H/T to our good friend Dmitry Chesnokov over at Sovetsky Sport for giving us the heads-up on this article on the SS website asking readers to help Semyon Varlamov come up with an idea for his Olympic mask. Hurry, as 8:00 a.m. tomorrow is the deadline! So share your ideas here and Dmitry will post them on the SovSport website!
Sovetsky Sport correspondent Pavel Lysenkov caught up with Semyon Varlamov at a Washington Capitals practice session, and a wonderful idea was born from the discussion with the Capitals and Russian Olympic Team goaltender.
More accurately, your correspondent came up with the idea and Varlamov was very much in favor of it. As usual, the conversation started with an inquiry into his health, and Semyon said that he feels good and very much hopes to return to the ice very soon. It might even happen at the January 23rd home game against Phoenix, Ilya Bryzgalov‘s team. Although at this point this is just a hope, as coach Bruce Boudreau hasn’t said anything to Semyon about this.
Have you already come up with a design for your Olympic Mask? I asked Varlamov.
“You’ve really hit on something with that question. How many days I’ve racked my brains on this!” sighed Varlamov. “I have to order it on Monday, and I don’t have any great ideas yet. Do you have any recommendations?”
Nothing right now. But you need something with flair. I remember in Montreal at the All Star games I mentioned to Kovalev that he needed to come up with some unique move for the skills competition, and it turned out that Ovechkin simply wore a hat and sunglasses and his genius trick went down in history. So you need something out of the ordinary like that.
“But what?” sighed Varlamov again.
How about I put out that question on the Sovetsky Sport website? Let’s ask the fans and start some brainstorming. You can read what people have written on the site and maybe something will strike your fancy.
“Let’s do it. That’s a great idea!”
Dear friends! Preparing for the Olympics is not just for athletes and officials. This is also a big task for the fans, whose opinions are very important for our hockey team, believe me! So let’s work together to help Varlamov come up with a design for his Olympic hockey mask. And who knows, maybe this design will go down in history.
Add your recommendations and commentaries to this article. The deadline is Monday at 1600 (Moscow time), which is 0800 in Washington. Semyon Varlamov will absolutely read all your comments and select the most interesting variation. We will also write an article about the creator of the design, if it is selected and implemented.