15 minutes with Mark Scally

By Mark Fischel

When one thinks of tradition college hockey programs, schools such as Michigan, Boston College, Wisconsin, North Dakota, and others immediately come to mind. But Manatees goaltender Mark Scally started playing goalie for Penn State University, a school not widely recognized as a hockey program.

But Scally persevered during the non-traditional path he took to start his hockey career, and it garnered the attention of the Pittsburgh Penguins GM Craig Patrick. Scally signed on with the Penguins organization and was even able to see playing time in two NHL pre-season games.

The Miami Manatees are pleased to sit down with Mark Scally for the latest installment of �15 Minutes with�� as Scally covers topics ranging from his family�s love of golf, his years at Penn State, and the upcoming season with the Manatees.

Question: You played goal for Penn State University. That school is well known for their football program, and most outside observers probably didn�t know they had a hockey team. When did they start a hockey program?

Scally: They started a while ago, and they built themselves up into a premier program. My coach Joel Batista has been doing a great job. I was recruited to go there and play golf, and as a freshman I played golf.

But I also wanted to play on the hockey team, and as I went through the year, I got focused more on the hockey. So from my sophomore year to my senior year, I played hockey for their program.

Question: Did you quit playing golf altogether?

Scally: No, I didn�t. As far as participating on the varsity golf team, I didn�t do that. I remained friends with the team and the coach, and I still went out to practices with them. I kept my connections with the team, and I still love to play golf.

But as far as a team sport, I was excited and focused on playing hockey, especially at the level that Penn State was playing at.

Question: Most players start out playing hockey and they just pick up golf because they have so much free time. You were on those guys doing both at the same time, which might be a little rarer.

Scally: A little bit different. I grew up on a golf course in a golfing family. My brother, sister, and dad are all golf professionals and they teach at a family facility back at home in Pittsburgh. So I grew up with a golf club in my hand.

But in the winter time when the ponds would freeze over, we would skate with the family and friends. That is how I really got interested in hockey, and by playing with the more experienced people got me to play better, especially playing goalie. You have to suck it up sometimes when you get the hard shots without the proper equipment and padding for it.

After awhile, I thought this would be something I would be interested in for the future when I was getting 11 or 12 years old. Playing in the leagues, I just started to get more interest in the game.

Question: So your family were golf professionals? Have they ever played on any tours, or was it mainly working for golf courses?

Scally: Mostly as golf professionals. My brother and sister both come down here for the mini-tour during the winters in Pittsburgh due to their not being too much golf up there that time of year. They come down to teach golf, give lessons, and work the courses mostly in West Palm Beach.

Question: Obviously the competition was strong for hockey, but when you have a whole family that plays golf for a living what was that competition like?

Scally: I tell you what, when I was in high school I was able to keep up with my brother. But I played against him recently this summer, and pretty much he gets me much more than I get him.

Question: So it is a good thing that you have a career playing goalie instead of golf.

Scally: Right now, with hockey it is a different focus. With golf, I enjoy playing tournaments and the competitive play, but with hockey this is more of a dream and more of something I want to do with my future. Right now, given the opportunity here I just want to take advantage of this, put up some good number and turn some heads of whoever is watching and have a real good year here.

Questions: For those not familiar with the league you were playing in at Penn State, the ACHA, what does that stand for? What was the setup of the league? What teams were you playing against?

Scally: Yeah, it is a different league. It stands for the American Collegiate Hockey Association. It is a Division One program but it isn�t NCAA sanctioned. We go through a lot of the NCAA regulations because Penn State is a NCAA school. So for grades and eligibility wise, it goes through NCAA regulations.

We play a lot of NCAA teams, such as Iowa State, Michigan-Dearborn, Ohio University. Arizona and Arizona State have some up and coming teams as well. It is a big league that is spread all around the country.

If I was going to tell you my opinion about it, it is a great league. The top six or seven teams in this league are really good and can compete at a really high level.

Question: Is it because Penn State already had so many sanctioned programs that they had to make hard choices and not have hockey as a sanctioned program?

Scally: Yeah, there were a lot of issues to that. I am sure money had something to do with that. Also, they would have had to pick up another women�s varsity sport. The time that I spent there from my freshman to senior year, you could sense the growing interest in the sport, and I do believe that someday they will have a big program.

Question: Now you won two championships there, correct? What years did you do that?

Scally: It was great. It was my junior and senior year which was my fifth year at school. My senior year was incredible because we were not favored to win the national tournament. It was held out at Minot, North Dakota. It was amazing because we came from behind to win our first game, and the next three games were all played to overtime and won in overtime to win.

Those last two games we also came from behind. One of them, the last championship game our center Alon Eisenman, he scored with 20 seconds left in the game to tie it up. Then we went into overtime, and scored again to win the game.

That is something you just lie in bed and think about it. You couldn�t make a movie because it might be too unrealistic to even have something like that. Somehow we pulled it off. It was just amazing because we were supposed to be in a rebuilding year with the coach. He was talking about rebuilding, getting younger players and team. I was the senior goaltender, so I was one of the few older guys playing on the team, but we had such great leadership. It was amazing and really an unforgettable moment, and I will always cherish that memory.

Question: So that must have been nice for you being a local boy from the Pittsburgh area to end up getting invited to the Pittsburgh Penguins training camp?

