Notre Dame always will be grateful to Cale Morris for being the goaltender that nearly brought it a national championship. Even after that memorable run, he continued to provide solid play in net for a couple more seasons. It is against this backdrop that Morris picked up his first professional win in his first professional start Tuesday for the Rockford IceHogs of the AHL.
Morris was named the first star for the IceHogs’ 3-2 win over the Cleveland Monsters. He made 35 saves and recorded a .946 save percentage while leading the IceHogs to their first win of the season. Yes, it’s been a trying early part of the season for Rockford, which needed seven games to finally get in the win column.
Morris appeared in his first professional game Monday when he relieved Matt Tomkins for the third period of a 7-3 loss to the Monsters. He stopped 13 of 14 shots during that time, and there’s no question that all of that influenced coach Derek King to make the switch. The question remains how long King will stick with Morris after back-to-back nights of solid play.