Chirps from Center Ice

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

Category Archives: Pittsburgh

Lending a Helping Hand

Comments Off on Lending a Helping Hand Posted by on January 2, 2014

No, literally.

Announced today that Chris Conner will be sidelined 6-8 weeks with a hand injury. He needs surgery, so it’s estimated that he’ll be out 6-8 weeks.

Great.

That makes Andrew Ebbett, Jayson Megna and now Conner that were once Wilkes-Barre regulars that are now injured with Pittsburgh.

In the wake of this news, Pittsburgh claimed Taylor Pyatt off of waivers from the New York Rangers. Consider him a bottom-six type of player, that will fill a need and avoid yet another body being sent up to Pittsburgh from Wilkes-Barre.

Speaking of Wilkes-Barre, the Pens were scheduled to travel to Hartford today for tomorrows game in the Connecticut capital. They normally skate in the morning at Coal Street, load a bus and hit the Wegmans on Wilkes-Barre Township Boulevard for some lunch and hit the road. Normally Jonathan has a blurb on something. That didn’t happen today, which leads me to believe that they skipped town sometime this morning and skated when they got to Hartford because of the snowstorm.

So they are there. Manchester (Saturday’s opponent) is already in Binghamton and the B-Sens (Sunday’s opponent) don’t go any place this weekend except Wilkes-Barre on Sunday. Provided the Pens don’t get snowed in in Hartford, I’d expect all the games to be played as scheduled.

Gameday for tomorrow’s game in Hartford will hit the blog tomorrow at 3 p.m

Let’s Go Pens!

Pittsburgh

Weekend Setup 12/19

Comments Off on Weekend Setup 12/19 Posted by on December 19, 2013

I am off from my real job for these next two days so I got a large majority of my Christmas shopping done Thursday afternoon. I could not believe the amount of people out and about. My brother got me a $25 Panera gift card for my recent birthday and Panera, on a Thursday afternoon after the standard 12-1 lunch hour, was packed with people. Doesn’t anybody work anymore? Or are the standard 9-5 workdays a thing of the past and everyone has a .com, work-from-home business empire that they call their bread and butter? Baffles the mind…

Fontina Grilled Cheese with a baguette and a medium Mountain Dew, if you are scoring from home. Fontina Grilled Cheese from Panera is the bees knees.

Anyway…

Couple of things you know, then a few things you might not if you aren’t tuned into the M*A*S*H East Division like I am. Let’s get with the things that you may know…

— Brian Gibbons was recalled in wake of Jayson Megna’s injury, yet the Penguins keep winning.

— Jonathan’s Thursday update. In it, news that Eric Hartzell is starting tomorrow, Bobby Farnham on the 2nd power play unit and Reid McNeill’s unavailability. Jonathan had a Tuesday update that revealed that Dom Uher should be back this weekend, skating with a full shield.

— Wilkes-Barre will be donning Christmas jerseys this weekend. They had a big Twitter reveal on Tuesday, but it went totally over my head that the Holiday Nutcrackers they handed out Saturday actually had the jerseys painted on them. What slacking by me, I could have had an “exclusive” story on the Christmas jerseys before anyone else.

Outside of Wilkes-Barre, but staying in the East….

— Hershey released Jamie Johnson from his standard playing contract and let him go back overseas to the Kontinental Hockey League. Johnson found himself a veteran scratch more than he saw himself of the ice, so it’s a move that was mutual, if I had to guess.

— Syracuse gets an offensive shot in the arm with the announcement this week that they have signed Jon DiSalvatore to an AHL deal. DiSalvatore had been playing in Munich, and much like Johnson in Hershey, wasn’t seeing as much ice as he wanted to so he was let out of his deal and returned here to play for a Syracuse team desperate for offense with much of their team in Tampa Bay on recall.

— Syracuse does get some help with the re-assignments of Matt Taormina and Dana Tyrell back from Tampa Bay.

— Ol’ buddy Chris Collins was released by Norfolk and goes back to his ECHL club in Bakersfield.

Sorry Binghamton, no news out of you this week.

