From the St. Louis Blues website
http://www.stlouisblues.com/columnists/bb_home.html


Sometimes the second year can be the toughest one of all of young players in
the American Hockey League.

Current Worcester IceCats Marc Brown and Mark Rycroft both suffered from the
sophomore jinx in their second seasons with Worcester. In contract, Justin
Papineau blossomed. The learning curve isn't always a smooth one.

This year's IceCats have four second-year players on the roster. They are
Blake Evans, Greg Davis, Igor Valeev and Jeff Panzer. All of have seen
regular duty throughout the season. In fact, all four are among the team
leaders in games played, with Panzer having skated in every game.

Panzer, who set a team rookie record with 26 goals last season, has only 14
with 20 games left in the year. After a long mid-season drought, Panzer
began to find the net more, and create more chances. In his last 16 games,
he has 63 shots on goal. Panzer has been a tough, durable player and among
the club leaders in ice time.

"He has to learn to finish like he is capable of finishing," coach Don
Granato said of Panzer. "We are demanding more of him this year than his
rookie, when he was behind a lot of guys. When he goes into a game now,
there is a lot going on for him. He might be on a 5 on 3 one minute, then
killing a 3 on 5 the next."

Davis, who was signed out of McGill University, was a very intriguing rookie
last year, getting 12 goals in limited ice time. Davis has a great shot, one
of the best on the team, but has not been able to use it often enough. He
has eight goals this season, five coming in the first 17 games and just
three in the next 36.

"He has to learn how to get himself into better scoring position," said
Granato.

Evans had a fabulous start to this season, scoring 10 goals in the first 29
games. He has just two, though, in the last 29. Even so, he is showing the
most improvement of any of the second-year guys.Evans was only 4-5-9 in 28
games last season. His role has also been greatly expanded in 2002-03.

Valeev has battled with veteran Terry Virtue for the team lead in PIM.
Valeev was 3-6-9 in 29 games last year, his season shortened by concussion
problems. He has six goals this year, but has not scored on in the last 27
games. Valeev's impact is as a physical presence much more than an offensive
one and he is a fearless fighter. He has to learn to convert his scoring
chances better, also.



Rookie Greg Day, a Blues contract player who started the year in Peoria of
the ECHL, made his first AHL goal a memorable one. He got Worcester's first
overtime goal of the season to beat Springfield, 2-1. … The IceCats signed
Kevin Colley out of Atlantic City of the ECHL. Colley beat 'em, then joined
'em. He took on both Brown and Rycroft last season when he was with
Providence and had a one-punch victory over Brown. … IceCats players,
especially the younger ones, were keeping a close eye on trade rumors in the
NHL, wondering if they might be involved if the parent Blues make a move. …
After the Springfield victory, Worcester went up and shut out Manchester,
3-0, behind Curtis Sanford's. It was the IceCats' first two-game winning
streak since Dec. 27-28. … Before his most recent callup, Sanford had moved
into the Top Ten in AHL goaltending. He was ninth. And his numbers to this
point in the season are second-best in IceCats history, behind only Dwayne
Roloson, who was a first-team All Star in 2000-01.