tom Askey) - 2001

External links

• Mika Noronen's career statistics at The Internet Hockey Database

Preceded by Erik Rasmussen

Buffalo Sabres first round draft pick 1997

Succeeded by Dmitri Kalinin