In the Russian city of Novokuznetsk, in southwestern Siberia, a wide-eyed 17-year-old Ilya Sorokin sat at the end of the bench.
Still playing junior hockey full-time that year, in 2013, Sorokin was given the opportunity to skate with the big club, Metallurg Novokuznetsk, in Russia’s top-tier Kontinental Hockey League. Yet to make his professional debut, he was anxious but excited to be around the veterans, soaking in the experience as the club played Barys Nur-Sultan in the Sports Palace.
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He looked on in awe as the players raced up and down the ice, filling both nets with pucks. The goal horn blared repeatedly, like a jarring alarm clock after multiple swipes of the snooze button on a lazy Sunday morning. Except, this buzzer was going off far more than once every nine minutes.
There were 12 goals surrendered in only 36 minutes of hockey – seven by Mettalurg Novokuznetsk – and the coach sharply peered down the bench and locked eyes with Sorokin.
“Ilya, get in the net,” he barked.
“I was like, ‘Say what?’” Sorokin recalled.
Sorokin hopped onto the ice for his pro debut. He didn’t just survive the baptism by fire, he thrived in it. The teenager stopped all but one of the shots he faced, nearly helping his team to a comeback win.
“We lost 8-6, but there were so many great memories,” Sorokin told The Athletic.
Sorokin’s jarring introduction to professional hockey is an extreme example, but it’s a relatively common experience for young goaltenders growing up in Russia. The natural progression for talented young players is far different than in the North American model, and the early exposure to high levels of competition against adults could be a big factor in the recent increase of elite Russian goalies in the NHL.
Sorokin has become one of the best goalies in the world, and he’s not alone among his countrymen. Andrei Vasilevskiy has already established himself as one of the best of this generation with two Stanley Cup championships, a Vezina and a Conn Smythe before age 29. Reigning Vezina winner Igor Shesterkin has arguably been the top NHL goalie over the last two seasons. Toronto’s Ilya Samsonov put up strong numbers (2.33, .919) this season. Pyotr Kochetkov, at age 23, could be the goalie of the future in Carolina, and veteran Sergei Bobrovsky helped Florida reach the playoffs again.
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Why are so many Russian goalies suddenly flooding into Vezina ballots on a yearly basis? Some believe it’s due to a superior development program for the young netminders. Some say it’s cyclical, and that this generation happens to be incredibly talented. Some goalie coaches have opined that young Russian goalies have entered the big leagues with advanced maturity in comparison to other goalie prospects, having faced adversity earlier in their careers.
When examining the paths of Sorokin, Vasilevskiy and Shesterkin, from the time they first laced on skates to their NHL debuts, the one glaring commonality is their early exposure to the world of adult professional hockey.
The Russian junior hockey system is very different from the Canadian Hockey League in North America. In Russia, junior teams in the MHL are often affiliated with teams in the premier league, the KHL. The relationship is somewhat similar to that of NHL teams and their American Hockey League affiliates — a hockey development academy of sorts.
Because of this dynamic, Russian junior players are sometimes afforded the rare opportunity to practice – and sometimes play – with the adult professional team at a very young age. After a rash of injuries, the big club may call a junior player up to fill the squad for a practice or two, rather than bring a player in from another city. That’s more likely to happen in net, where numbers are limited.
Back in 2008, a 14-year-old Vasilevskiy was called up as the third goalie to practice with the professional team. He remembers sitting timidly at his locker stall, strapping his pads on as quietly as possible and hoping no one would notice him. The feeling in the room was very different from his junior experience. The sternness was palpable as the adults – some of whom were former NHL players – went about their business, preparing for a practice.
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When he got onto the ice, it was a shock to the system. The shots felt heavier and more powerful, even through the pads. They didn’t just shoot harder. They were crafty and more patient with the puck than the junior players, waiting out the young, nervous netminder and welcoming him to the big leagues with goals.
“I remember they were all chirping me,” Vasilevskiy said with a smile. “I couldn’t stop anything. Well, I actually did but they were just chirping me in a good way. I was like 14 so I couldn’t say anything back. It was pretty funny.”
The importance of those moments wasn’t lost on Vasilevskiy, though. He observed everything the professionals did, from their intense focus in every practice drill to the way they cared for their bodies afterward.
“I was so impressed with how they prepared themselves,” Vasilevskiy said. “Since then, I started to do the same things. Repeat everything I saw in that locker room. Stretching, recovery. Since then, I can’t live without that routine.”
Early exposure to the highest levels of the sport serves as a wake-up call and provides a clear idea of the level needed to play professionally. Most elite goalies have been the best player on every team they’ve ever played on growing up. Seeing – and feeling – that there’s still a long way to go to reach the sport’s pinnacle as a teenager can have tremendous benefits.
“When you see all of those professionals and big names, it gives you such a big push,” Vasilevskiy said. “It was a big factor, in my opinion.”
Vasilevskiy has stayed in touch with several of the former NHL players who were in the dressing room that day. He prefers to keep those relationships private, but said that they all know how grateful he is for their valuable mentorship to make him the player he is today.
