Anthony Stolarz will hear a lot this week about the pressure of playing goal in front of 9,000 fans for the OHL-leading London Knights, the team that rarely loses anymore.

But that’s really not a big deal.

Pressure is showing up at an open tryout camp six hours from home in Albany, N.Y., already cut by two junior clubs, then stepping on the ice wearing ill-fitting equipment.

Legend has it Stolarz went to the most important session of his life wearing street hockey gear. They were hand-me-downs, said the freshly signed 6-foot-6 goalie who is expected to start Friday at home against Ottawa.

“That gear was a little small on me,” the 18-year-old from Jackson Township, N.J., said. “I hit a growth spurt, grew a couple inches, and with travelling around looking for a place to play, it was hard for my parents to get me some new gear. They were hoping I would make a team that would end up giving me (some).

“But the smaller the gear, I found the quicker I had to move so it ended up working out.”

That one tryout on a whim landed him a gig with the North American Hockey League’s Corpus Christi IceRays in Texas, where he starred last season, earned a scholarship to the University of Nebraska-Omaha and was plucked by the Philadelphia Flyers in the second round of the NHL draft last summer.

He became a goalie because his older brother Todd, now 28, played in high school and junior. When he showed promise and needed a coach to work with him one-on-one, his sibling stepped up.

“Once Todd stopped playing, he started focusing on me,” Stolarz said. “He lived at home so it was easy for him to come out to my games and come on the ice for practice and work with me.

“Three years ago, I played for the New Jersey Devils (minor hockey program) and it was an hour-and-a-half from my house. He would be the one who would drive me to my practices and critique my games. He’s always been my harshest critic but he’s also been my biggest supporter.”

London GM Mark Hunter saw the size and talent, but also the hunger to succeed.

“He looks like a young man who doesn’t take anything for granted,” Hunter said. “He wants to be a goaltender and wants to play some games. He knows he can play here and still do his schoolwork.

“He can play for the next two years and get better.”

Hunter was the first in major junior hockey to pursue Stolarz and the goalie, who found himself part of a logjam in the Nebraska net, never forgot those early overtures. He will compete with Jake Patterson for playing time as part of a tandem expected to stay together next season when the Knights hope to hold the Memorial Cup tournament again.

“Anywhere you go, you expect to be in a battle to play,” Stolarz said. “I’m excited to be here and get the opportunity to play more games. My parents were fully behind me and they let me make this decision.”

He carried a 3.6 grade point average in Omaha and will continue with university classes here, focusing on business and economics. In London, he is eligible now to sign with the Flyers.

This is big news in hockey circles back home. Mark Lotito, a longtime coach in the Jersey area, has known Stolarz since he was the tall kid in squirt hockey. He is part of a development program called Hockey Essentials that steered him to the Albany tryout.

“Anthony was always enthusiastic,” Lotito said. “He wanted to play and you could see from a young age he had all kinds of potential. My theory about goaltending was always just stop the puck, I don’t care how, but do it, and he always did.