PAUL IACURTO
by Kamlesh Patel
November 11 1999
 
 The first time I played in the CASC I played with Paul Iacurto. 
That was a great introduction into the CASC. The unfolding of events 
during the next couple of years was something special. Paul was one of 
the many positive influences overthose years.
 
In fact during my 2 seasons with the Screaming Maniacs/Renegades, I was 
fortunate to play regularly on a line with Paul. He is such a gifted 
hockey player that he makes everyone around him look that much better. 
So you can imagine that I enjoyed that I certainly enjoyed playing with 
him.
 
My first real concern about playing with him was that well he was the 
superstar of the CASC and arguably the MVP at the time. As I was merely 
a decent hockey player at the time, more of a defensive specialist with 
limited offensive abilities. I was worried that Paul would eventually 
get frustrated playing with someone who was incomparable to him in terms 
of talent.
 
I quickly found out that my concern was unwarranted. Paul made me feel 
welcome from the beginning. Every night he would literally set me up for 
a dozen or so good scoring chances. Yes I did manage to bury some of 
them regularly, although a highly skilled forward would have scored twice 
as much as did? I remember the first handful of games, on returning to 
the bench after a shift, I regularly apologized to Paul for not finishing 
his great "PASSES". Of course Paul was such the easy going guy that he 
always gave me confidence.
 
I had been given this great opportunity to improve my skills dramatically 
and I was going to take full advantage of that. During those couple of 
years of playing with the Paul, I gradually improved. In fact I was able 
to capitalize on chances more often and in general become a more effective 
line mate for Paul.
 
This was the first time that I met such a gifted player who was truly a 
positive influence to me. Paul never really gave advice on how I should 
play, what I could improve on, etc. It was his weekly performances that 
were always inspiring and motivated me to work that much harder to improve 
my skills. Paul was a major influence in my development as a hockey 
player.
 
Playing with Paul Iacurto during those two seasons was one of the 
highlights of my ball hockey career. I had the privilege of playing with a "SUPERSTAR"! Trust me, I enjoyed every moment of it!
Thank you Paul!
 
 Kamlesh Patel