Cornell alumni in the pros: March 2004

Not a lot of mention of Cornell, but a great article on Joe:

[www.nhl.com]

Kind of made a tear run down my cheek

A transaction from the ECHL's Alaska Aces:

Delete Denis Ladouceur, F transferred from the 7-day IR to the 30-day IR


No idea where LeNeveu has been lately. He didn't play in tonight's game against Albany. Meanwhile, Zac Bierk and backup Scott Dickie combined to allow 7 goals in a 7-1 loss. I'd have to think Lenny will play Friday night against Portland after that performance, but if not, that might mean he's injured or something (though I can't find anything on the AHL or the Falcons' website). Not related to Cornell alumni, but an interesting note about the game nonetheless: down 3-0 halfway through the second period, and with a 2-man advantage for 1:36, Springfield pulled Bierk (who was making his 2nd start after recovering from an injury the past several months) for a 6-on-3 power play. It worked, but it was their only goal of the game (on 48 shots)!

Avash '05 wrote:
Meanwhile, Zac Bierk and backup Scott Dickie combined to allow 7 goals in a 7-1 loss.

"You suck, Dickie!" [clap clap, clapclapclap]

The Falcons' imlplosion with non-Cornellian goalies only serves to make Lenny and JMP look that much better. It is kind of scary to wonder where Lenny is, though.

Yup. Was a nice game for cheering on the Rats (and not feel guilty about cheering against Lenny). When I was running around post game I saw him talking with some fans. He looked fine. He was likey just given a nite off since he's been playing so much with JMP up with Phoenix. Didn't bother approaching him to ask - tho I did see one Cornell hockey sweater in the crowd!

They pulled their Bierk twice during the first 2 periods - something I've never seen done so early in the game but when you are down by 3 or more goals I guess there is nothing to lose!

Tho the win came against non AHL goatending, the fans in Albany, hungry for a win, went wild at the offensive showing. It was nice.

Lenny played last Friday against Hartford (a win). It's only 5 days since then.

Melissa is probably right. With Bierk needing to get some play in, they probably just gave Lenny a rest. At the same time, they gave Biggus Dickus a tryout. It's not like Springfield is going to make a run at the Calder Cup.

JH

As an aside. Not really in the pros, but congrats to Larry Pierce and Christine Chaffee Pierce on the birth of their son, Lawrence Steven Pierce, Oct. 25, 2003

But with JMP coming back to Springfield, I wonder what's going to happen with Lenny? Springfield only dresses 2 goalies... you think Dickie will head back down, and Bierk will head back up?

maby with the trade dealine approaching, some moves are being made.

Given the rate that Bob Clarke has been picking up goalies from the Phoenix organization, maybe I'll get to see Lenny in Philly?!?!?

JH

FYI....

From the Baron's weekly release....

"Doug Murray, who suffered a knee injury two weeks back, will be in the lineup tonight against Hamilton.

When asked if he would play, the moose of a defenseman joked, "I guess you'll have to come out tonight to see."

Something tells me that that determination will pay off."

Murray did play tonight, and scored a PPG in a 3-2 loss to Hamilton. According to the boxscore he had 9 shots on goal (next highest shot total was 5)...I wonder if they just kept setting him up at the point and letting him blast away.

Okay, so this isn't exactly Cornell alum... and I've lamented about this to a few of you already...

But the Hartford Courant reported yesterday that Hugh Jessimen might play with the Hartford Wolf*Pack for the playoffs. If that happens, Hartford will have Jessimen AND Dominic Moore... what is Hartford trying to do to me? I take this personally.

Next thing you know, they'll be recruiting Yann Danis and his website... possibly FROM his website.

On the bright side, though, maybe this'll mean Cornell won't have to deal with Jessimen ever again.....

This is from the Falcons' web site. It was posted on Thursday, and JMP started on Friday, so it's now been four games that he's missed. No word on what the injury is, though. I'm thinking about going to the Falcons game tonight against the P-Bruins, so maybe I can figure out what's up with Lenny.

