Cornell alumni in the pros: March 2004

[neil shapiro]

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.

[neil shapiro]

sorry...didnt see the other thread

[Al DeFlorio]

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

http://www.pittsburghpenguins.com/team/features/arts/649.0.php

[Avash]

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
":
http://www.chicagoblackhawks.com

The OT goal is REALLY lucky

[dss28]

The Blackhawks site says that Underhill was reassigned to Norfolk.

[Avash]

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

[Avash]

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 Baby 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:

http://www.morningnewsonline.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=FMN%2FMGArticle%2FFMN_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031774252247&path=!sports

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)

[Avash]

Only good news of the night: Stephen Baby 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.

[dss28]

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.

[Erik 04]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/story?columnist=kelley_jim&id=1761772

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

[Jerseygirl]

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.
http://www.amerks.com/indexStory.asp?Indexid=925

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.  

[canucksfan]

What's a PTO?

[Jerseygirl]

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.

[TShen]

PTO = Professional Tryout Agreement.

[canucksfan]

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