Adam Francilia has worked with NHL goalies for more than a decade. He prefers the term “goalie biomechanic” rather than “goalie coach” because his expertise lies in the neurology, physiology and biomechanics of the position. While Francilia does plenty of work with goalies on a micro level, he also monitors the position on the macro level, viewing development from a wider, continental lens. He sees several benefits to the Russian model, including the value of gaining early experience.
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“A big part of becoming a starting goalie in the NHL is, you kind of have to be more mature than your other goalies,” he said. “I really, really think that throwing them into the fire with the older guys gives them a tremendous advantage to get their game to a level. The ability to be a starting goalie takes more than just talent. It’s mental, it’s emotional. They’ve been allowed to accumulate enough top-level game volume that they’ve been able to take their game to a level of mastery.”
Athleticism is obviously a prerequisite for being an elite goalie, but what truly separates the best is their ability to process the play in front of them, predict what’s coming next and react to it. Francilia believes the Russian goalie program introduces the young netminders to adversity much earlier, to their benefit.
“When you have had all the corners rounded off on the coffee table and haven’t bumped your head a few times, you don’t really know what that feels like,” Francilia said. “The older you are by the time that happens, sometimes that’s very difficult to navigate as the level of play goes up.”
Shesterkin remembers his first time getting called up to Spartak Moskva as a young goalie. He skated to his net at the start of practice and began his warmup routine. After scraping the crease with his skate blades and a few quick stretches he looked up and there he was.
He was about to face a shot by Vyacheslav Kozlov.
The Russian legend played 1,182 games in the NHL, amassing 356 goals and 853 points in the regular season and another 42 goals in the playoffs as he helped the Detroit Red Wings win back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 1997 and 1998 as a member of the “Russian Five.”
Kozlov emphasized work ethic in conversations with Shesterkin during those practices. He instilled confidence in the young goalie, but stressed that out-practicing others would be his path to success. That’s not groundbreaking advice, but for a teenage goalie, that type of confidence from a living legend can leave a lasting impression. It’s stuck with Shesterkin to this day.
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While the early exposure to high-level hockey has presented advantages to these now-elite Russian goalies, it can’t be the only thing fueling their dominance. What are Vasilevskiy, Shesterkin and Sorokin doing on the ice that separates them?
“I look at how they physically manifest their game, and all of those guys are very comfortable playing three-dimensionally,” Francilia explained. “What I mean by that is, they’re comfortable with their feet, they’re comfortable with their hands and they’re comfortable with their torso. They’re making saves with their hands, they’re getting there with their feet, they’re obviously tracking pucks.”
Francilia believes that the Canadian goaltending development system has been too rigid at times with its techniques, emphasizing positioning and suffocating innate ability and athleticism away from its goalies.
“They play an athletic, active game,” Francilia said of Russia’s top goalies. “They still rely on reactions when they need it, and they use their entire body. There’s a completeness. You can see it when you watch.”
Vasilevskiy highlighted athleticism and mobility as commonalities he sees between Shesterkin, Sorokin and himself. The three are all exceptional skaters who use their feet to play aggressively, and their lower-body strength and flexibility to explode across the crease when needed. It’s not that their actual athleticism is superior, but that they’ve grown up with more freedom to use those tools so they happen more naturally in the flow of play.
In simple terms, there’s less thinking and more saves happening.
“They have good command of their body and actively use their arms and legs,” Francilia said. “(In North America) we get a lot of goalies who have almost no voluntary use of their hands in their game. Their hands are sometimes pulled back, trying to cradle everything, and they become one-dimensional.”
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Creating good habits and proper technique is important when developing a young goalie, but there’s a fine balance between creating a robotic style that stifles feel and reaction.
The truth is these trends tend to be cyclical. For a long time, Canada was a goalie factory. The four winningest goalies in NHL history all hail from Quebec, and 12 of the top 13 are Canadian. The United States has had shorter stretches of producing top goalies, with Ryan Miller and Jonathan Quick as examples. Not that long ago, the world wondered how Finland was pumping out stellar netminders like Pekka Rinne and Tuukka Rask, and Miikka Kiprusoff before them. Now, for a myriad of reasons that have all manifested in the perfect storm, it’s Russia’s turn.
“Eventually it will be some other country,” Vasilevskiy said. “I guess right now it’s our time, and we’ll use it and enjoy it as long as possible. It’s all about hard work, still. If you want to stay there consistently you have to work hard to prove you’re the best on the ice.”
In particular, Vasilevskiy, Shesterkin and Sorokin are mesmerizing in the crease. The way they glide around the mouth of the cage with the flow of play. Their quick-twitch explosions to pick pucks out of the air and kick them into the corners. Their styles have an artistic feel that’s difficult to explain but a stark visual contrast from others in a position that’s become increasingly robotic.
“In Canada, we’re introducing all these tools, then we’re actually holding their hand on the brush and controlling what they’re painting, and I think that’s where our mistake lies,” Francilia theorized. “Our job is to teach the goalie how to use as many colors of paint as possible, and then step the hell back and let them paint their masterpiece.”
(Top photo of Igor Shesterkin and Ilya Sorokin: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
