Cornell alumni in the Pros June 2004

[The Rancor]

doug murray in good standing with the Barons...



http://www.clevelandbarons.net/barons2003/news/barons_news/20040601-1086107143.htm

Who was the most surprising player during the 2003-04 season?
I would have to say Marcel Goc. He just kept getting better and better over the course of the season. He kept playing hard and improving and he was rewarded with the opportunity to play in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It doesn't get bigger than that. Plus he played in big games and played well.

Now, he didn't get a chance to play a single game in the NHL during the regular season. But he didn't cheat down here and the guys up top monitored his progress. He is a perfect example of what it takes to make it.

Anybody else come to mind?
On the blueline, I would have to say Doug Murray. Like Goc, he just kept getting better all season long. Towards the end of the season, he was one of the toughest defensemen in the league. Guys saw that he was a monster and stayed clear of the net. He intimidates guys and makes them back down. He kills penalties and contributes to the power play, but his physical difference made a big difference on our club.

[The Rancor]

also Murray is recovering from sholder surgery (in a sling for 6-7 weeks!), and is expected to fully recover by the time training camp starts.

[billhoward]

[Q]The Rancor Wrote:

 also Murray is recovering from sholder surgery (in a sling for 6-7 weeks!), and is expected to fully recover by the time training camp starts.[/q]

Do you ever fully recover from an injury? He may be in way better shape than if he didn't have surgery, but not as good shape as if he'd never injured it at all.

Regardless, it's good to hear the nice words said about Murray. When you see someone of his size do so well in college hockey, the temptation is to believe that's he a big guy flattening smaller guys, and he'll meet his match in the pros. Maybe that boy has real talent and will go places.

[Robert]

From HockeysFuture.com Atlanta Thrasher page.

http://www.hockeysfuture.com/article.php?sid=6956&mode=threaded&order=0

Stephen Baby

Right wing Stephen Baby had an up-and-down first professional season. The 24-year-old struggled to consistently make the lineup early in the season and was scratched in 11 of the first 27 games. Baby started the season on the fourth line with prospect Brian Maloney. Learning to use his size along the boards, Baby started to gain the coaching staff’s trust and earned a second scoring line opportunity with Brian Swanson and Eric Healey. The Illinois native responded with a productive second half, recording 19 of his 27 points (11 goals, 8 assists) over the final 40 games. He led Chicago Wolves rookies this season with 14 goals, and he enjoyed back-to-back two-goal games on March 14 against Utah and March 17 against Cincinnati.

In the postseason, Baby continued his steady play. Relegated back to fourth line duty, he was able to record 5 points (1 goal, 4 assists) in the 10 playoff games and played on the second power play unit.

 GP G A PTS PIM +/-
2003-04 Regular Season 68 14 12 26 72 0
2004 Playoffs 10 1 4 5 6 4

[ugarte]

[Q]Robert Wrote:
From HockeysFuture.com Atlanta Thrasher page.
Right wing Stephen Bâby had an up-and-down first professional season.[/q]
Odd choice of words.  The rest of the comment sounds a lot more like "steady improvement" than "up-and-down."

[ugarte]

[Q]billhoward Wrote:

 [Q2]The Rancor Wrote:

 also Murray is recovering from sholder surgery (in a sling for 6-7 weeks!), and is expected to fully recover by the time training camp starts.[/Q]
Do you ever fully recover from an injury?  [/q]Ask Roger Clemens.

[Pete Godenschwager]

[Q]ugarte Wrote:

 [Q2]billhoward Wrote:

 [Q2]The Rancor Wrote:

 also Murray is recovering from sholder surgery (in a sling for 6-7 weeks!), and is expected to fully recover by the time training camp starts.[/Q]
Do you ever fully recover from an injury?  [/Q]
Ask Roger Clemens.[/q]

Or any of the pitchers coming back from Tommy John surgery.  A lot of them come back being able to throw harder than they could before.  

[billhoward]

[Q]ugarte Wrote:

 [Q2]Robert Wrote:
From HockeysFuture.com Atlanta Thrasher page.
Right wing Stephen Bâby had an up-and-down first professional season.[/Q]
Odd choice of words.  The rest of the comment sounds a lot more like "steady improvement" than "up-and-down."

Edited 1 times. Last edit at 06/02/04 10:34AM by ugarte.[/q]

The groupies can be fierce.

[Josh '99]

[Q]ugarte Wrote:
Odd choice of words.  The rest of the comment sounds a lot more like "steady improvement" than "up-and-down."[/q]I'd have to say being dropped back to the fourth line for the playoffs constitutes "down", even if his play (5 points in 10 playoff games) was not.

[KeithK]

Anyone have a good feel for how seriously minor league hockey teams (specifically AHL)  take the playoffs?  What I'm getting at is, would the team drop Baby down to fourth line in favor of another guy because they felt it gave them the best short chance of winning the championship, even if he was a better long term prospect than the other guy?  The playoffs may be considered less of a development situation.

Thoughts?

[dss28]

I can only speak as to what the Wolfpack did, but they brought NHL players who were still elligible, like Balej, down from the Rangers and had them play... readjusted lines and stuff on account of the "new" players.  It's likely that Atlanta did something similar.

[CUlater 89]

AHL teams, at least, take the playoffs very seriously, as do their parent clubs.  It is a source of pride within NHL organizations when their minor league affiliates win the championship.  So I wouldn't be surprised if Baby got moved down to the fourth line to accomodate a player coming back from the NHL.

[KeithK]

Thanks for the replies on this.  From that I'd guess that the playoff demotion wasn't a big deal.

[Avash]

Summary of LeNeveu's career thus far:

http://hockeygoalies.org/bio/leneveu.html

[ugarte]

[Q]Avash '05 Wrote:

 Summary of LeNeveu's career thus far:

http://hockeygoalies.org/bio/leneveu.html
[/q]I don't remember hearing that Lenny got arrested ...
Also, couldn't they have mentioned "Hobey Hat Trick" among the accolades? Or any of his 02-03 accolades for that matter.