Anyway, Worcester in in town already for the 7:05 Friday start tomorrow in Wilkes-Barre. Gameday for this will be here on the blog tomorrow at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!

About Me, Just Rambling, Pittsburgh, The AHL, WBS

Thanksgiving Comes Early for Pittsburgh

Comments Off on Thanksgiving Comes Early for Pittsburgh Posted by on November 27, 2013

Announced this morning that Chris Conner, Simon Despres, and Jayson Megna have been recalled to Pittsburgh.

Really, if you follow the action closely, not surprising. Pittsburgh’s not going to carry 11 forwards plus a cleared waivers Matt D’Agostini, that’s if he clears at noon Wednesday. So the recalls of Megna and Conner are insurance for Pittsburgh. Despres is left handed and, as Jonathan pointed out yesterday, Despres is the only healthy puck moving southpaw worth a call up in the organization.

So, if D’Agostini clears and is assigned to Wilkes-Barre you have him, Brian Gibbons, Tom Kostopoulos, Brendan Mikkelson and Harry Zolnierczyk as your top scorers, with a pretty solid defense corps and rock steady goaltending. I’ll take this into battle against an Adirondack team that’s lost six straight and feel damn good about my chances.

I probably won’t have anymore updates here today but for the Gameday setup with the aforementioned Phantoms at 3, then the post game recap after the game tonight. So if Pittsburgh does assign D’Agostini here, pending the waivers, I’ll probably blurb about it on Twitter.

Let’s Go Pens!!

Pittsburgh, WBS

Mish Mash Too Cold to Take a Bath

2 Comments Posted by on November 26, 2013

Tons of stuff to catch up on here Tuesday afternoon…

— Brian Gibbons is back. Re-assigned this morning.

— Up top, Beau Bennett is out 8-10 weeks with a broken wrist. Tanner Glass is out with a broken hand. That’s why the demotion of Gibbons is head scratching to me.

— Here’s some nice words from Pittsburgh on Andrew Ebbett. In that, you’ll also find that Paul Martin is out with a lower body injury.

So where does that leave Wilkes-Barre?

— Carter Rowney was recalled from Wheeling today.

— Peter Merth and Pierre Leblond practiced today, from the Tuesday Bombulie update.

Jonathan really has things covered in his offering today. He mentions that a forward could still go back up tomorrow as well as Simon Despres because of Paul Martin’s injury and that Despres uses his right frame of mind.*

Oh, and Matt D’Agostini is on waivers. If no one claims him, he could end up on the ice with the Penguins tomorrow in Glens Falls, NY.

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Three other things before I wrap it up. Remember the big hit in Saturday’s game Tom Kuhnhackl took by J.C. Lipon of St. John’s? Lipon was suspended two games as a result by the AHL today….Zack Torquato was named ECHL Player of the Week for the Wheeling Nailers. Torquato is on an ECHL only deal, meaning he can sign with any AHL team. He was in Wilkes-Barre camp last season if I remember correctly…..There is a new ECHL team which will take the ice for the 2014-2015 season. They are the Indy Fuel. They’ll probably face Wheeling a few times next season.

Depending if there is a call up to Pittsburgh tomorrow and the time it happens, I might have a few words on it. If not, Gameday for tomorrow’s game in Glens Falls vs. the Phantoms will be up at 3 p.m.

* – alright, it’s a terrible joke. Left handed people use the right side of their brain. Righties use their left side. So you’ll hear the joke from left handed people that they are always “in the right frame of mind”… I’ll be here all week. Try the veal….

Not AHL, Pittsburgh, The AHL, WBS, Wheeling

Zach’s Weekend in Wilkes-Barre

Comments Off on Zach’s Weekend in Wilkes-Barre Posted by on November 24, 2013

Kinda knew when I saw the reports from Pittsburgh about Beau Bennett’s injury that at least one Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguin would get the call.

Turns out it was two.

Pittsburgh recalled Zach Sill and Andrew Ebbett Sunday evening. For Sill, the thinking is that the Pittsburgh brass didn’t get enough of a look at him last time he was up appearing in just one game. For Ebbett, Pittsburgh clearly sending a message that they want to evaluate what they have depth-wise as Jayson Megna could be argued as a more worthy call-up.

