ALBANY — Though his time with the Albany River Rats will be short, rookie goaltender David Leggio won’t be leaving empty-handed.

Not only does the undrafted Clarkson University product have the experience of both his first NHL and AHL training camps, he came away with a two-way AHL-ECHL contract that could land him the No. 1

job with the Florida Everblades this season.

“I’m just here for camp to try and do what I can and show the organ­ization,” Leggio said. “I love hockey. I got a little taste of it last year having an [amateur tryout] with Binghamton. This is what I love to do. To be able to do it for a living is a dream come true.”

Albany’s expected tandem of Justin Peters and Daniel Manzato was assigned to the Rats on Thursday by the parent Carolina Hurricanes, leaving no room for Leggio or Ryan Munce, who was in camp on a tryout basis.

It isn’t the first time for Leggio, 24, in Albany; he led Clarkson to two straight ECAC tournament titles here in 2007 and 2008.

On Wednesday, Leggio played the first 40 minutes of Albany’s 5-3 preseason victory over Bridgeport, allowing two goals on 17 shots. He stopped the Sound Tigers’ Robert Hennigar on a penalty shot midway through the second period.

“We’ve played some really big games in this building,” Leggio said. “We won the ECACs and got past the first round of regionals, but it’s a little bittersweet because our last college game was played here, too. There’s a lot of history in this building.”

For Leggio, the local history doesn’t stop there. A native of the Buffalo suburb of Williamstown, he spent two seasons in the Cap­ital District playing for coach Jim Salfi’s Clifton Park-based CD Sel­ects Eastern Junior Hockey League program.

“After I graduated high school, I was going to play junior in Buffalo but coach Salfi called me late in July and said he remembered seeing me play and needed a goalie,” Leggio said. “I talked to him on the phone every day for the next two weeks. He convinced me to come. I didn’t know anything about the Capital District or the [league] before I came. It was a good thing he got hold of me.”

Leggio was a two-time EJHL first-team all-star with the Selects, starting 42 games with a 25-10-6 record, 2.80 goals-against average, .918 save percentage and four shutouts. His success ultimately led him to play Division I.

“It was great,” Leggio said. “Without coach Salfi, I would never had gone to Clarkson and I probably would have never had a chance to be here. I got to live with two great families and meet some nice people. It was a great two years. I really enjoyed it.”