NHL All-Stars Igor Shesterkin, Ilya Sorokin Preparing For Next Season ... By Pushing SUVs Across Parking Lots

The NHL season is a grind. Teams play 82 games in the regular season plus any playoff games. Sure, the NBA plays 82 games, also, and MLB has 162 games. But neither of them is as physically taxing as hockey. So, All-Star New York goalies Igor Shesterkin (Rangers) and Ilya Sorokin (Islanders) are preparing for the October start.

And they're doing so in a bit of an unorthodox way. By pushing SUVs in a parking lot.

To be fair, this makes some sense. In the old "Strongest Man" competitions, pushing massive trucks was always one of the events.

And to those fans who don't like seeing two on-ice rivals -- a New York Ranger and a New York Islander -- working out together, get over it. Both are NHL goalies playing for New York NHL teams, both hail from Russia originally, and both are 27 years old.

Plus, both were members of the 2018 Russian squad that captured gold at the Olympics.

They are bound to be friends.

Ilya Sorokin of the New York Islanders and Igor Shesterkin of the New York Rangers talk before the Upper Deck NHL Fastest Skater event during the 2023 NHL All-Star Skills Competition at FLA Live Arena on February 03, 2023 in Sunrise, Florida. (Photo by Brian Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images)

Plus, who can argue with results? Shesterkin is the 2021-22 Vezina Trophy winner. Sorokin earned All-Star honors last season.

Of course, both teams lost earlier in the playoffs than fans had hoped. Both the Rangers and the Islanders got bounced in the first round.

It's hard to blame their All-Star net-minders, though.

Both goalies finished in the Top 10 in the NHL in save percentage, with Sorokin ranking third in the league.

Shesterkin had a bit of an offseason, at least to his All-World caliber, but still made the All-Star team for the second-straight season.

If they think pushing SUVs in condominium parking lots helps them play hockey, who I am to say they are wrong?

No one, that's who.