[Q]Goaltender David LeNeveu has not dressed for the last three games due to an injury. [/Q]

Well, I'm back from the Falcons game. JMP played, Lenny didn't dress. The team pretty much hung JMP out to dry - he faced 42 shots, 18 in the first period. He looked a little shaky early on, he allowed three goals in the first period, including one on a wraparound where he didn't cover the near side quick enough. But he played pretty well after that. I did see LeNeveu during the game, he was sitting in the stands. He said he's been out with a pulled groin, and he wants to get back in there but the trainer's still holding him out. He should be back soon, it didn't sound like anything major. By the way, the Bruins won, 4-2. The funniest thing about the games were the fights - as soon as one broke out (and there were three or four) - the PA guys started playing "Headstrong" during the fight.

Matt Underhill was called up to the Chicago Blackhawks a few days ago. He hasn't played yet. This is probably because they now have 3 goalies on the injured list.

sorry...didnt see the other thread

Nice article on Matt recently posted on the Penguins' web site:

[www.pittsburghpenguins.com]

Jean-Marc Pelletier returned from his stint in the NHL to the Falcons tonight and his 37 save effort was not enough, as Springfield lost 3-0. With Bierk getting the call-up to the Coyotes, and with the Falcons releasing goalie Scott Dickie 3 days ago, this leads me to believe that LeNeveu is better since they're back to 2 goaltenders in Springfield. Maybe he'll play this weekend against Hartford or Portland.

Also, I don't know if this has been posted elsewhere, but on the Chicago Blackhawks website, there are video highlights of Underhill's start against Edmonton over the weekend. It's in the middle, under the heading "Arnason Scores Twice In OT Loss
":
[www.chicagoblackhawks.com]

The OT goal is REALLY lucky

The Blackhawks site says that Underhill was reassigned to Norfolk.

Pretty good night for the class of 2003 in the pros:

Tonight in Springfield, LeNeveu returned to make 38 saves on 43 shots as Springfield defeated Hartford 6-5 despite being outshot 43-24. Jason LaBarbera, who has seen some time in the NY Rangers net this season, started for Hartford, but was pulled during the 2nd period. Dominic Moore was 1 of the Hartford players who scored on Lenny.

In the ECHL, and in another high-scoring game, Mark McRae had 3 assists in a 7-4 Florence win over South Carolina.

Also in the ECHL, Sam Paolini scored 2 goals tonight on former Merrimack goalie Joe Exter as Atlantic City went on to beat Wheeling 4-3 in a shootout.

Finally, though Cincinnati defeated Alaska 3-1, Shane Palahicky had Alaska's only goal

J-M Pelletier was outdueled tonight, making 22 saves for Springfield, in a 3-0 loss to Portland (whose goalie made 44 saves to earn the shutout).

And for the first time in their professional careers, Stephen Bâby and Doug Murray played against each other tonight, as Chicago defeated Cleveland 4-2 at home. The two teams meet again on March 24, this time in Cleveland.

Since being sent back down to Norfolk of the AHL, Matt Underhill hasn't seen any playing time. But their other goalie, Craig Anderson (1.93 GAA, .922 save percentage) is pretty good. There was, however, an article in the Morning News about Underhill a couple days ago:

[www.morningnewsonline.com]

Quick ECHL notes: Sam Paolini scored his 3rd goal of the weekend in a 6-4 win against Reading tonight, and Shane Palahicky assited on a shorthanded goal for Alaska to take a 1-0 lead over Cincinnati (that game is still in progress right now)

Only good news of the night: Stephen Bâby scored 2 goals in a 5-1 Chicago victory over Utah. He also had 14 penalty minutes, which included a 10 minute misconduct. The teams had a combined 134 penalty minutes.

Oh and Mark McRae had an assist for Florence tonight.

From the recap on Monday's Toronto @ Buffalo (where Toronto came back from a 5-2 defecit to win in OT) :

[Q]The Sabres lost their captain Chris Drury nine minutes into the first period after he sustained a mild concussion.

