Chirps from Center Ice

It’s the most predictable time of the year.

Teams announce their home opener date, time and opponent and then the following day the full schedule is released.

Rinse and repeat, change the date on the calendar only.

This go around, it’s the Springfield Thunderbirds.

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Sticking with the 6:05 Saturday start times for some weird reason. Callback to when the first 6:05 start date was announced in 2021 from Pens CEO Jeff Barrett,

“We made a conscious effort to move our Saturday home games to an hour earlier in order to accommodate our many families who come to the games with young children,” said Penguins CEO Jeff Barrett. “Down the line, we hope to have the opportunity to host some post-game events for these nights, too. Fans should stay tuned on that front.”

Yeah, nothing on that since. Sure COVID had something to do with it, but nothing yet I have seen on this front. It’s still early however.

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Opening night is October 13 league wide, and the Penguins will be opening on the road against Charlotte.

The assumption here is a Friday – Saturday matchup against Charlotte, if not then Friday – Sunday.

Pens are Hartford’s home opener on Friday, October 20, before opening at home on the 21st against Springfield.

Full league release here on who opens where with whom. Not easy to read, almost need a decoder that comes in a cereal box to make sense of it all.

Back Wednesday to breakdown the same opponents we saw last year, complain about the lack of schedule variety, then back to summer vacation.