Scally: It actually started when I was done with the championship. I was still going to school. Toby O�Brien was the GM of the Johnstown Chiefs in the ECHL called me to be the backup during their playoffs. So not knowing much about it, and the funny thing was I was on my way to an interview at the time for an engineering job, so I cancelled the interview and went out and played as the backup goaltender.

That is where I got the feeling as to what the step was between playing professional and college hockey. I did ok. I felt that during the practices and the games that the flow of the game was definitely faster, much tougher than what I was used to in college. But I felt confident that I could do this, and Toby said to me that he would like to have me back in camp, and I was interested in that.

Not even a couple weeks later after I was done, I got a call from Craig Patrick, the GM of the Penguins. He said he was interested in bringing me out to camp to see what I can do. I was very excited, and I pretty much dropped my books and focused on hockey to see what I could accomplish at their training camp.

Question: So you grew up as a Penguins fan, than you find yourself at their training camp with Lemieux and Jagr on the ice.

Scally: I got to practice before they started the training camp, and with me being in Pittsburgh I was lucky that they had some guys who like to start training early. Jay Caufield, an ex-Penguin who trains a lot with Mario, invited me out to get a little practice time. I think that was a big contributor to how well I did at the camp.

I can tell you that the first time I was lacing up with Mario. It was very nerve-wracking. Having him shoot some shots on me, I was a little bit behind, and I had to get my timing down. But it set me up good for when I got into camp, because the nerves were gone and I was able to just play my game and be ready for everything.

Question: You played in two exhibition games, tell me who you played against and what that experience was like?

Scally: The first one was against the Blue Jackets, and we won that game two to one. I played the second half of the game after Sebastian Caron played the first half. It was at the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh and I was able to get my friends and family there. It was a very exciting moment and we were able to pull away with a win. That was definitely one of the most exciting times I have ever had in my life.

Soon after that, I got a call to go to Hershey Park, home of the Hershey Bears, the minor league AHL affiliate team for the Colorado Avalanche. So I was to start that game and play in the first half of that game. I gave up a couple of goals there. They definitely brought all their guys there, Joe Sakic, Ray Bourque. He scored on me with a screen shot, so that was a humbling experience.

It was tough. Those guys are big. They shoot hard and they crash the net. But it was all a learning experience and that is how I see things. If I get an opportunity to play at a peak level like that, be successful, I take what I get out of it and I carry on. If I give up a couple of goals, I suck it up and take what I learned into the next game to keep my confidence level up high.

Question: So a year out from playing college hockey in a non-sanctioned league to practicing against Mario Lemieux and playing against Joe Sakic and Ray Bourque. You do realize the jump you made is a pretty phenomenal leap?

Scally: Yeah, that is the nice thing about this game. I think a lot of people in Florida are really recognizing just how special this game is and how much heart it takes. It just isn�t being born with a lot of talent. It isn�t just fitting into the right places. Anyone can play this game, and with a lot of heart the sky is the limit.

I definitely know that. I think a lot of guys on our team understand that and that is why we play in these minor leagues. We have dreams. We want to move up and eventually move up to a new level.

Question: Switching gears now, talk about your style of play.

Scally: I would characterize my style as a hybrid style. I am 5�10�� and 175 pounds. What is going on with goaltending today is that there are a lot of taller goalies with bigger pads. They are using the butterfly, the butterfly slides, and a thing called angle adjustment.

I am using that in my style, but I am also using a lot of aggressive moves. I use a lot of poke-checks. You will see me stack my pads once in a while. So I don�t forget what I have learned as a kid, and I always go back to the basics.

When I train in the summertime, I go through the basic things that I learned when growing up. What I like to add to what I have is those new techniques, like the butterfly slides. The pads that I have promote my movement in the crease, being able to move while I am done to make quicker saves.

You will see on the ice a lot, and see me playing the puck a lot. I like to make quick puck movements up to my defenseman to give them some options. I understand that with the rules this year, there isn�t going to be a centerline, so that will be important for me. I can make a play quickly up to the red line to a forward, especially if we are on a power play.

I do like to play aggressive and play the puck. I am not afraid to come out of the net and work out in the open.

Question: Growing up watching Barasso in Pittsburgh, was he someone you emulated?

Scally: Yeah, I like the way Barasso plays the puck. Martin Brodeur as well, the way he plays the puck and his style and technique is awesome. A couple of goaltenders that I really watched growing up were Dominik Hasek and Eddie Belfour.

Just for the fact that I love how much heart they put into the game and they never quit. These were guys that were never drafted very high. These were guys that had a late start in their career. These are guys that a lot of people turned their heads away from at first, but later realized their real potential. They really came through and now they are awesome talents. With Hasek coming back this year, it shows that he has a lot of character.

Question: The competitive juices of goaltenders never end, do they?

Scally: That�s right!

Question: So tell us about your decision to come down to Miami?

Scally: To be honest, if I was to sum it up in one word? Excitement.

When I talked to coach Boyer, he was very excited to be down here and I really admired that. I admired that more than what most players learn in the beginning of the off-season, that the bad side of the game is the business side, and it is tough as a player to deal with the business side.

Instead of saying, �Ok, we are going to see what we have, or we will see how things will pan out� which is what a lot of players get, especially with the way things are going with the ECHL right now. Zac just told me that he wanted me down there, that he was excited to have me, and that he wants me here.

I tell you what, that really hit me. I want a coach like that. I want a team like that. I want guys who want to play. I want guys who are excited to play. That was a big contributor in my decision.

TIMES UP!

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