On Nov. 14, 2003, the Calgary Flames made franchise history: they acquired their first Finnish goalie, a then-27-year-old third stringer by the name of Miikka Kiprusoff. Up until then, every netminder who had ever played for the franchise was American (Jim Craig), Russian (Andrei Trefilov), Czech (Roman Turek), or Canadian (another 26 guys).
Before Kiprusoff, Finnish goalies weren't really a thing in the NHL. He wasn't the first one to come along, but he ended up becoming the most prolific, still leading all of his countrymen in games played and wins, plus being the first to win a Vezina Trophy.