Kai Ilmari Nurminen (born 29 March 1969) is a Finnish former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

, who last played with

Herlev Hornets The Herlev Eagles are a Danish ice hockey team based in Herlev, part of the Urban area of Copenhagen, that plays in the Metal Ligaen the top tier of the sport in Denmark. The team is based in Herlev and play their home games at the Herlev Skøjte ...

in the Danish

Oddset Ligaen The Superisligaen, known as the Metal Ligaen for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level ice hockey league in Denmark. The league consists of 9 professional teams. Teams from the Superisligaen can participate in the IIHF's annual Champions Ho ...

Career

Nurminen started and played most of his ice hockey career with TPS in SM-liiga. He has also played for two seasons in the Swedish

Elitserien Elitserien (literally, "the Elite League") is the name of several Swedish nationwide sport leagues. In many sports, Elitserien is the highest league, with the second highest named Allsvenskan. Elitserien leagues at present: * Elitserien (badmint ...

. During the 1994–1995 season, he played successfully with

Esa Keskinen Esa Juhani Keskinen (born 3 February 1965 in Ylöjärvi, Finland) is a retired Finnish professional ice hockey forward. Playing career Keskinen was drafted by the Calgary Flames as their fifth-round pick, 101st overall, in the 1985 NH ...

for HV71, together making up a fearsome duo. For the 1996–97 season, he was contracted by

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The Kings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. ...

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

. After only one season in NHL with 67 matches played (scoring 16 goals and 11 assists) he returned to

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

. In the 2000–01 season, he played two games for the

Minnesota Wild The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Wild compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Confer ...

and registered one goal. Nurminen also played for HPK and

Jokerit Helsingin Jokerit (, English: Joker (playing card), Jokers or Jesters of Helsinki) is a professional ice hockey team based in Helsinki, Finland, which competes in Mestis. Jokerit plays its home games at the Helsinki Ice Hall and Helsinki Halli in ...

in SM-liiga;

HC Davos Hockey Club Davos is a professional Swiss ice hockey club based in Davos, Switzerland. Davos plays in the National League (NL). It is generally referred to by its abbreviation "HCD" by the fans. The team is usually a strong force in the league a ...

in Nationalliga A; and

Frölunda HC Frölunda Hockey Club, previously known as the Frölunda Indians, is a Swedish professional ice hockey club based in Gothenburg. They currently play in the highest Swedish league, the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), formerly the Elitserien, where th ...

and

HV71 HV71 (), often referred to as just HV, is a Swedish professional ice hockey club based in Jönköping, playing in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), the first tier of Swedish ice hockey. The team played in the 2008–09 Champions Hockey League ...

in Elitserien. Nurminen won the Finnish Championship twice. He also won the 1993 European Champions Cup with TPS. Nurminen scored 7 goals in 12 games in World Championships and 243 goals in

SM-liiga The Liiga, colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. The league comprises 16 teams from all around Finland with relegation and promotion between the Mest ...

. During the 1999–2000 season he played 64 games and scored 46 goals in SM-liiga. Nurminen ended his active playing career with the Danish team

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nurminen, Kai 1969 births Living people Cleveland Lumberjacks players Finnish ice hockey left wingers Frölunda HC players HC Davos players HC TPS players Herlev Hornets players HPK players HV71 players Jokerit players Los Angeles Kings draft picks Los Angeles Kings players Minnesota Wild players Ice hockey people from Turku TuTo players