Who is Jonas Hiller you may ask? Is he a fisherman who kills sharks off the coast of South Africa? Or is it the real name of the actor who played Matt Hooper in Jaws? Actually, its neither. He is simply the reason why the Anaheim Ducks eliminated the San Jose Sharks from the 2009 playoffs. Well, one of them, the other being they were the Sharks and are not capable of winning in the second season.
Jonas Hiller is a shark killer. He went into the Shark Tank and snagged two wins, one being a shutout. Then, he decided to shutout the Sharks one more time before ending their playoff lives wit a 4-1 win. Most people only know about Hiller due to his NHL days, more recently, his playoff series that he just finished against the Sharks. I however, knew about him for a long time and at one point sent an email to the Edmonton Oilers telling them to go after this Swiss kid who was at that time playing for HC Davos in Switzerland. I was ignored.
Hiller is no flash in the pan either. He may have only played in one NHL playoff series, but his post season and tournament credentials are more then impressive. In 2002 he led HC Davos to the Nationalliga A Championship then did the same thing in 2005 and 2007 (The Nationalliga A is one of most competitive hockey leagues in Europe). Sandwiched in between the two league titles of 05 and 07 is a Spengler Cup title, an invitation only tournament hosted each year by HC Davos, which includes a Team Canada consisting of Canadians in European leagues as well as some AHL players.
Hiller has certainly turned some heads due to his stellar play inbetween the pipes of the Ducks net this post season, but keep in mind, he'll be around for many more seasons, and this Swiss is for real. Detroit, bring your A game because Hiller may just clip those winged wheels...
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