Four years have passed since former UAA goaltender Nathan Lawson appeared in the ECHL, but he's back on the circuit now after the NHL's Ottawa Senators assigned him to the Elmira Jackals.

Lawson, 29 (and, man, does that make The Blog feel ancient), was with AHL Binghamton, but those Senators had three goalies, which is one too many. (Also, the two other goalies are Ben Bishop, who turns 26 Sunday, and is a third-round draft pick with 17 NHL games; and Robin Lehner, 21, a second-rounder with 13 NHL games).

The undrafted Lawson owns 10 games of NHL experience and also made 137 AHL appearances since he last played in the ECHL.

Lawson's last ECHL gig was with Utah, and as coincidences go, his last ECHL appearance came against the Alaska Aces -- he stopped 11 of 12 shots in relief of Michael Mole on Oct. 25, 2008, when Alaska won 5-0 at Utah. (Trivia: Cam Keith scored that lone goal on Lawson, Utah's lineup included former UAA and Aces winger Justin Johnson of Anchorage, and the Aces that night received a 48-save shutout from Jean-Philippe Lamoureux). The night before that, Lawson started and stopped 33 shots in a 7-3 win over the Aces.

Anyhow, in Elmira, Lawson's competition is former Denver goalie Marc Cheverie, who was the ECHL's Goalie of the Week last week, when he went 2-0-0 with a 1.50 and .952. Cheverie, 25, is a seventh-rounder.