IN TODAY’S SPORTS EXTRA

Goalie Zapolski the key for U.S. Olympic hockey team; baseball players use football trainers to get ahead; Cubs came to right conclusion with Yu Darvish pursuit.

GANGNEUNG, SOUTH KOREA — Ryan Zapolski didn’t start playing goaltender until he was 12, didn’t get a scholarship offer and wasn’t drafted by an NHL team.

So it doesn’t bother him that he goes into the Olympics as a player not a whole lot of people have heard of. Zapolski lacks the name recognition and NHL experience of Canada’s Ben Scrivens, Sweden’s Jhonas Enroth or Finland’s Karri Ramo, but the 31-year-old is the United States’ best hope to contend for a men’s hockey medal.

“It’s something I’m pretty proud of in my career, always having to work a little bit harder than the next guy to get the chance and taking advantage of every opportunity I had. This is just another great opportunity for me,” Zapolski said.

Zapolski has been one of the best goalies in the Kontinental Hockey League this season, going 23-11-4 with a 1.73-goals-against average and .932 save percentage. He was so good during Jokerit’s franchise-record 15-game winning streak last fall that he started 14 consecutive games and showed what he has the potential to do at the Olympics: “He can get hot,” U.S. and Jokerit teammate Matt Gilroy said Sunday.

Zapolski understands he’s not a household name back home, and the bearded mystery man embraces it. Last month was the first time someone told Zapolski they’d never heard of him, but after walking on at Mercyhurst College and never having played a North American professional game above the ECHL, it didn’t irk him. “I know I wasn’t a big prospect,” Zapolski said. “It took me a little bit longer to kind of make it. I’m making a name for myself a little bit older, but that’s OK with me.”

European fans and players know Zapolski, a KHL All-Star with a reputation for consistency and the ability to step up when it matters. “The bigger the moment, the better he plays,” said Brian O’Neill, another U.S. teammate of Zapolski’s with Jokerit. “Extremely calm, performs well under pressure and that’s the biggest thing in a tournament like this.”

Coach Tony Granato hasn’t yet told Zapolski or the other goalies — Brandon Maxwell and David Leggio — who is starting the opener against Slovenia on Wednesday, but the smart money is on Zapolski, who makes teammates calm and confident. Already, forward Chris Bourque sees him as a goalie who plays his angles well, is rarely out of position and can make up for mistakes, something veteran Jim Slater witnessed up close at two Deutschland Cups.

“Not only can he make the first save, he can make the second and the third,” Slater said. “He can make that game-changing save that can turn the tide of a game.”

If that sounds like another late-blooming American goaltender who plied his trade in Europe before going on to NHL stardom and the Stanley Cup, Zapolski will take it. Tim Thomas also starred for Jokerit before sticking in the NHL with the Boston Bruins at age 31, and that example gives Zapolski hope that he can follow after his two-year contract extension in Finland expires after the 201920 season.

“He’s a guy that I’ve kind of looked up to, kind of modeled my career after,” Zapolski said. “There’s still that possibility. Of course I want to play in the NHL. That’s a dream, I think, still for anybody just to play there, so we’ll see what happens after this contract.”