Chirps from Center Ice

The good news is the candidate I stumped for votes yesterday won his election.

The bad news is until the Penguins start playing games during the week, it’s going to be really slow here at Chirps from Center Ice. I am going to get away from blogging for the sake of blogging during the week, so some of the content during the week may be stale. I am only assuming that I am your second, third or even fourth stop on the interwebs when looking at content regarding the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins. If by chance I am your first stop I am flabbergasted and thank you.

Check out Jonathan Bombulie’s Wednesday Update. There, you will find information regarding the whereabouts of Drew Fata and the great big happy family that the Rochester Americans are not.

Unless I can find something worthwhile to mention for Thursday, check me out Friday around this time (4:30ish in the East) for my Gameday Preview vs. the aforementioned Rochester Americans.

Booster Club “Meet the Players” mixer was Monday evening.

Always a good time that 1) Our booster club does this and 2) The team agrees to it.

Your humble blog author was on hand for a meal, conversation and photographs. It’s the only time all year I bother a player for a picture.

Rather than chewing up time posting each one, you can find all of them over here. All of the players are there. If you go back far enough, you’ll find older pictures of me and mascots, random center ices and other stuff.

Enjoy!

So I attended the Bar Louie Meet the Players Mixer tonight. Came away with the following information:

• Alex Grant was among the present. He had a splint on his left wrist and is still a few months away from a return.
• Brett Sterling was also there and was not on crutches. I am not a doctor, but I detected a faint limp.

Let me stop for a minute. Sterling STILL has not been warmly received like players like Dustin Jeffrey, Tim Wallace and even Dennis Bonvie were. May I remind you of Sterling’s resume? Easily one of the TOP FIVE most deadliest scoring threats IN THE LEAGUE. No, not on I-81, not in the East Division, IN THE ENTIRE AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE.

Sorry about that. Give the man his due. Sterling ate his dinner standing up.

• Ryan Schnell looked like he was ready to run someone.
• I told Sterling his nickname is “The Ticket” (to a Calder Cup) and he liked it. I want this to catch on.
• Brett Sterling and Keven Veilleux are “definate maybe’s” this weekend. I did not talk to Ryan Craig about his status.
• Tom Grace ran things. He thanked me for supporting the team in Charlotte. I formally introduced myself to him and said he’d see me at more road games.
• Met a bunch of Twitter followers and blog readers. Chirps from Center Ice is well received by everyone. I appreciate the support. I must be doing something right.

Onto the specialty jerseys as promised earlier. They are honoring the Police, Firefighters and Military service men and women. Here they are:

Keven Veilleux modeled the Police jersey.

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Alex Grant modeled the Firefighter jersey.

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Nick Johnson modeled the Military jersey.

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I spoke with Brian Coe of the Penguins and he told me that the Police and Firefighter jerseys will be used in collaboration with the Binghamton Senators as they also honor the Police and Firefighters. (i.e. we will be Firefighters and they will be Policemen and vice versa) Bingo will wear their own version of a Police jersey on December 3 in Wilkes-Barre, while we showcase the Firefighter jersey. Then we’ll return the favor in Bingo January 29 when we wear the Police jersey and Bingo has it’s own version of a Firefighter jersey. We’ll also wear the Police jerseys at a home date TBA. The Military jerseys will be worn February 26 v. Norfolk.

Nothing yet on the December 30 game in Pittsburgh v. the Bears. I can confirm that it is Pittsburgh’s game. They are showcasing the minor league affiliate. They will control everything which includes tickets. In return, we will most likely get another Black and Gold game next fall.

I had problems with my (actual) camera and didn’t want to hand my iPhone 4 to random people to take my picture with the players. So I didn’t take any. We’ll try again Monday at the Booster Club event.

At the season ticket holder pickup a few weeks ago I learned some bad news. That news was that Chad “Tux” Spencer was leaving as manager of Tux and taking off to the Las Vegas Wranglers of the ECHL.

Last night vs. Adirondack was supposed to be his last game.

Well, I learned about halfway through the game yesterday that Tux was staying.

I don’t think it had anything to do with the halibut I sent him.

I think he wants to raise the Calder Cup at the end of the year.

Here’s to the best mascot in the American Hockey League staying put.

Eat it T-Bone.

Let’s Go Pens!