Varlamov can't leave US territory
The Russian goalie won’t play for Team Russia at the upcoming World Cup.Semyon Varlamov’s currently the best Russian goalie, which he proved with his excellent play in the second half of the regular season. Despite injury problems, Varlamov returned as soon as possible and did everything he could to help get the Colorado Avalanche back into the post-season. While Varlamov thrived, others disappointed and the Avalanche missed the playoffs. The Russian became available for the World Championship, but shockingly won’t play for Team Russia.
“We talked [with Varlamov] about the possibility of playing the World Championship, but it’s possible that his legal case could be renewed. Maybe it won’t, but we can’t wait and based on that we went with Anton Khudobin instead,” said the national team’s representative Alexei Zhamnov about Varlamov’s situation. Back in 2013, Varlamov’s then girlfriend accused him of physically assaulting her, which was later dismissed in court, but it was later announced that the case will be re-opened.
Breaking: Varlamov can’t leave the USA. He’d face the possibility of losing his worker’s visa and thus his NHL contract - this was reported by a Russian TV channel. Eurolanche's friend from Russia stated that Russian hockey officials only believe in Sergei Bobrovsky and they've supposedly used Varlamov's situation as an excuse for not naming him to the team for the upcoming tournament.
The list of Avalanche players, who’ll be playing at the tournament held in Prague and Ostrava, right now features Ryan O’Reilly, Matt Duchene, Nathan MacKinnon and Tyson Barrie for Team Canada. Reto Berra will suit up for the Swiss, while Zach Redmond play for Team USA. Minor-leaguer Markus Lauridsen will play for Denmark.
Eurolanche.com will cover the World Championship like every year and will keep you up-to-date with the latest news.
Michal Hezely, Slovakia, hezely@eurolanche.com
22/04/2015 - 18:30
