On the road to Frozen Four, CU hockey scores for Ithaca Breast Cancer Alliance

By Blaine P. Friedlander Jr.

Sam Paolini had a good idea. As a senior forward on the Cornell men's hockey team, he suggested to Ithaca community leaders that for every power-play goal the Big Red scored this season, donors would pledge money to the Ithaca Breast Cancer Alliance (IBCA).

Connor Lofgren, 9, a student at South Hill Elementary School and a member of the Ithaca Squirts hockey team, has a shirt autographed by Cornell hockey forward Sam Paolini, April 3. Robert Barker/University Photography

Thirty-five games and 37 Cornell power-play goals later, Paolini's good idea has turned into $11,100 for IBCA, with a NCAA Frozen Four tournament and a chance for a national championship still to come this weekend.

"I had no idea what a power play was. Now I know. Now I love ice hockey," said Chris Sanchirico, director of the alliance, at a Power Play for Prevention reception April 3 at Ithaca's Women's Community Building to honor community donors, Paolini, the hockey team and the Tompkins Trust Co., which contributed $100 for each power-play score. "These guys, this team is wonderful," said Sanchirico.

A power play occurs in hockey when an opposing team commits a penalty, sending the offending player to the penalty box and providing the non-offending team a player advantage during a period of several minutes.

At the IBCA party, Paolini seemed slightly overwhelmed by the outpouring of affection toward him. He was flanked by many other Big Red players who gladly posed for pictures with alliance members and friends and signed a never-ending flow of photos, caps and shirts. "I didn't realize how much this affected people," he said.

Breast cancer has affected Paolini close to home, as his mother, Diane Paolini, and grandmother, Marge Piedici, have both had the disease.

Through the NCAA East Regional tournament, the Big Red has had 162 power plays this season, and they have scored a power-play goal 37 times, for a .228 percentage. Cornell's opponents, on the other hand, have had 146 power plays and scored only 14 times, for a .096 percentage.

Going into the Frozen Four tournament this week, Paolini leads the Big Red in power-play goals with seven. He is followed by junior forward Ryan Vesce with six, senior forward Stephen Bâby with five and forwards senior Mark McRae and freshman Matt Moulson with four each.

The Frozen Four tournament begins today at the HSBC Center in Buffalo at noon. Cornell's game with New Hampshire will be broadcast on ESPN2 (Channel 58 on Time-Warner Cable) and can be heard on WHCU 870-AM. The Michigan-Minnesota game will be broadcast tonight at 6 p.m. on ESPN2. The championship game will be broadcast on ESPN Saturday night at 7 p.m.

Paolini, an applied economics and management major who is from Rochester, has been nominated for the Hockey Humanitarian Award, which will be announced Friday night in Buffalo.

At the reception, Jane Segelken, president of the IBCA board of directors, expressed gratitude to Paolini on behalf of alliance members. "What a heart, what a lovely young man," she said.

Sam Paolini poses with his mother, Diane Paolini, left, and his grandmother, Marge Piedici, at the Power Play for Prevention reception April 3 at the Women's Community Building in Ithaca. Robert Barker/University Photography

Paolini began pursuing this idea for the fund-raiser last August and met with officials from Cornell's athletics department and then with officials from IBCA and the Tompkins Trust Co. Later in the fall, while Paolini was recuperating from an appendectomy, his parents, Sam and Diane Paolini, tending to him, read his e-mail for him. In the e-mail, Paolini learned that Tompkins Trust Co. had agreed to sponsor the fund-raising project.

It was then Paolini first explained the project to his parents. "I read the e-mail again, and I was in tears," his mom said. "I thought, 'This is a nice project.'"

Now as the hockey team looks forward to the Frozen Four, it was IBCA's turn to say "thank you" to Paolini and the team. Sanchirico and Segelken presented Paolini with a crystal puck on a base that reads, "Power Play for Prevention, Sam Paolini, Ithaca's Hockey Hero!"

With the crystal in hand, he thanked the alliance, stepped down from the podium and hugged the two very important breast cancer survivors in his life, his grandmother and his mother -- because he could.