I was off the grid for the big part of today. But what I retweeted on my Twitter feed this afternoon is probably enough to blog about, no?
- I learned by following Siena Slusser on Twitter that the Tampa Bay Lightning recalled Matt Roy and James Wright from Norfolk today. Great timing when you consider the Admirals and Penguins skate tomorrow evening in Wilkes-Barre Township.
- Corey Potter, Brian Strait, Steve Wagner and Zach Sill will be featured in the first go around of game worn jersey cards which is coming up on November 27 in a game vs. the Rochester Americans. They will also have Brad Thiessen’s Pittsburgh Penguins sweater available in tiny pieces featured in a jersey card. It’s his sweater from the NHL rookie tournament last season.
- Bears beat writer Tim Leone checks in regarding the Hershey walking wounded. No Aucoin this weekend for the Bears.
- I often wonder how fans got to be fans of a team. Hershey PxP man John Walton tweeted today a story about how his partner on The Old Barn Hockey Show, Frank Schofield, came to become a fan of the Bears. Good read.
- Here is a story from Scott Briggs of the Telegraph-Journal regarding the recovery of rookie Pens defenseman Alex Grant.
- Bombulie checks in with his Thursday blog update. If there are no huge concerns in morning skate, The Ticket could be back. Nick Johnson was held out of contract drills, so he’s likely out the weekend.
- AHL observer Patrick Williams checks in with his weekly Thursday feature for The Hockey News.
- You be the judge of this. Big stick tap to Chairman How’s Glorious Army for sending me the link. Let me know what you think in the comments, or you can e-mail me.
Norfolk tomorrow. The Gameday Preview is done and scheduled for 4:30 p.m. tomorrow. Let’s Go Pens!
WBS News
Chirps from Center Ice 
Re: Lessard — allow me to provide the full context of that…shameful display you just watched.
During the first period of the game, Lessard took it upon himself to fight Mark Mitera. Now, without looking at his career stats, I’m willing to bet Mitera’s last fight was probably during recess in the third grade. Either way, Lessard jumped on a guy who’s a non-fighter, and Mirasty called him out on it once the majors were served (for those who have never been to our barn, the benches are separated by a single partition, which allows for the old lean-out-and-chirp, or, as we’ve seen in the past, the occasional face wash of a player on the opposing bench). Lessard turned down Mirasty’s challenge quite visibly on their next shift out, and then decided to effectively sucker Jonny with a shot to his helmet. Once Mirasty got his helmet and gloves off, they went at it in a decent scrap. However, it has to be noted here that Lessard more or less tried to jump him.
Fast forward to the third period. The game was pretty much over after the second period, and things were getting a little chippy on both sides on the ice. Mirasty once again challenged Lessard (this went on for a solid two or three minutes of the period) from the bench, going as far as pointing at Lessard and pointing at center ice, and it looked like Lessard agreed, as he seemed to nod yes. The next shift out, Mirasty had his gloves half off before the draw, anticipating that Lessard would square up and go. He didn’t. You can see what happened next — they traded slashes, Mirasty dropped his gloves, Lessard responded, and then proceeded to backpedal like no man I’ve ever seen. Certainly a “RUN, FORREST! RUN!” moment if there ever was one.
The question now, it seems, is how can anybody ever consider Lessard to be tough after this? I don’t care what the stats say. He dropped his gloves willingly, then went halfway across the building looking for sanctuary. That’s absolute garbage. If you didn’t have any intention of fighting, don’t drop your gloves, and don’t believe for a minute Lessard’s excuse that he was waiting for Mirasty to swing first. Stop backpedaling and he would have.