Drury, who entered the game as the team's third-leading scorer with 45 points, was driven into the ice by Toronto center Joe Nieuwendyk after Nieuwendyk knocked down Satan with a cross-check during a scrum in front of the Toronto net. Nieuwendyk received a minor penalty for roughing Satan.

``I thought what Nieuwendyk did is on the lines of a suspension,'' Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. ``The guy has his helmet off and he fell on him and pounded his head into the ice. It was a gutless play on his part.[/Q]

I really think my favorite sentence in there is "Nieuwendyk received a minor penalty for roughing Satan."

Although it wasn't mentioned in the article, Nieuwendyk had an assist on the GWG.

[sports.espn.go.com]

Link from Espn's main nhl page. Joe's mentioned. But lengthy part about dryden, and his thoughts about nature of the game.

I'm surprised this hasn't been posted yet, but Paolini signed a PTO with Rochester on Tuesday and scored a goal for the Amerks in their 4-2 loss to the St. John's Maple Leafs. It's the lead item in the game writethru on the Amerks webpage.
[www.amerks.com]

I just think it's pretty damn cool that fully half of those who graduated/left Cornell last year are playing in the AHL at the moment.

What's a PTO?

Professional Try Out. As the article says, Sam was signed because of injuries. But (and someone -- Avash, Ari...-- correct me if I am wrong) if he's good enough, smart enough, and doggonit people like him, he stays with the Amerks. Basically, he's signed to a prorated AHL contract, so he gets the AHL salary for AHL games in which he plays. That was my understanding, anyway.

PTO = Professional Tryout Agreement.

Thanks...sounds like Sammy's doing OK as far as making the Amerks want to keep him!

Can't hurt to be a hometown kid, either.

[Q]Al DeFlorio Wrote:

Can't hurt to be a hometown kid, either.
[/Q]

Just ask Bâby...

Joe gets his 18th against the Bruins last night on a PP, but the Leafs continue a late season tailspin.

Another good night for Bâby as he scores 2 goals in a 5-1 win over Cincy. Finished +3 on the night with 6 penalty minutes.

Nieuwendyk is mentioned in an article with Dryden on ESPN.com about the Bertuzzi hit and roughing in general. C.U. gets a mention too.

Interesting article.

[sports.espn.go.com]

Interesting article, but all he says is "hockey needs a plan."

Does anyone know if he's going to release any suggestions for the betterment of hockey?

According to the article:
[Q] [Dryden] declined to be interviewed for this column (a team spokesman said he was preparing an in-depth response about the state of hockey Wednesday and would bring it forth at an appropriate time), ... [/Q]
So, the Leafs are saying that he'll release suggestions "at an appropriate time".

Right, I read that too... I guess I should have posted "when he's going to release" rather than "if he's going to release" ... I was wondering if anyone knew anything beyond what the article had said.

Anybody want to explain to me why Nieuwendyk's hit isn't getting the same press as the Bertuzzi hit? At least Steve Moore had his helmet on.

It's probably because the other guy wasn't seriously hurt...

[Q] PTO = Professional Tryout Agreement. [/Q]

I may be wrong but wouldn't that be a PTA?

After Lenny stopped 32 of 35 shots in a loss earlier in the week, Pelletier was back in net for Springfield last night, but had 24 saves on 27 shots in a 3-2 loss to Providence.

Quiet night for Bâby and Murray (after Bâby had that 2 goal, +3 night earlier in the week). It is nice that Murray was able to get right back into the lineup after returning from his injury and is back to playing physically (had a fighting major last night). I always wanted to see him drop his gloves and pound someone . Murray and Bâby will face each other when Cleveland plays Chicago on Wednesday night.

Underhill still hasn't seen any game time since his 1 game stint with the Blackhawks. He's still on the roster of Norfolk, which has been shutout 2-0 in each of their last two games.

[Q]Avash '05 Wrote:
Murray and Bâby will face each other when Cleveland plays Chicago on Wednesday night.
[/Q]
I predict that they will be sent out to fight each other.

Here in Ithaca, Paolini is on Time Warner Sports playing for Rochester.

LeNeveu had a great game tonight (stopping 50 of 51 shots), as Springfield won 5-1 despite being severely outshot!

