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Saturday, September 16, 2000 By Dave Molinari, Post-Gazette Sports Writer
Mark Scally didn't learn the game on some frozen patch of tundra in a remote corner of Canada. He hasn't won a Memorial Cup. Or played a minute of major junior hockey, for that matter. And he certainly didn't cost the Penguins an early-round draft choice.
Clearly, he doesn't possess the gaudiest resume among the goalies in the Penguins' training camp.
Still, Scally does have a few distinguishing traits. He's the only guy in camp with a Pittsburgh pedigree. Who has a degree in civil environmental engineering.
And whose friends and family members made up a healthy percentage of 6,000 or so fans who attended the Penguins' 3-2 exhibition victory against Columbus at Mellon Arena last night.
Scally, a product of Moon High School and Penn State University, couldn't say precisely how many pals and relatives he expected to attend the game but volunteered that there would be "a bunch."
Those folks made no secret of their presence, roaring their approval for each of the 16 saves he made. And almost every time Scally handled the puck, too.
Scally faced just 17 shots during his 29 minutes, 38 seconds of work but produced several quality stops, including two on point-blank chances by Espen Knutsen and Matt Davidson.
Scally is in the Penguins' camp on a tryout, which means he must impress management enough over the next few weeks to earn a contract.
That's not inconceivable, given Scally's strong play so far and the state of the Penguins' goaltending, but General Manager Craig Patrick said last night that "it's too early" to know whether the Penguins will want to add Scally to their organizational depth chart.
"I still have a lot to prove," Scally said. "There's still a lot of hockey left. I'd like to play somewhere. I'm not sure exactly where I fit in yet. That's pretty much why I'm here."
His work in the preseason games likely will be the major factor in determining whether the Penguins sign Scally, but he has made a favorable impression with his performance in training camp.
"To tell you the truth, I didn't know anything about him," goaltending coach Gilles Meloche said. "He's impressed me. He's got quickness. He plays every puck like it was the last one in the world. He's shown a little bit of talent."
Enough that Meloche and the rest of the Penguins' staff were eager to see how he would handle NHL-caliber opposition last night.
"We want to have a good look at him under pressure, and with the big boys," Meloche said.
Scally held up well in his pro debut, which dovetailed nicely with his work during the first week-plus of camp.
"I think I'm playing well," he said. "I'm working hard. I was looking forward to [camp] over the summer and I worked pretty hard to get ready for it. Everything's going good so far."
Columbus obviously had no book on Scally -- the Blue Jackets have been preparing to enter the league for several years, but their scouts probably weren't regulars in University Park -- and likely doesn't have much of one today.
Scally has a free-form approach to his work. Buffalo's Dominik Hasek is one of the goalies he admires, and his style is at least as unconventional as Hasek's.
"It's kind of hard to say how I play," he said. "I just work hard and try to stop the puck. I never grew up with a real goaltending instructor, so I've never had a real structured style."
The lack of a solid foundation probably is Scally's greatest weakness. Meloche said he will have to improve his fundamentals -- positioning, standing up, cutting down angles -- if he is to continue developing.
"I still have a lot to work on," Scally said.
Scally is the latest player to travel the pipeline leading from Penn State to the Penguins' training camp. Patrick's son, C.J., played for the Nittany Lions, but Patrick said that wasn't a factor in giving Scally a tryout.
He knew of Scally from watching him in informal sessions at Mellon Arena during the past few years and was aware of the role Scally played in Penn State's collegiate club championship last season.
"He pretty much did it single-handedly," Patrick said.
Of course, Penn State hasn't exactly forged a reputation as Goaltender U, and Scally is aware that the level of play in any pro league will be significantly higher than what he is used to.
"It's a jump," he said. "There are definitely a lot of differences."
Scally comes from one of this area's most renowned golf families, and he's had a bit of success in that sport, too. Like being a three-time winner of the West Penn Junior.
Nonetheless, he would prefer to carve out his sporting niche in hockey, not golf.
"Right now, yeah," he said. "I'm enjoying it. I'm having a lot of fun with the game."
And maybe, just maybe, he has a future in it. Anyone who attends camp on a tryout must overcome steep odds, but perhaps Scally will convince the Penguins he has real long-term promise.
"You never know," Meloche said. "We might have found something here."
NOTES -- The official attendance, which included all tickets sold, was 9,216. ... Penguins Coach Ivan Hlinka watched the game from management's booth in the press box. Assistants Rick Kehoe, Randy Hillier and Joe Mullen ran the bench. ... Patrick said there were no developments in contract negotiations with goalie Jean-Sebastien Aubin.
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