Chirps from Center Ice

Lots of stuff to get to today in the AHL. But first, let’s get right to matters which affect the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

The Pens tweeted today that a familiar voice, Tom Grace, is returning to the airwaves this fall. He will re-assume duties of play-by-play. Scott Stuccio will provide color commentary for home games and will do podcasts and interviews with players in Pittsburgh and in Wheeling. Scott also takes over as Director of Marketing for the Ice Rink at Coal Street and Director of Communications for the Penguins. He will also will conduct the intermission interviews on radio and television. What wasn’t disclosed was who will be running the weekly Penguins Report Radio Show at Lucky’s Sporthouse.

Official press release from the Pens here. Quick analysis from beat writer Jonathan Bombulie here.

To sum up Bombulie, you were either a Stuccio guy or a Grace guy. I never got heavy into the team like I am now when Tom Grace was around. I cannot form an opinion on him. I liked Stoosh. I liked what he brought night after night. Granted, I never listened to the home broadcast and was at 19 road games last year and only heard Stuccio while watching things on AHL Live, so take my opinion for what it’s worth. From what I have gathered in reading all the opinions on Twitter and from conversations with people I know, it’s split 50/50 on this announcement with people who love it and people who hate it.

Let’s get to news from around the league:

• The Springfield Falcons have a new head coach.
• Mike Angelidis inked a deal with Tampa Bay / Norfolk. On the cheap too if he ends up in Virginia. Norfolk is loaded this year. Count them, Charlotte, us, Hershey and Syracuse as serious contenders this year. If you are a wrestling fan, you may be familiar with the Mega Powers. If so, you’ll appreciate this quote I came up with: “The Mega Powers explode in the East Division this Winter” If not, please keep reading…
• Graham Mink was traded to St. Louis today. Mink skated this year for the Rochester Americans. Healthy scratch in a Game 7 playoff game vs. the Abbotsford Heat this past Spring. From my view, got an absolute raw deal from Amerks management. Rochester in general is getting picked apart this offseason with Jamie Johnson, Jeff Taffe, Steve McIntyre and now Graham Mink all headed to different teams. For one of the AHL’s most tenured teams, on it’s 75th anniversary year, fans are absolutely getting the shaft from management. There is more to the story here, so if you’d like to do some reading on the topic, head on over to Keith Wozniak’s page or check out Kevin Oklobzija’s blog for more if you so desire.
• This story on how the AHL schedule is created each year makes me laugh every time I read it. The league always puts this story out on how the schedule is created around this time of year. Seriously, on a giant magnet board with tiny colored shapes which represent each team? Let’s hope there isn’t an earthquake in the league offices in Springfield or else you may see Abbostford play Norfolk at home on Friday then be in Portland Saturday night then Peoria Sunday.

I closed the voting a day early on the latest poll one blog post down. The overwhelming consensus is that no one cares about what the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins are called. I still hate the “Baby” tag, but I will drop complaining about it from this day forward. You guys don’t care, so I won’t constantly keep making an issue out of it. Thanks for voting.

One final thing. The Penguins will be in a Rookie Tournament in London, Ontario next month and I openly debated on Twitter last night about going. After reaching out to Jonathan Bombulie via e-mail and Patrick Williams via Twitter, I think I am going to pass. I will be tuning in if it is on TV and will tweet about results both here and over on Twitter.