Did Paolini actually play? A few of us were watching the game at Wings Over Ithaca and we couldn't find him.

[Q]Section A Banshee Wrote:

Did Paolini actually play? A few of us were watching the game at Wings Over Ithaca and we couldn't find him. [/Q]

Indeed he did. He even got a roughing penalty.

[Q]Section A Banshee Wrote:

Did Paolini actually play? A few of us were watching the game at Wings Over Ithaca and we couldn't find him. [/Q]

Yep, he played. Didn't have any shots on goal, but he did take a roughing penalty about halfway through the 2nd period. Syracuse won the game 3-1.

Will, you just beat me to it. At least we both mentioned the roughing penalty

JMP got lit up by Manchester today, stopping 26 of 34 shots as Springfield lost 8-3.

Hartford and Chicago clinched a place in the playoffs this weekend, joining Grand Rapids and Milwaukee. Now we'll just have to wait and see about Cleveland and Rochester... Springfield won't make it this year, unfortunately.

Matt Underhill saw his first action with the Norfolk Admirals (the AHL affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks) yesterday, coming in in relief of Craig Anderson for the third period. Norfolk was down 4-1 to Houston at the time, but would score two goals early in the 3rd to pull within a goal. However, an empty netter late in the 3rd put Houston away. So, the good news is Underhill didn't let in any goals in the third period. The bad/weird news is that he didn't see any shots! Houston's only shot of the period was the one that went into the empty net to seal the win!

Bâby vs Murray tonight as Chicago visits Cleveland....more on that after the game later...

EDIT: that game is tomorrow (Wednesday) night, not tonight.

Travis Bell and the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs of the Central Hockey League are 44-16-6 and are currently playing in the CHL playoffs as the champions of the Northeast divison. Bell has 6 goals and 13 assists and is 2nd on the team (and 1st among defensemen) in +/- rating, with a very impressive +27 in 61 games. The way the CHL works is there are 8 teams that go to the playoffs, 4 from the "Northern conference" and 4 from the "South conference." The Mudbugs are the #2 seed in the North and are currently amidst a best of 5 first round playoff series against the Indianapolis Ice. The Mudbugs lead the series 2-0, winning game one by a score of 3-2 and game two by a score of 4-3 in overtime (both at home). Travis Bell assisted on the game-winning goal just 50 seconds into OT. Game 3 is at Indy on Saturday.

Not a Cornell alum in the pros, but worth a mention anyway. Everyone's (not so)favorite goalie, Dartmouth alum Nick Boucher was sent down from the AHL to Wheeling of the ECHL. The 2 goalies for Wheeling, by the way, are Boucher and Joe Exter.

(I didn't feel like starting a new thread just to post this, but I thought it was kinda neat):

I came across this sort of by accident; apparently, the Abbotts come from a well known Olympic family. Who knew?! Their parents were 5th in sailing at the 1996 games. They were also the 1996 sailors of the year, while their mom was named Canada's Female Athlete of the Year!

[www.vertago.com]

Pretty impressive. I guess Cam and Chris thought hockey is more exciting than sailing

Paolini's gotten some decent Rochester press in the last week, newspaper and tv.

[March 16] [www.democratandchronicle.com]

Also, the day of his first home game with the Amerks, I saw a spot on Channel 13 where they interviewed him at his parents' house -- they showed a little setup complete with his CU jersey and Humanitarian award. No mention of it on [www.wokr13.tv] , unfortunately.

Murray/Bâby Showdown:

End of the 1st Cleveland leads Chicago 4-2, sounds like an exciting one. Murray is +1 with an assist. Bâby is even with one shot.

Final: Cleveland 7 Chicago 4
Murray had a goal and 2 assists and +1 on the night. Bâby was even for the night with two shots on goal.

Guess Doug has bragging rights for a while, and Cleveland moves closer to the playoffs!

