Paolini leads Big Red

Sam Paolini is still among the top 40 scorers in Monroe County Hockey League history in spite of playing just two seasons with the Spencerport Rangers and he now is leading the seventh ranked Cornell Big Red in scoring.

A walk-on at Cornell who wasn’t even guaranteed a spot for his second season, Paolini has tallied nine goals – seven on the power play – and added 16 assists to pace the Big Red on their way to the ECAC regular season championship and a berth in the NCAA playoffs.

Jack Daniel, in The Sports Network MAX Magazine in Canada wrote of Paolini in early February, “If his performance against Harvard (two goals and two assists) is any indication of (his) talent and heart, I can’t believe that there isn’t one pro team on this side of the pond in need of a fresh dose of character ... somebody should give this kid a chance.”

After his two seasons with the Rangers, Paolini further developed his hockey talents at Choate Rosemary Hall prep school. Athletic ability runs in the family with older brother, Tom, also in his junior season with the Hamilton College hockey team and sister, Marisa, in her senior season with the Rangers volleyball team.

Just four games are left in his junior season – excluding the playoffs, and the 6’1”, 200 lb. forward is looking to add to his resume, to which he added a game-winning goal against Yale last weekend. As told Daniel, “Definitely I’ll give it (a pro career) at least two years and if it doesn’t work out, I’m 100 percent Italian, so I can go over to Italy and play also.” But first, there is a college championship to play for.