Chirps from Center Ice
A fan blog about the AHL's Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins
Swiss Bear Swapping
Couple of notable AHL East Division moves and shoes dropping to keep up on. Here goes:
–> We have our first Penguin defection. Jason Williams tweeted today that he is signed for the next two years with Ambrì-Piotta in the NLA in Switzerland. Here is the already translated release from Ambrì for you.
The 2012 Offseason Moves chart has been adjusted accordingly.
–> If you really like having fun with translation machines, check this article out. It’s translated from Czech regarding Washington goalie Tomas Vokoun. In summary, he’s not planning on returning to the Caps in 2012-2013. This would mean that mean goaltender Braden Holtby could be graduated to the NHL.
–> Staying with Washington, they traded Chris Bourque to Boston on May 26 for Zach Hamill. Bourque is an unrestricted free agent. It was clear he was not returning to the Caps next year. Hamill is a bit of an underachieving forward. He was 8-13-21 and a +5 in 41 games for the Providence Bruins. He is a restricted free agent.
Good move for the Caps, because they get something for nothing basically.
I could have my next blog post tomorrow, or I could have my next blog post in ten days. Who knows. Up to date on Twitter as always. Keep cool.
Salty Dogs
The Norfolk Admirals have their opponent. It’s the Toronto Marlies, winners 3-1 tonight in the Queen City over the Oklahoma City Barons. The Marlies take the Western Conference Finals in five games.
Series begins June 1 in Norfolk.
Could be a hell of a series. Early projections look like both teams match up with the another well. Toronto is a stingy, defensive team while Norfolk is an offensive juggernaut. One of those immovable force meets an unstoppable object type thing.
Happy Memorial Day weekend, everyone!
To Latvia by way of the Pelican
The summer schedule of the blog is going to basically be a weekly gathering of topics which I find of interest which you may as well. I scrape these topics together and have enough to fire off a blog post.
A quick payoff of the poll question one post down was how you would rather lose in playoffs, in seven vs. an opponent who is your equal or swept away by a team that did what it wanted with you. Overwhelmingly, you all chose losing in seven. Can’t say I disagree with you.
Leading into that, the St. John’s IceCaps were swept by the Norfolk Admirals on home ice. They scored two goals the entire series. Yet, IceCaps fans did this. Find me a team, anywhere, at any level, that would do that given the circumstances.
It looks like the Admirals opponent could be the Toronto Marlies, as they won last night to go up 3-1 in the series. Game 5 is Friday in Toronto.
The Hershey Bears and Washington Capitals extended their affiliation for two more years. This should not come as a shock to anyone.
Also announced in the affiliation extension was the news that Head Coach Mark French and Assistant Coach Troy Mann would also return behind the Bears bench for the 2012-2013 season.
Two former Bears are hopping the pond. Danny Richmond to the Pelicans in the Finnish league SM-liiga and Alexandre Giroux to the KHL’s Dinamo Riga. The links are in Finnish for Richmond and Latvian for Giroux. You can play the famous “Fun with Babelfish” to see how funny the translation to English is.
Congrats to the Florida Everblades who captured the Kelly Cup last night in a 3-2 overtime win in front of their fans over the Las Vegas Wranglers.
The Adirondack Phantoms look to be marooned in Glens Falls for the foreseeable future. Their destined home in Allentown hasn’t even been built yet. Here is the story out of Glens Falls on the situation. The arena was rejected in Hanover Township and Bethlehem Township.
Penn State’s fledgling hockey program will play one of its games in the Penguins living room on October 13 at Mohegan Sun Arena vs. American International.
In reviewing the above, not a single link or mention at all about news on the Penguins. No news is good news?
Latest news as always on Twitter, @nafsnep
POLL: Swept Away
Been kind of quiet on Twitter and even moreso on the blog with nothing to blog about. I am “around” so to speak. Watching the Europe wires to see if any WBS player bolts overseas. If so, the Twitter feed will have it first then a note on the blog then an update to the Offseason Moves list above.
Leaguewise, the Toronto Marlies lead the Oklahoma City Barons 2-1 in the best of seven. The Norfolk Admirals just finished off a sweep of the St. John’s IceCaps winning 4-0 tonight.
I have not watched a second of the action, but in following on Twitter, the Admirals completely outplayed the IceCaps top to bottom. They outscored them 14-2 and outshot them 140-115. Dustin Tokarski had shutouts in Games 3 and 4. In other words, total domination. The Manchester Monarchs, an 8 seed, got a game against the Admirals and lost in four in the best of five in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. The Connecticut Whale, a 6 seed, got two games before losing in six games in the best of seven of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The IceCaps, a 3 seed and the Atlantic Division Champions, were swept in four games and totally overmatched by every stretch of the imagination in the Eastern Conference Finals.
The Penguins battled tooth and nail with the IceCaps, goals were even, as was every other category imaginable as you peeled back the onion of the series. I called it an even series against two evenly matched teams.
But the IceCaps were manhandled by the Admirals and swept in four games.
So the poll question is as follows. Assuming that the Norfolk Admirals win the Calder Cup, how would you have rather the Penguins gone out? Losing in seven games against an opponent who was basically your equal or against an opponent in the Admirals who basically skated you out of the rink for four straight games?
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I’ll have the Calder Cup matchup later in the week, with any news of relevance up before that if need be. Until then, back into obscurity.
Summer Writing
Check back on the blog occasionally for topics such as what you are about to read. Majority of these stories don’t warrant their own blog posts and some don’t even warrant being discussed at all. I guess I am just going to keep blogging to keep myself sharp.
Here goes:
–> Pittsburgh signed Reid McNeill to a three year entry level contract yesterday. From what I have seen / read on him, he is a mobile, steady defensive defenseman.
–> The AHL Conference Finals kickoff tomorrow. You know it’s Norfolk – St. John’s in the East and it’s Oklahoma City – Toronto in the West. It’s the top two seeds in both Conferences. Read all about it here.
–> Here’s my prediction for both series: Norfolk in six, Toronto in seven. We will see how wrong I am.
–> Interesting developments on the Twitter side if you don’t already follow that I haven’t mentioned here on the blog. The Allentown arena that is supposed to be built to house the Adirondack Phantoms is a mess. I’m not going to go into details as to why as I have really haven’t been paying attention to it. Anyway, a man by the name of Paul Carpenter wrote an article last week slamming Hershey and Wilkes-Barre as “podunk” towns. Today, he wrote a retraction after angry Bears and Penguins fans vilified him.
–> A funny exchange between two California ECHL teams:
The @StocktonThunder have 2,804 followers. We have 2,581. By the time Oct. 5 rolls around we'll have more. Right #Condorstown? RT This!
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Bakersfield Condors (@Condors) May 16, 2012Don't hate. Congratulate. RT @Condors @StocktonThunder have 2,804 followers. We have 2,581. By the time Oct. 5 rolls around we'll have more.
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(@StocktonThunder) May 16, 2012-
Hilarious. Of note, the Bakersfield Condors were the only ECHL Western Conference team to not make playoffs this year.
–> Speaking of the ECHL, they look like they will grow by two tomorrow as the Central League’s Evansville Icemen and league champion Fort Wayne Komets have press conferences scheduled to announce (it’s forecasted) moves to the ECHL in 2012-2013.
–> Finally, decided to make a chart and add it to the tabs above on the blog to keep track of offseason moves for the Penguins. Should be a good project this summer. I will be adding the names and making a chart within 24 hours. I’ll tweet when it’s up and running.
Expect more of these kinds of posts as the summer wears. Gotta stay sharp.
Let’s Go Pens!
