By Chris Jackson
Arizona Daily Wildcat
November 4, 1997

Opposites Attack

Tanith L. Balaban Arizona Daily Wildcat Icecat forward Paul Dorn skates up the ice against Colorado in one this weekend's wins. Dorn, a freshman, is second on the team with eight goals, including two hat tricks, this season.

Odd pairings exist in sports.

Dennis Rodman and Michael Jordan.

Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin.

Paul Dorn and Mike Graves.

They are people who have nothing in common, other than the ability to work together to become some of the best in the game.

The last two, whose names are lost on many sports fans, are freshmen who play left and right-wing for the Arizona Icecats club hockey team.

Graves describes himself as "the more modest guy who passes the puck to let someone else score the goal."

After scoring three goals in just his second game with the Icecats, Dorn said, "Yeah, to tell the truth I did (expect to start this well)," displaying a sense of confidence that he is not afraid to express.

Dorn already has two hat tricks and eight goals this season. Five of those goals have come off passes from Graves, who has seven assists.

"He's perfect to play with for me," Dorn said. "He sees the ice like no one I've ever played with."

Graves had some compliments for Dorn as well.

"He's real good at putting the puck away," Graves said. "I like being able to have the puck behind the net and feeding it to him and knowing that he'll always be there."

The duo has made an early impact, though that was expected, Icecat coach Leo Golembiewski said.

"I don't think it took me 20 seconds to see that both of them would be great additions to the team," he said.

Graves and Dorn have known each other for about 10 years. They're both from suburbs outside of Philadelphia, Graves from Malvern and Dorn from nearby Downington.Though they played on different high school teams, they never saw each other as rivals, mainly because their schools were in different leagues.

They did play together for two years on the Junior Philadelphia Flyers club team prior to coming to Arizona. It was there that they made a name for themselves as one of the better forward tandems in the northeast, Golembiewski said.

"They heard about us," said Golembiewski explaining how they came to Tucson. "I had a call from John Graves, Mike's father, and they came out here last year during the Arizona State series. After our Thursday practice we kept (goalie Mike) Tesi on the ice and let them show us what they had."

Dorn said that there were several reasons they chose Arizona.

"Coach was a big part of it," he said. "So was the atmosphere here, the campus, the weather."

Dorn added that the female half of the student body played a part too.

"Yeah, they sure didn't hurt," he said.

Graves said that wasn't the case, as he said he "has a girl at home."

Dorn tried to convince Graves that he shouldn't advertise that fact, but Graves said he didn't mind people knowing.The differences in their personalities are easy to see, Golembiewski said.

Tanith L. Balaban Arizona Daily Wildcat Icecat forward Mark Graves waits for an open teammate against Colorado.

"Mike is the quieter of the two," he said. "He's a little more of a thinker, but he's not complacent on the ice by any means.

"Dorn is much more of an extrovert. In this case opposites attract. They're both really good hockey players and they work very well together."

In their short time in Arizona, both Dorn and Graves agree that the biggest difference from Philadelphia, other than the weather, is the number of fans that the Icecats draw.

"You never got that many for club or high school games back home," Graves said.

Graves also said that he never had the chance to practice every day, which has been an asset to his game.

"I think I've adjusted pretty well to all of it," he said, referring to school, playing for the Icecats and living about 2,500 miles from home.

"We're pretty confident players," Dorn said. "That's how we've adjusted so well."

Golembiewski said that Dorn and Graves are "the type of players that can help you immediately," something that they have shown repeatedly in the first four games of the season.

In the Icecats' season opener against St. Louis University, Dorn had a hat trick, scoring three goals against the Billikens.

His best was a backhanded shot in the first period on a rebound off of St. Louis goalie Pat Rogers.

"The first couple of games, I wouldn't say we were nervous, but it felt good to get them out of the way," Graves said.

While the duo has been successful, they still are freshman and make youthful mistakes.

"They let us know when we're doing something wrong or if there's something that we could be doing better," said Dorn of senior co-captains Ben Ruston and Chad Dyjak.

Graves said Dyjak is "a little more vocal."

"He gets on everybody," said Graves when asked if Dyjak had ever taken out some vocal frustration on him.

After Dorn was named player of the game in Saturday's win and Graves picked up the same honors for scoring two goals in Sunday's 6-2 win over Colorado, the two said that they believe they can achieve their ultimate goal.

"At least one national championship," Dorn said. "I think we can (this year). We have a pretty good team. We've got three good lines, and maybe even a fourth, and coach has said that we've never had that before. As long as we keep working hard, we have a shot."

Icecat Scoring Leaders

(through Nov. 2)

Player    pos. GP G A Pts.
Ruston     C   4 11  3 14
Harris    RW   4  4 10 14
Carfora   LW   4  2 12 14
Dorn      LW   4  8  4 12
Graves    RW   4  2  7  9
Thompson   C   4  3  3  6
Majka      D   4  1  4  5
McCaffrey  D   4  3  1  4
Brush      D   4  1  3  4
Dyjak      D   4  1  3  4