UNIONDALE, NY - DECEMBER 15: An empty net awaits the game between the Dallas Stars and the New York Islanders at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on December 15, 2011 in Uniondale, New York. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
There’s this long-standing tradition in the NHL where coaches don’t reveal the starting goalie on game day. Before the New York Islanders faced the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday, head coach Barry Trotz told the assembled press that a Russian-born goalie will start for the Isles.
Semyon Varlamov was born in Samara, Russia while Ilya Sorokin was born in Mezdurechensk, Russia.