I watched the last 34 minutes of the Wolves-Barons game on TV in Chicago. I missed the exciting 4-2 first period, but got to see plenty of Doug, although Bâby's didn't seem to be getting a whole lot of icetime. At one point in the 2nd period, Murray was skating with the puck and the announcer said something like "being chased by his former Cornell teammate Stephen Bâby." Later, while the Wolves had a 5 on 3, Murray had the puck in his own zone and Bâby was pinning him up against the boards in the corner;- the puck squirted out and somehow the other 2 Cleveland players wound up with a 2-on-1, but didn't score. Right after the Wolves had closed the lead to 5-4 in the third, Murray swooped in to pick up a rebound in the slot and backhand it into the net for his 9th goal of the year. He later added a pretty assist, making a hard pass from the top of the circle to a man stationed on the opposite side of the crease for 7th Cleveland goal.
The announcers joked that they had asked Doug before the game how someone from Sweden could be named Doug Murray and that Doug explained that his ancestors emigrated from Scotland about 400 years ago.

And Murray didn't make it as one of the three stars of the game. Sounds like Cleveland has no appreciation for defense-minded hockey.

[Q]Brian Wrote:
And Murray didn't make it as one of the three stars of the game. Sounds like Cleveland has no appreciation for defense-minded hockey. [/Q]
Defense-minded hockey in a game featuring 11 goals?

[Q]jkahn Wrote:
The announcers joked that they had asked Doug before the game how someone from Sweden could be named Doug Murray and that Doug explained that his ancestors emigrated from Scotland about 400 years ago. [/Q]Glad that nobody knew about that when he was at Cornell. I don't think I would have appreciated the bagpipes in the pep band in Providence.

Not a good night for Springfield last night. Lenny got yanked after allowing 5 goals on 31 shots, and in relief JMP stopped 6 of 8 as they lost to Lowell 7-3.

Better showing by LeNeveu tonight, stopping 30 of 31 shots as Springfield beat Providence 3-1.

Bâby had an assist in a 5-3 Chicago loss to Cincy on Friday night.

Tough break for Underhill in Norfolk of the AHL: since Michael Leighton was sent back down from the Blackhawks, they had to send Underhill back down to Florence of the ECHL. And in his first start back with the Pride tonight, he had 43 saves but got the loss as Florence fell 4-3 in a shootout to Augusta.

Up 2-0 in the best of 5 playoff series and leading 3-1 about halfway through the third period of game 3, the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs (with Travis Bell) collapsed, allowing 3 goals, including a shorthanded one that tied that game, to lose 4-3. Game 4 is today (Sunday) at 5:00pm.

Doug Murray had 2 assists and finished +2 tonight, though Cleveland lost 5-4 to Syracuse. Other random game notes: Cleveland scored TWO shorthanded goals in the game, and Murray had a hooking penalty in the first, and Syracuse scored on the ensuing power play. Cleveland travels to Hamilton next weekend, where Yann Danis could get the start.

Update on the CHL playoffs, involving Travis Bell:

The Mudbugs were up 2-0 in the playoff series, but the Indianapolis Ice, behind a 5 point effort from their best player Jason Baird, won tonight 7-4 to tie the series at 2. Bell was -2 on the night. So, Bossier-Shreveport won their two home games, and Indy won their two. The deciding Game 5 will be tomorrow night at Bossier-Shreveport. The Wichita Thunder, who stunned #1 seed Colorado by a series score of 3-1, awaits the winner in the Northern Championship game (i.e. the overall semifinals).

Not a Cornell Alum....but Danis pitched a shut out in his first AHL game.

[www.canoe.ca]

CHL update:

Facing elimination in the deciding game 5 of the opening round of the playoffs, Bossier-Shreveport defeated Indianapolis 3-1 Tuesday night, sending them to the Northern Conference Finals to play the lower-seeded Wichita Thunder in a Best of 7 series. Travis Bell was +1 in Game 5. Game 1 is Friday night @ Bossier-Shreveport. The Mudbugs were 1-2 (with one of the losses coming in a shootout) against the Thunder during the regular season.

Something else I found out that I did not know: apparently the Mudbugs are affiliated with the Rochester Americans, where Sam Paolini is currently on the roster (though he hasn't played in the last few games).

I asked you to ignore this post!