Depth wise here in Wilkes-Barre, it all depends on the health and wellness of Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond and Nick Drazenovic. If either one of those two can play Wednesday night on Glens Falls, then the Penguins won’t need to make another recall from Wheeling. Denver Manderson and Cody Sylvester were the healthy forward scratches Saturday night vs. St. John’s.

I suppose we find out early, as usually it’s custom to let the call-up get a practice in with the team before throwing them into a game situation.

Think that’s bad? The Syracuse Crunch have been demolished lately with recalls and injuries of their own. My blog pals at Chairman How’s Glorious Army have it all covered if you want to peek across the fence to see the state of affairs of a divisional rival.

If there’s a recall from the Wheel, I’ll have something to write about Monday. If not, check out my Week 8 AHL Power Rankings Monday afternoon at 4.

Let’s Go Pens!!

Pittsburgh, The AHL, WBS

One Goes Up, They All Come Up

Comments Off on One Goes Up, They All Come Up Posted by on November 18, 2013

I don’t think a Mohegan Sun Casino blackjack dealer can shuffle the cards like the brain trust on Coal Street did today.

At around 9 a.m. Monday, Brian Gibbons was recalled to Pittsburgh. It’s his first NHL call-up, and a well deserved one. Gibbons has flat out been the best player in Wilkes-Barre all season. He’s finally put together the equation of: Speed + Finish = NHL call up. Good for him.

That call up left Wilkes-Barre short one forward. Nick Drazenovic didn’t practice today per Jonathan Bombulie’s Monday update. Pierre Leblond hasn’t resumed practicing yet either. So the speculation began on who could get recalled from Wheeling.

Well, at around 3 p.m. today, Wilkes-Barre recalled FOUR players from Wheeling. G Eric Hartzell, D Dustin Stevenson and forwards Denver Manderson and Cody Sylvester.

Instead of trying to make sense of it, Jonathan already did…

Make that four call-ups. WBS called up C Denver Manderson, C Cody Sylvester, D Dustin Stevenson and G Eric Hartzell from the Nailers and sent G Peter Mannino down in Hartzell’s place. The more I think about it, Manderson and Sylvester could both play Wednesday. Payerl, Megna and Uher have played center, but not this year. So that leaves Andrew Ebbett and Mike Carman as the only true centers on the roster. Stevenson is a plus-9 for Wheeling, so he was an obvious call for defense depth.

The Hartzell situation is a little more interesting. He’s 2-2 and with a 2.58 GAA with Wheeling, but his save percentage is a healthy .922 and two starts back, he pitched a 37-save shutout against Elmira. I know I’m curious to see how he does in a real AHL game. Perhaps the decision makers feel the same way.

Mike O’Brien also chimed in with the following…

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It’ll be interesting to see if Hartzell gets a start either Wednesday in Rochester or this weekend vs. St. John’s. My guess is you aren’t recalling Hartzell just so he can make a trek across Pennsylvania and to Western New York this week. Mannino will likely start Wednesday for Wheeling in Reading. As for Stevenson, he’s probably a safety net for Reid McNeill / Nick D’Agostino. McNeill is still out with injury and D’Agostino is still too wet behind the ears for my liking to be slotted in full time in the bottom pairing.

But who knows. Things can get shuffled again in an instant. Let’s just hope the Pens don’t bust this week.

Pittsburgh, WBS, Wheeling

Dustin’s a Star

Comments Off on Dustin’s a Star Posted by on November 17, 2013

Like a snowball to the face, we were hit with the following news at noon today…

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Safe to say, at least from my perspective, that I had no idea Jeffrey was even on waivers. But, on the other hand, a move like this has been written on the wall for Jeffrey for months if not years.

When he was in Wilkes-Barre, Jeffrey was an all purpose player. Good on the penalty kill that I remember and all situations. But since his knee injury, he was never the same player and was a frequent scratch for the Penguins. He’ll get a crack at more frequent starts in Dallas.

While it would have been great to have Jeffrey clear and be re-assigned here, Jeffrey will pursue his NHL dream in another city. I wish him all the best.

Pittsburgh

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