Comments Off on 2-13
Posted by nafsnep on September 13, 2011
What does my subject line mean? The first number is the total goals scored for the Penguins in three games at the 2011 Rookie Tournament in Oshawa, Ontario and the second number is goals scored against the Penguins in thee games at the 2011 Rookie Tournament in Oshawa, Ontario.
2-13. One goal scored by Brandon DeFazio on Sunday and another by Keven Veilleux.
Today’s game versus the Chicago Blackhawks was lost in the second period, where the Pens had an extended 5-on-3 power play. Next thing you know it’s 4-on-3 and just like that it’s 2-0. To make matters worse, the Pens give up a goal to a guy on a mini-breakaway and as the guy is getting hauled down he scores. In the third period a “home run stretch pass” beats all Pens defenders and Chicago makes it 4-0. Veilleux scored late and that was that.
Look, I know that a September rookie tournament is diminutive in the scope of things. But, in my opinion, none of these guys playing are ready for the NHL. Maybe Tangradi. There were no scoresheets, and maybe by design because I would love to see what Simon Despres +/- was. I also know it’s a conglomeration of players trying to impress and by trying to impress maybe make mistakes which lead to goals. I don’t know what the thought process is.
I also must state that I did not watch or listen, so take my opinions at face value. Perhaps I am simply disgusted in the anemic 2-13 aggregate score.
Bombulie may or may not have a write-up later at the Penguins Insider.
Training camp opens September 16 and the Rookie Tournament will be a distant memory.
Comments Off on Nothing to see here!*
Posted by nafsnep on August 2, 2011
Just a quick update to say that there are no updates. You are not missing anything. I have not given up on the blog. There simply is nothing going on at this time in Penguin land worth blogging about.
We’ve hit the summer doldrums. Schedule will be out soon then I can start planning my road trips.**
For the sake of adding something, St. John’s is officially the IceCaps and the Bears re-signed Joel Rechlicz.
News will pick up again and we will be back to the daily updates. Until then, enjoy the warm weather.
*- well, maybe. **- love this story. It’s all on a giant board full of magnets.
Comments Off on Summer Slowness
Posted by nafsnep on May 30, 2011
Not much to write about these days. Hockey withdrawal is behind me. The Calder Cup Finals are in full swing with Binghamton and Houston tied at a game apiece with Game Wednesday in Binghamton.
I still have the poll up a post down on whether you think I should apply for a press credential next season. If you haven’t already, please vote.
Going to open up the Chirps from Center Ice mailbag. You can e-mail me at nafsnep@gmail.com and drop me a line on how you are spending your summer, what you would like to see different here on the blog, any questions you have about WBS next year or the AHL in general. If I get enough responses, I will run mailbag features. If not, well after the Calder Cup Finals end and affiliation silly season dies down the updates here may be few and far between until late August.
Comments Off on Pressing Questions…
Posted by nafsnep on May 25, 2011
Today, this blog passed 30,000 views. For only existing for about 9 months I would have to say for a blog which covers an AHL hockey team in Northeastern Pennsylvania that isn’t too bad. It pales in comparison to the bigger blogs such as The Pensblog,Faceoff Factor and others, which probably get 30K hits a day. Thank you all for reading!
I have no journalistic experience. I was a business major in college and push paper all day long in a big building in the city. However, “covering” the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins and the AHL in general has become a sort of a hobby for me.
That said, I have had the itch to take this “hobby” of sorts to a higher level so to speak and had an open debate on the Twitter side on whether I should apply for press credentials for the 2011-2012 season. None of anyone who chirped in on the Twitter side said it would be a bad idea.
However, I have gotten to 30,000+ views here from giving you the “fan” perspective. Heck, the description of this blog is “A fan blog (emphasis added) about the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins”
One of the things that I worry about if I ever were to apply for and be given access to said credential I would be trading away the “fan” perspective and graduating to actual “media” member. Which means the following,
1)This blog would be held to a higher standard.
2)My interaction with the players would change.
3)My interaction with the team in general (front office, tickets, media) would change.
4)We already have one of the best, if not the best, individuals in Jonathan Bombulie covering the team since the very beginning. He’s done so for a reason, as in he is extremely good at what he does. Someone with no experience walking into a credential with no journalistic experience covering the second best hockey circuit in the world? Who is going to want that?
