Chirps from Center Ice

A fan blog about the AHL's Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins

Monthly Archives: January 2012

GAMEDAY: vs. Norfolk 1/4

Comments Off on GAMEDAY: vs. Norfolk 1/4 Posted by on January 4, 2012

vs. 

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Home Game: 16

AHL Game: 503

Who: Norfolk Admirals

Where: Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza

When: 7:05 p.m. EST

Media Kit

Last Game: On New Years Eve, the Pens beat the Bridgeport Sound Tigers at home by a score of 4-2. Zach Sill scored two goals. For Norfolk, they lost 3-2 in Hershey to the Bears in a shootout. Mike Kostka had a goal and an assist for the Ads in the loss.

Last Meeting: December 17 in Wilkes-Barre, the Pens got thumped 5-2 before a sellout crowd. Carter Ashton had a goal and an assist for the Ads in the win.

Record: For WBS: 18-10-1-4 (41 pts., 3rd place East Division) — For NOR: 20-11-0-2 (42 pts., 2nd place East Division)

Why you should care: Expect a different outcome tonight from December 17. The Pens have probably their best lineup they’ve had in months and will be looking to stop the streak Norfolk is on (7-2-0-1 in their last ten games) and leapfrog them in division standings.

Referee(s): Chris Ciamaga / Chris Cozzan

Linesmen: Jud Ritter / Mike McDevitt

Twitter: @wbspenguins / @NorfolkAdmirals / @AdsGameUpdates

Beat Writers: @CVBombulie

Broadcasters: For WBS: Tom Grace @TGracePens and Mike O’Brien @MikeOBrienWBS / For NOR: Pete Michaud @PeteMichaud2012

Fan Bloggers: @nafsnep

Radio: For WBS: 102.3 The Mountain / For Norfolk: 102.1 The Game

Television: AHL Live

Promotion(s): Remember Whensday (1970s)

Other Game to Watch: Atlantic Division leader Manchester hosts Bridgeport. With any point, Manchester is tops in the Conference.

Next Five Games: RCH 1/6, SYR 1/7, @ NOR 1/10, @ StJ 1/14, @ StJ 1/15

Gameday

A Killer Amongst Us

Comments Off on A Killer Amongst Us Posted by on January 3, 2012

AHL Transaction Page was active this morning with the news that Patrick Killeen was recalled to Wilkes-Barre / Scranton. In 21 games played for Wheeling this year, Killeen sports a 10-8-1-1 record, a 2.86 GAA and an 0.880 SV%.

WBS was mum on this on the website, Twitter and Facebook pages. But Bombulie confirmed Killeen was here for Scott Munroe who has a “minor” lower body injury. It’s expected that Brad Thiessen gets the start tomorrow vs. Norfolk.

I wanted to look at the numbers vs. Norfolk for both Thiessen and Munroe. In a word, ick. Both have 85% save percentages and goals against over three, with Munroe sporting a 4.99 GAA.

Elsewhere around the AHL, ex-WBS Penguin Luca Caputi is on the move again. This time basically across the hall as he was traded to the Anaheim Ducks for Nicolas Deschamps. The AHL team for the Ducks, the Syracuse Crunch, are in Toronto to play Caputi’s old team the Marlies tonight. It’s expected that Deschamps and Caputi play against their old teams later.

Finally, the AHL All-Star Classic rosters are going to be announced at 3 p.m. tomorrow. Fans will be able to then vote on starters. I’ll go on record now and say that Colin McDonald and Eric Tangradi get nods from the WBS side. Cases can also be made for Ben Street and Bryan Lerg, but not with who Hershey, St. John’s, Norfolk and Manchester are going to send. (more than three each, IMO)

I’ll run a quick congratulatory blurb on whomever it is from the Pens the gets the nod sometime before the Norfolk game tomorrow, for those who are signed up for blog e-mail notifications. Left hand bottom of your screen if you haven’t signed up already. You’ll get my epistles delivered straight to your inbox so you don’t have to go searching for me on the internet.

On the subject of the Gameday post for Norfolk, I’ll have it up at a special time of 1 p.m. tomorrow in advance of the All-Star announcements.

Let’s Go Pens!

The AHL, WBS, Wheeling

Blog in Case You Forget…

Comments Off on Blog in Case You Forget… Posted by on January 2, 2012

Debated for the past couple of hours whether to blog or not. Figured I would for the fact that if I sit on this information / speculation, I may forget it when I actually want to blog. Here goes…

Paul Martin and Richard Park practiced today. Martin is quoted that he wants to be well enough to play Friday. Does this mean Despres is down for good? (Or until there is another injury to a defenseman? These days it’s not a matter of if, but when)

On top of that, Robert Bortuzzo and Dustin Jeffrey skated in full gear and may practice this week. Maybe Jeffrey comes back down for more conditioning soon?

Here in Wilkes-Barre, there was no re-assignment of Peter Merth to Wheeling. Bombulie didn’t update today so I’m thinking the Pens didn’t practice.

Finally, on the subject of replay in the AHL, it was tweeted today by Sound Tigers beat writer Michael Fornabaio and Darryl Hunt who covers the Worcester Sharks (the Sharks visited the Sound Tigers today) that the AHL is experimenting with video replay on goals only. Here’s the blurb on it from Mike’s blog today:

Equipment has been floating around here for a while, but today the AHL confirmed it’s testing a potential video replay system here. There are cameras above both goals providing an angle to allow the referee(s) to take a look and see if a puck went into the net. “All very preliminary,” Jason Chaimovitch wrote. They plan to have it available during all four Bridgeport home games this month. The AHL Board of Governors has talked about replay possibilities over the past few years without approving a system. This potential system was developed by NeuLion, and Charles Wang was in the house.

NeuLion also runs AHL Live. Charles Wang runs the New York Islanders and owns NeuLion. Insert technical difficulties joke here….

Let’s Go Pens!

Pittsburgh, The AHL, WBS

Despres Re-Assigned 1/1

Comments Off on Despres Re-Assigned 1/1 Posted by on January 1, 2012

News of the day was that Simon Despres was re-assigned from Pittsburgh today.

Probably a cap related move, as Pittsburgh doesn’t play again until Friday while Wilkes-Barre has a home game on Wednesday vs. Norfolk. Or, Paul Martin could be healthy enough for Friday and the re-assignment is more permanent, for now.

I’m speculating, but there could be more recalls from Pittsburgh, as Arron Asham and Pascal Dupuis left yesterdays game vs. New Jersey with injury.

I think it is safe to say that there won’t be any recalls until after the Admirals game on Wednesday.

Let’s Go Pens!

Pittsburgh

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