NHL’s absence means chance for unknown players
Don’t know who Ryan Zapolski is? You’re not alone. Even the most knowledgeable hockey fan would have trouble identifying the likely starting goaltender for the U.S. men’s team at the Pyeongchang Olympics.
The NHL’s decision not to allow its players to represent their homelands in these Winter Games sent national hockey federations scrambling to fill their rosters. Suddenly, scouts were watching video of players toiling in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League and European elite and secondary leagues, seeking candidates who might have been too small or too slow for the NHL or were late bloomers and would welcome an unexpected shot at Olympic glory.
The Olympic Athletes from Russia — so named because the country was banned from the Games for previous doping violations but many of its athletes were invited to compete — had an easier time because it could draw on its strong domestic league (the KHL) to choose former NHL stars Pavel Datsyuk and Ilya Kovalchuk, and former Kings defenseman Slava Voynov.
Which brings us back to Zapolski. The 31-year-old from Erie, Pa., and Mercyhurst College (now University) spent three seasons in the ECHL and three seasons with Lukko Rauma of the Finnish Elite League before moving to the Finnish team Jokerit, which plays in the KHL. He’s not a household name among those who follow the NHL, but as was mentioned to him on a media conference call last week, neither were goalie Jim
Craig and the rest of the 1980 U.S. team at Lake Placid until they shocked the Soviets, went on to win the gold medal, and were acclaimed heroes.
This is a different era, and unlike Herb Brooks’ freshfaced, young squad, coach Tony Granato has only four college players on his roster. The players’ average age is over 29. So, winning a gold medal in Pyeongchang — which would be the first for the U.S. men since the “Miracle on Ice” — wouldn’t have the same stunning, against-all-odds feel. But success would lift Zapolski and his teammates out of obscurity, at least for a while.
“I know not many people know me, especially in North
America. I’m a little bit more known in Europe,” said Zapolski, who has a 1.73 goals-against average and .932 save percentage in the KHL this season. “I think it’s a great opportunity for our whole team to do something like that. If we can play well there, people will know who we are. But that’s not our concern. We’re just going over there to try to play hockey and whatever happens, happens. I think the focus of the team is to compete for a medal and play as well as we can.”
Canada, with a larger pool to draw upon, chose some players with extensive NHL experience, including goalie Ben Scrivens — a former King — defenseman Chris Lee, and forwards Rene Bourque, Chris Kelly, Maxim Lapierre, Mason Raymond and Derek Roy, among others.