Greiss will keep grinding for Team Europe
Islanders’ Goalie Honing His Craft in Upcoming World Cup of Hockey
While most of the Islanders can only sit and watch as the Stanley Cup Finals continue Wednesday night in Pittsburgh, New York goaltender Thomas Greiss is still snatching pucks out of the air, stacking his pads and pushing people out of the crease.
Greiss, who took over for injured starter Jaroslav Halak late in the 2015-16 season and backstopped the Islanders to their first postseason series win since 1993, has officially been selected to play for Team Europe in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, which will run from Sept. 17 to Oct. 1 in Toronto.
But the 30-year-old German netminder has also been busy since the Islanders lost their Eastern Conference semifinal series to Tampa Bay last month, going 3-1 with a 2.50 goals-against average for Team Germany during the recently completed World Championships in Russia.
That’s a lot of hockey for a player who spent the better part of the first half of this past season sitting behind Halak, and even sharing duties with up-and-coming third-string goalie Jean-Francois Berube.