Tommy Salo
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Tommy Salo Thomas Mikael Salo born February 1 1971, in Surahammar, Sweden) is a professional Ice Hockey Goaltender. He has played for Västerås IK, MODO Hockey and currently for Frölunda Indians of the Swedish Elitserien; the Denver Grizzlies and Utah Grizzlies of the International Hockey League; and the New York Islanders, Edmonton Oilers, and Colorado Avalanche of the National Hockey League.
Selected by New York Islanders round 5, #118 overall in the 1993 NHL Entry draft.
Salo played goal during the Olympic Games 1994 in Lillehammer, Norway when Sweden won the gold medal in a shoot out. He made a critical save against Canada's Paul Kariya in the final sudden death round of the shoot out to secure Sweden's first Olympic gold medal for Ice Hockey.
It is worth to be noted that while Peter Forsberg was immortalized on a Swedish stamp depicting his 'Olympic Goal', it wouldn't have been an 'Olympic Goal' if Salo had failed to save against Kariya.
He is also remembered for the strange goal scored against him by Belarus in the quarter final of the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. The shot, taken from 70 feet out, bounced off Salo's mask, went up in the air, and bounced off of his back and into the net, Salo standing erect the whole time. This goal eliminated Sweden from the tournament, a stunning upset.
Tre Kronor's Team Captain Mats Sundin has at several occasions later complained over fans and media making Salo the scapegoat. "The entire team played subpar, a single fluke goal shouldn't cost us the game.".
Salo also played for Sweden in several World Championships and was the top ranked Swedish goalie from 1994-2003.
On March 17, 2005 he announced he was retiring from hockey. However, on August 4th the same year he announced that he wanted to play again, this time for the Frölunda Indians. This led to a conflict with MoDo Hockey since they had agreed to terminate his contract upon his retirement. Now they wanted Frölunda to pay for Tommy. On August 11th the issue was settled, Salo would play for Frölunda and Modo withdrew their claim. With this he completed a weird twist of fate, replacing Henrik Lundqvist as the starting goaltender for the Indians, just as Lundqvist has replaced Salo as the no. 1 goalie for the National Team and best known NHL goalkeeper.
Career statistics
| Regular Season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | GP | W | L | T | GAA | GP | W | L | T | GAA | ||
| 1990-91 | Västerås IK | SEL | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1993-94 | Västerås IK | SEL | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1994-95 | Denver Grizzlies | IHL | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1994-95 | New York Islanders | NHL | 6 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 3.02 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1995-96 | Utah Grizzlies | IHL | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1995-96 | New York Islanders | NHL | 10 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 4.02 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1996-97 | New York Islanders | NHL | 58 | 20 | 27 | 8 | 2.82 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1997-98 | New York Islanders | NHL | 62 | 23 | 29 | 5 | 2.64 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1998-99 | New York Islanders | NHL | 51 | 17 | 26 | 7 | 2.62 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1998-99 | Edmonton Oilers | NHL | 13 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 2.31 | 4 | 0 | 4 | -- | 2.22 | ||
| 1999-00 | Edmonton Oilers | NHL | 70 | 27 | 28 | 13 | 2.33 | 5 | 1 | 4 | -- | 2.82 | ||
| 2000-01 | Edmonton Oilers | NHL | 73 | 36 | 25 | 12 | 2.46 | 6 | 2 | 4 | -- | 2.21 | ||
| 2001-02 | Edmonton Oilers | NHL | 69 | 30 | 28 | 10 | 2.22 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 2002-03 | Edmonton Oilers | NHL | 65 | 29 | 27 | 8 | 2.71 | 6 | 2 | 4 | -- | 3.14 | ||
| 2003-04 | Edmonton Oilers | NHL | 44 | 17 | 18 | 6 | 2.58 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 2003-04 | Colorado Avalanche | NHL | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2.37 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 2004-05 | MoDo Hockey | SEL | 36 | -- | -- | -- | 2.58 | 6 | -- | -- | -- | 3.18 | ||
| 2005-06 | Frölunda Indians | SEL | 37 | -- | -- | -- | 2.47 | 17 | -- | -- | -- | 2.35 | ||
External links
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