Chirps from Center Ice

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins return from Christmas break on top of the Atlantic Division and need (I believe) just two more points to send Head Coach Kirk MacDonald to Rockford, Illinois to coach the Atlantic Division All-Star team next month. The coach of the first place team in each division gets that honor at the end of the calendar year.

Music to Set the Mood…

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Again, not exactly pandering to anyone born after 1980. But it is what it is.

A Quote…

A good coach will make his players see what they can be rather than what they are.
— John Wooden

I think MacDonald has gotten about all he can out of his players which have rewarded the second year coach with a first place showing for most of, if not all of this still young season. I think that the sky is the limit with this team.

The Setup…

Home with Hershey Saturday, on the road with the Phantoms on Sunday and then hosting the Charlotte Checkers on Tuesday again. I think that Tuesday game is one that a lot of the players have circled in the locker room.

Last week the Penguins took 5 of 6 points out of games with the Utica Comets (a win in Utica Friday followed by a home shootout loss) and then a Sunday win against the Bears.

The Bears beat Bridgeport last Saturday and then lost to the Penguins.

The Phantoms lost to the Islanders Friday then needed a shootout to take down the Hartford Wolf Pack. They host the Checkers on Saturday.

Charlotte returned home and lost clean to the last place Springfield Thunderbirds Saturday then exacted some overtime revenge against the Birds on Sunday with an overtime win. They are in Allentown on Saturday, Hershey on Sunday before heading up to Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday.

Records…

Wilkes-Barre is 21-7-1-1 with 44 points and lead the Atlantic.

Hershey is 14-11-1 with 29 points and are fifth in the Atlantic.

Lehigh Valley is 14-11-1-2 with 31 points and are fourth in the Atlantic.

Charlotte is 15-9-2 with 32 points and are third in the Atlantic.

The Rest of those Rascals…

The Checkers are trying to make it a three horse race but so far it’s basically the Penguins and Providence Bruins who are the class of the field. The Bruins are 20-5-1 and have 41 points in second in the Atlantic and have four games in hand on Wilkes-Barre. They beat the Syracuse Crunch last Saturday. They have Springfield this Saturday in Massachusetts. At the end of the night on Tuesday, they will have SIX games in hand on the Penguins. One of those will be burned off when they play the Thunderbirds on the road this coming Wednesday.

After Tuesday, the Penguins aren’t in action again until Saturday in Syracuse, so let’s run through everyone else’s schedule up until then.

Charlotte doesn’t play till Saturday when they are in Cleveland.

The Phantoms will host the Bears on Wednesday, then off till Saturday (at Belleville)

Same for Hershey, who will host the Rockford IceHogs next weekend.

Springfield is one of the hotter teams in the AHL right now and went from last place in the division all the way up to sixth with a 9-11-4-2 record and 24 points. I gave you what they did against Charlotte last weekend above. They host Providence this Saturday, then Bridgeport on Sunday and then host the Bruins on New Years Eve. They will host the Islanders again on January 2.

Bridgeport is 11-13-1-1 and have 24 points in seventh. It’s been a struggle for the Islanders who beat Lehigh Valley and then lost to Hershey last weekend. They host Hartford Saturday, travel to Springfield Sunday then are in Hartford on New Years Eve. They return back to Springfield on January 2.

I would like to think at this time that one of the three teams between Springfield, Bridgeport and Hartford are going to make playoffs. I don’t think it will be the last place Hartford Wolf Pack however. They are 9-13-4-1 and have 23 points. They lost at home against Syracuse last Friday, then in Allentown via shootout on Saturday. They have a home and home with Bridgeport that starts Saturday in Connecticut and is paid off on New Years Eve in Hartford. They will host the P-Bruins on next Friday.

Who’s Up? Who’s Down? Who’s Out?

Aaron Huglen, Sebastian Aho and Alex Alexyev are still injured. The ECHL went on strike today so players like Mathieu De St. Phalle and David Breazeale may be recalled to the AHL while the collective bargaining gets figured out. Taylor Gauthier will be playing in the Spengler Cup. There are a couple others who may end up here while the Nailers are on lockout.

I haven’t seen Danton Heinen’s name appear much in Pittsburgh so I wonder if he will get shipped back at some point. Rutger McGroarty has graduated I think and so has Ville Koivunen.

What can we learn about the Penguins this week?

I think you can pencil them in as better than Hershey and Lehigh Valley but note that they need to play a full 60 to beat those clubs. They can’t play disinterested or loose hockey and expect to just pull four goals out of their arse in the third period and coast to a win. It’s Charlotte that has my attention based of off how pedestrian the Checkers made the Penguins look.

Also, they are missing Sam Poulin, who was traded. You need a lethal scoring threat. Joona Koppanen stepped up last weekend with 5 points but that’s not his repertoire, so to speak. I want to see some combination of Phil Tomasino, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard or Tristan Broz just explode and start pouring in points. Valtteri Puustinen remains a lethal threat but he’s on track to be the next Sam Poulin if he doesn’t start producing on a more consistent basis.

This team is in first place because of those players, but in order to stay there everyone has to pull the same rope, proverbially.

Who’s in Goal?

Sergei Murashov – Joel Blomqvist then whoever plays the best of those two gets the net Tuesday against the Checkers. I think Blomqvist has been outplaying Murashov by an eyelash recently, so it’s going to be interesting to see who gets the net Tuesday.

Clay Stevenson, Carson Bjarnason, Cooper Black is my guess for the opposition.

Who’s Running the Show?

Chris Conway and Austin O’Rourke have the assignment on Saturday with Jud Ritter an J.P. Waleski on the lines.

O’Rourke will follow the team to Allentown Sunday and pair up with Mathieu Menniti with Davids Rozitis and John Rey on the lines.

No Tuesday crew assignment yet. Surprise refs!

Looking Ahead…

Tuesday is the last home game until January 16 but the games are spread out and pretty much all in the same place. They have one game next weekend and that is Saturday in Syracuse. I’ll have a lot of time on my hands next weekend. Too bad it’s January and not June.

Give us a bold prediction…

Handshakes for Kirk MacDonald Sunday in Allentown as he will be announced as the head coach of the Atlantic Division All-Star team at that time.