I do not want to trade in my opinions which are reserved for fans, that is, say anything I want (with class) without having to worry about upsetting the wrong person. I have gauged some other bloggers from around the AHL and they all say pretty much the same thing in that no matter how involved you get in your credential, you are still held to some standard of accountability. In saying that though, I don’t think I would have any issues operating under that protocol, but the biggest fear for me would be trading in my “fan” card for the credential.
Comments Off on Getting some sun…
Posted by nafsnep on May 11, 2011
Now that we are done, expect sparse updates from here until June – July. I have been away for the most part from Twitter / the blog. Mainly outside really enjoying this nice week of NEPA weather.
Bombulie has had some neat postseason wraps all this week at the Penguins Insider. Good stuff out of him.
To be honest, I haven’t even started the postseason wrap here. Still in shock that the season is over. I’ll make myself do it this weekend.
As you know, I’ll be covering Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals for the Chasing Checkers blog. I’m not going to mirror here, but if you want to see the work head over there Thursday night.
In the Western Conference, the Hamilton Bulldogs and Houston Aeros both outlasted their respective opponents in Game 7s. The Hamilton / Manitoba game went into THREE OVERTIMES! Yikes. Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals starts Friday in Houston.
This week in the buildup to Round 2 with Charlotte? Nothing. Bear with me as there is nothing to talk about.
The Penguins have a new blog for the playoffs. It’s team run. They have general playoff information which you may find informative. In being the cavalier that I am, I have reached out to the team on Twitter to add Chirps from Center Ice as a link. We’ll see. EDIT: That didn’t take long. They linked me.
Bombulie had a brief practice update today. Bryan Lerg is day-to-day. That’s about it. No news is good news.
Stick with me over on Twitter (not much to talk about there either) for RTs of anything I see regarding online previews of the series. I gave you mine Sunday night.
Gameday for Thursday’s Round 2 vs. the Charlotte Checkers will be up Thursday at 3 p.m.
Comments Off on Tidbits 2/22
Posted by nafsnep on February 22, 2011
Not much to cover today.
Brian Strait and Ryan Craig were sent back to Wilkes-Barre this afternoon. Chris Kunitz, Dustin Jeffrey and Mark Letestu practiced today and should be available by the weekend.
The Hershey Bears signed defenseman Dmitri Orlov to a PTO. Jesse Marshall from Faceoff Factor tweeted me that he constantly attacks, is relentless on offense but is weak defensively, is not strong and has tunnel vision. Sounds like someone we all know.
Out of Binghamton, Sens beat writer Joy Lindsay tweeted today that Pascal Leclaire will not start tomorrow. Barry Brust was held out of practice for precautionary reasons. He is expected to make the start tomorrow, but if not we may see Alex Petizian out of the ECHL.
Joe Depto tweeted that Paul Martin will not play tomorrow. Will a call-up be needed? If so, who?
Joe also tweeted that Arron Asham, Eric Tangradi and Nick Johnson are suffering from concussion symptoms. Johnson got destroyed in a fight last week vs. Colorado. Observers at the game said that he did not look right coming off the ice after the fight.
Out of all this, it would appear that Wilkes-Barre will get some players back finally from Pittsburgh. With Craig and Strait back, here is how I expect the demotions to come, in this order:
Tim Wallace
Joe Vitale
Brett Sterling
Now Sterling has been playing lights out of late for Pittsburgh and could very well get an extended look. Do I think this will be the case? No. I look at it this way, if Pittsburgh wanted him around, they would have kept him around in the beginning of the year.
After Sterling, the rest of the Wilkes-Barre recalls are injured. Assuming that they all get healthy enough to play again this year you can expect them to be sent back down in this order, in my opinion:
Nick Johnson
Eric Tangradi
Dustin Jeffrey
Chris Conner
Mark Letestu
Do I think we will ever see Conner / Letestu? Probably not, but if Pittsburgh gets knocked out of the playoffs and Wilkes-Barre is still playing I think you would most likely see Chris Conner and maybe Mark Letestu. “Think” “would” “could” are key words though. When the Clear Day rosters are announced by all the AHL teams it’ll be interesting to see if Conner or Letestu’s names are on it.
What started as “not much to cover” ended up being a bonafide entry. Alrighty then.
Debating live-blogging Binghamton again tomorrow, but may just tweet it then post when I get home. I am already going into work late Thursday. Stay tuned.
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