Mikko Koskinen is a Finnish hockey player who plays as a goalkeeper. He is a member of the Finnish national team. Twice became the silver medalist of the World Cup. For a long period he played in hockey teams in Russia. During this time, Koskinen won the Gagarin Cup twice.
The first steps in hockey
Mikko Koskinen was born on July 18, 1988. He is a native of the Finnish city of Vantaa, located in the province of Uusimaa. Mikko began his first steps in hockey at the Espoo Blues Sports Club. In 2003, not reaching the age of sixteen, Koskinen began his professional career as part of a junior team.
Sports career
In 2009, a hockey player got the opportunity to play in the NHL. The goalkeeper was selected in a draft at number thirty-one by the New York Islanders team. According to Koskinen, at that time he was too young and not ready for the fact that he could fail.
On March 8, 2011, the hockey player made his debut. Mikko participated in the match against the Toronto Maple Leafs. In total in the NHL, Koskinen played four matches in 2010 - 2011. The goalkeeper spent the rest of the time in the AHL on the Bridgeport team.
The return of the hockey player Mikko Koskinen to Finland took place in November 2011. The goalkeeper signed a contract with the KalPa club. In this team, he spent two seasons, during which he did not achieve any success. Koskinen decided to return to his native Espoo Blues.
Since 2011, the goalkeeper has been playing in the Finnish national team. In 2014, he won silver at the World Cup. In 2016, the team again became the silver medalist, and Koskinen became the best goalkeeper of the tournament.
Participation in the KHL
Mikko Koskinen took part in only two matches at the championships of his native country at the beginning of the 2013/2014 season. Then the hockey player received an offer to go to the KHL. The young man accepted him and moved to Novosibirsk, becoming a member of the Siberia team.
Koskinen went to Russia not alone. A man went to him with whom the hockey player owes the development of his sports career. This is Marco Torenius - a coach for individual training of goalkeepers. It was he who, with the help of his training technique, was able to make a top goalkeeper out of Koskinen. They started working together in Finland.
Over the period of time spent in the club, Mikko has repeatedly become the best goalkeeper of the month. In addition, he took part in the KHL Stars Match in 2014.
At the end of 2014, Koskinen joined SKA in exchange for Alexander Salak. The reason was the delay in wages in Siberia and the desire to be in the top team. Torenius followed him.
At that time, the goalkeeper position was the most vulnerable in St. Petersburg. This significantly reduced the chances of winning the long-awaited Gagarin Cup. Exchange helped solve this problem. Already in the first season of Mikko’s stay at the club, the SKA team won the Gagarin Cup for the first time in history. The second trophy was won two years later. In the first season, the goalkeeper won the silver medal of the Russian Championship. Coaches sometimes made it possible for Shesterkin to play in the goal, but the Finnish goalkeeper took part in all the important matches.
According to statistics, Mikko Koskinen blocked 93.6% of attacks during 22 playoff games. He became the best player and goalkeeper of the KHL. The goalkeeper in Novosibirsk was nicknamed the Finnish Wall and justified him in St. Petersburg. He was the highest paid goalkeeper in the KHL and earned $ 2.6 million.
In the 2017/2018 season, Mikko Koskinen participated in forty-four matches for SKA. Thirty-two of them ended in victory, and nine he played “to zero”.
NHL Sports Achievements
Where Mikko Koskinen plays now, we will tell further. After the expiration of the contract with SKA, the goalkeeper decided to take the next step in his career. He returned to the NHL, signing a contract with the Edmonton Oilers club for a year with a salary of $ 2.5 million.
SKA said a warm goodbye to her former goalkeeper. Torenius also said goodbye to him, who remained to work as a trainer in St. Petersburg.
Returning to the NHL at the age of thirty, the hockey player did not think about his first unsuccessful attempt. He started from scratch, like the first time. From his own words, he knew what he was capable of and believed in himself.
The second attempt was successful. In the game against “Chicago” Koskinen repelled forty shots, the team won 4-0. In addition, the goalkeeper played his first NHL match “to zero”. During the two meetings of the season Koskinen reflected 95.5% of the goals. He showed a safety factor of 1.51 goals per game. Today he takes a strong position in the team and shows excellent results.