I remember making a little flag that I could fly at half mast in my little office at work the day that he announced his retirement! Everybody bitched about having to scoot around it to get at the printer but I wouldn't let anyone touch it. Boy, that was a long time ago!
It's about time they retired #34 in my opinion.
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I found it interesting that he said his final game he played for the Flames was the last time he ever played goal. Many guys after they retire play in a fun league or something but not this guy, just peaces out and enjoys life. Awesome.
Literally the coolest guy to ever lace them up. Appears out of nowhere in a white mask, hammers back a bunch of darts, dominates the game for 10 years, and vanishes.
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Well deserved by Kiprusoff.
Taken for granted here becuase he was so consistent year after year.
Lots of local stories from back in the day confirm that he was just a super chill guy who couldn't really fathom the millions he was getting paid to play hockey.
Sutter knowing what he had from his time in SJ helped too, and still remember the ride back from Edmonton when it was announced he was acquired, the day after the Flames played the Oilers.
As for Fleury, it's been said for a long long time now, his disrespect of the franchise and the people in it behind the scenes for his tenure here is the reason the franchise hasn't and won't retire his number. Has nothing to do with his political ramblings the last few years.
This was a franchise who bent over backwards to save him from himself and be able to hide some sensitive situations while playing (look at what happened in NYC and Chicago when he didn't have a franchise babysitting him) here, and even after all that, then went to bat for him to reinstate him so he could get a pension...and he goes and craps on them again publicly a few months later, is the reason owners, before Murray Edwards' time, were never going to give him that honor.
I feel fortunate to have watched him live and in his absolute, jaw dropping prime.
The 2004 run, the 2005 Vezina season, the 2006 playoffs when Kipper completely stood on his head even though we were completely outmatched against Detroit.
Well deserved!
Wow that pic is awesome!!! Haven’t seen that before.
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looking at the numbers, his workload absolutely blows my mind. Since he's retired, only a handful of goalies reached the 70 game threshold in a single season (Holtby 73, Quick 72 and Rask 70 all in 14-15, Talbot 73 in 16-17) ... Kipper had 7 straight seasons of 70+ games. Just crazy stuff.
Literally the coolest guy to ever lace them up. Appears out of nowhere in a white mask, hammers back a bunch of darts, dominates the game for 10 years, and vanishes.
Quoting as it’s my favourite take so far, and posting my favourite save of his:
Forget an empty net, the crease was empty…
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Well deserved and long overdue honour for Kipper which may end up being be the highlight of the upcoming season given the mediocrity of the Flames the last few years! Time of the early pre season announcement is interesting and seems like a distraction from the ongoing contract issues Conroy is currently dealing with.
Just looked back at my ticket stubs (kids: that's how you got into games before you scanned your phone) and my first game with him in goal was 2003 November 6-5 L vs the Avs. Things definitely went up from there.
__________________ You’re just old hate balls.
--Funniest mod complaint in CP history.
So deserved, I got my first Jersey when I was a kid, right after the 04 run (it was in). It was a size Large Kipper jersey. I still wear it... I still haven't grown into it
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^Jesus, I never realized what a crazy shutout ratio that is. That means over 13% of his wins came via a shutout. He's up there on the all time leaderboard in that category as well.
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"You know, that's kinda why I came here, to show that I don't suck that much" ~ Devin Cooley, Professional Goaltender
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^Jesus, I never realized what a crazy shutout ratio that is. That means over 13% of his wins came via a shutout. He's up there on the all time leaderboard in that category as well.
He’s a ####ing god.
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^Jesus, I never realized what a crazy shutout ratio that is. That means over 13% of his wins came via a shutout. He's up there on the all time leaderboard in that category as well.
And when you look at the team in front of him through those years, they weren't all that great except for some of the core players in the likes of Iggy and Regher. There were games where it's basically him and Iggy doing it all.
