Chirps from Center Ice

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

Category Archives: Pittsburgh

Jeffrey Recalled

Comments Off on Jeffrey Recalled Posted by on January 10, 2011

My Twitter feed blew up about 20 minutes ago on the news that Dustin Jeffrey has been recalled to Pittsburgh to play in tonight’s game because Arron Asham is out with an illness.

Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins beat writer Jonathan Bombulie first dropped the news via twitter:

Then the Pittsburgh Penguins confirmed it on their Twitter feed:

Then The Fourth Period’s Joe Depto shed more light into the situation:

http://twitter.com/PensDeptoTFP/statuses/24503347834789888

Putting it in perspective, I expected this. At first I thought it was because Sidney Crosby’s concussion symptoms were still lingering, but Joe Depto put those to rest. Wilkes-Barre doesn’t play until Friday, Pittsburgh plays tonight vs. Boston and Wednesday in Montreal. Save for another injury, I would expect Jeffrey back in time for the bus to Providence.

New followers / readers have to understand that I put Wilkes-Barre first and Pittsburgh second. I know full well the purpose on an AHL team and what purpose it serves. Knowing that, I don’t have to like it. Dustin is ready. He has been ready 20 games ago for full-time NHL work. It actually serves him no purpose being in Wilkes-Barre anymore, but due to contracts he serves out his entry-level apprenticeship here in Wilkes-Barre. It’s only a benefit to Wilkes-Barre fans that he is in that position.

If or when he returns I will have something either here or on the Twitter side.

Let’s Go Pens!

Pittsburgh, WBS

Late Breaking: John Curry assigned to WBS today

Comments Off on Late Breaking: John Curry assigned to WBS today Posted by on December 29, 2010

News out of Pittsburgh is that goaltender John Curry was re-assigned to Wilkes-Barre / Scranton today.

Would make sense for John to stay in Pittsburgh and join the team there for tomorrow’s game vs. Hershey. I have not seen anything where Patrick Killeen was shipped back to Wheeling.

Expect Thiessen to start tonight vs. Syracuse and Curry tomorrow in Pittsburgh vs. Hershey.

Gameday is up for tonight’s Crunch / Pens game at 7:05 from Mohegan. Of course stay tuned to my twitter feed for the latest.

Go Pens!

Pittsburgh, WBS

Jeffrey and Curry Up

Comments Off on Jeffrey and Curry Up Posted by on December 23, 2010

With Pittsburgh having to turn around and play a game tonight in Washington, DC and with injuries to both goaltender Brent Johnson and forward Arron Asham, the Pittsburgh Penguins recalled Dustin Jeffrey and John Curry from Wilkes-Barre / Scranton. (Pittsburgh Release / Wilkes-Barre Release)

There hasn’t been any updates to the conditions of both Asham and Johnson from last night. With Christmas approaching, there probably may not be anything until after.

Nothing from Bombulie, but with no one in town to talk to why bother.

Wilkes-Barre plays its next game Sunday home v. Albany.

Pittsburgh, WBS

Good News / Bad News

Comments Off on Good News / Bad News Posted by on December 22, 2010

The Good News:

  • Ben Lovejoy finally got his first NHL goal in a 5-2 win over the Florida Panthers. Lovejoy scored at 6:19 of the second period on Scott Clemmensen.
  • Lovejoy also got in his first NHL fight, scrapping with Florida’s Shawn Mattias in the first period.
  • Ben was the game’s first star.
  • Sidney Crosby also continued his points streak.

For any of you who don’t know me, Lovejoy was my favorite player in WBS.

The Bad News:

  • Brent Johnson got the nod in net for tonight’s game, with Pittsburgh playing Washington tomorrow night. Very late in the second period, Brent went down to make a save and tweaked something. I don’t know what it could be, official from the Pens twitter is a lower body injury. Could be a hip, could be a groin, could be nothing. He was not on the bench for the third period. He did finish playing the second period though.
  • Brad Thiessen is in British Columbia and John Curry is in Minnesota (I think) off on Christmas vacation. I will be watching the morning news tomorrow watching for a call-up. Logistically you call-up Thiessen, because he’s next on the depth chart, according to Pens’ GM Ray Shero and this screen grab from last week’s 24/7 Pens / Caps HBO episode.* But, if Curry has less ground to cover, you have to call up John. Who knows.
  • Also, Arron Asham was MIA on the Pens bench. We’ll see if Dustin Jeffrey or Eric Tangradi gets a call.
  • Lovejoy left the game late, getting hit with a puck shot from Bryan McCabe. He wears a visor and skated off on his own power. He may need stitches. Deryk Engelland was a healthy scratch tonight.

