Goalie Ryan Zapolski was vacationing in Rome this past offseason when he began receiving messages with links to articles projecting the U.S. Olympic men’s hockey team.
Under normal circumstances, a 30-year-old journeyman on a Finnish club with zero NHL experience would have disregarded them.
But these are unusual times. The NHL is not participating in the Olympics for the first time since 1994.
Zapolski knew this by early April. And he also knew that there was a dearth of notable American goalies playing in the world’s other top leagues. None who have ever played in the NHL, actually.