So we will see. If there is a call up I’ll have reaction on the blog tomorrow.

Go Pens.

* – credit Mike Colligan’s tweet – follow him here

EDIT: Late update on the status’ of Johnson and Asham from Mike Colligan here. Johnson: likely out – Asham: questionable. We’ll see who gets the call tomorrow.

Pittsburgh

Jeffrey Re-Assigned to Wilkes-Barre / Scranton

Comments Off on Jeffrey Re-Assigned to Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Posted by on December 16, 2010

Pittsburgh announced they have returned Forward Dustin Jeffrey to Wilkes-Barre / Scranton today.

I assume this is for two reasons 1) salary cap and 2) Pittsburgh doesn’t skate again until Monday, home vs. Phoenix. Wilkes-Barre has two games this weekend. So keep Dustin sharp and call him back up Sunday if you need to. After Saturday Wilkes-Barre doesn’t play again until December 26 home vs. the Albany Devils.

Plus, Jeffrrey is on a two-way contract so he doesn’t have to clear waivers. We’ll have to watch the reports out of Pittsburgh to see how healthy the guys ahead of Dustin get between now and Monday to speculate whether he goes back up Sunday.

Let’s Go Pens!

Pittsburgh, WBS

Monday Check-In

Comments Off on Monday Check-In Posted by on December 6, 2010

Checking in today with some links you may or may not have seen / known about…

  • Jonathan Bombulie checked in with his Monday practice update. Included is an update regarding defenseman Andrew Hutchinson. It’s a “lower body” injury which will have Hutch out “until at least Christmas” and he is in Pittsburgh for further evaluation. The good news is that it is not season ending.
  • Down in Hershey, Mathieu Perreault was recalled to parent Washington. Apparently Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau says that this job is his for the taking. With Aucoin still out, this stings Hershey a bit with depth at center.
  • Bill Guerin retired today.
  • The good folks over at the Goalie Guild put together their December Scouting Journal. Very good read on each individual NHL teams depth at the goaltending position.
  • Eric P over at the Wilkes-Blog put together this WBS Top 10 Plays from October / November video together. Check this out:

Link

Toronto is expected in town later for the game Wednesday. If there is newsworthy stuff to blog about I will have it here. If not, check me out Wednesday for the Gameday Preview of the Marlies.

Pittsburgh, The AHL, WBS

Call to (Trans)action…

Comments Off on Call to (Trans)action… Posted by on November 10, 2010

Few things today:

  • Chris Conner recalled to Pittsburgh. Depth move only as the flu bug is going around. May play tonight but multiple reports I have seen on Twitter today list him as the extra forward. Very possbily may be up only for insurance purposes and then sent down tomorrow, as Pittsburgh doesn’t play again until Friday.
  • Semyon Varlamov was sent to Hershey today. The blog On Frozen Blog tells me it’s for conditioning purposes. Varlamov will probably see action this weekend in net for Hershey.
  • Mike McKenna (@MikeMcKenna56) deleted his Twitter sometime today. The bigger news for him was that he was recalled from Albany today to parent New Jersey. In the wake of the Dan Ellis fiasco, it’s probably a smart move.

You’ll find analysis on the Conner promotion from Jonathan Bombulie here. You will find Tim Leone’s blog entry here. If you have no idea what I was talking about regarding Dan Ellis, here is the story.

My take on Conner: WBS is deep. We don’t have a single player in the top anything in anything. Keven Veilleux, Geoff Walker and Bryan Lerg are all adequate replacements. Let Pittsburgh have him. Maybe he shakes things up like Bombulie said in his blog entry. He will be back. It’s just a matter of when.

Pittsburgh, The AHL, WBS

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