Chirps from Center Ice

Not really. But the Albany Devils did name who will be running things behind the bench this fall. Mike Fornabaio’s coaching graph is complete.

The WBS Pens bought 400 tickets to the Winter Classic between the Pens and Caps. Details here. Don’t want to click? I’ll explain. Full share season ticket holders get 6 chances per seat, 22 gamers get 3 chances, 12 games get 2 and flex plans get a chance each.

Depending on whether or not Hershey does something similar, you probably won’t find another AHL franchise which takes care of it’s season ticket holders better than Wilkes-Barre does. Live close to Wilkes-Barre? On the fence on getting tickets to the Penguins this season? Don’t be. Call 570-208-PENS (7367) to get in on the action. (If any WBS Pens staffers see this, and get a lot of calls tomorrow from people who want to be STH’s, you can thank me when you see me)

Lots to get to. I wasn’t going to make AHL News a big part of the blog, but: 1) I am hockey starved and, 2) Now that I have a blog this is an itch which needs scratched every couple of days.

So here goes:

• The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins announced the guests at Pensfest. An old name and a name we’ll be familiar with this fall.
• The Binghamton Senators have a new head coach. B-Sens beat writer Michael Sharp has it covered here. Bingo is going to look a ton meaner this season with the signing of Francis Lessard, who is 6th all time on the AHL’s PIM list with 2,357.
• There are only two open spots left for AHL bench boss gigs. Albany and Norfolk still need coaches. To follow along with the coaching Silly Season, go here.
• The Worcester Sharks re-signed defenseman Derek Joslin and center Steven Zalewski.
• The Rochester Americans signed Mike Santorelli who skated with the Milwaukee Admirals last season. The Santorelli signing may be a band-aid on a bullet wound for Amerks fans, as I read this week that many fans upset with the current situation there were turning in their season tickets. Sad. Kevin Oklobzija has a well thought out gospel here on the current situation going on in Rochester.
• Nice write-up on the Santorelli-to-Rochester signing from the Milwaukee perspective.
• Speaking on the Milwaukee Admirals, I follow way too many of them on Twitter. A forward, a goaltender, their radio guy and the team. They also debuted new black road jerseys, which I approve.
• The Oklahoma City Barons have a new GM.
• You can waste away your time waiting for the AHL schedule to be released playing AHL-related games on Sporcle. One of them was name all the cities the AHL were ever in. Past, present and future. I was able to get 38 out of a possible 67.
• I am not a goalie geek by any stretch of the imagination, but there are many people who are. The folks over at The Goalie Guild put out a Monthly Scouting Journal on their website. I only got to look at only perhaps 10% of it so far, but it is a fantastic read. I am already looking forward to the next issue.
• As to the name of this blog post, I was lucky enough to be followed on Twitter today by the Goalie Guild, the Binghamton Senators and the Providence Bruins. This makes five AHL teams that I count off the top of my head which follow me over on Twitter. OKC, WBS, Houston and the aforementioned Providence and Bingo. It is my goal to one day have the actual American Hockey League follow me. I once openly begged them on Twitter once, but have since stopped. They have much more important things to worry about rather than where I am debating on going to lunch at on a Tuesday.

Two more points which need their own paragraphs versus bullet points.

I am working on putting together an East Division Preview sometime in September.  This would recap each teams offseason, and look at what to expect this upcoming season. EDIT: No I’m not. Pens beat writer Jonathan Bombulie already beat me to it. I’ll be working on player capsules for all of the players who should hypothetically be doing time in WBS this season. Finally, I’d also like to just to a quick thumbnail preview of all the other teams outside of the East Division.

Finally, I am looking for suggestions on what to name this blog of mine. I petitioned for ideas on Twitter last night. I have a few that I like so far. I may even put up another poll and put up some I like to a vote. If you have an idea for what you’d like me to call this blog, leave it in the comments section. I will credit you.

That is all. Have a safe weekend!

Lots of stuff to get to today in the AHL. But first, let’s get right to matters which affect the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

The Pens tweeted today that a familiar voice, Tom Grace, is returning to the airwaves this fall. He will re-assume duties of play-by-play. Scott Stuccio will provide color commentary for home games and will do podcasts and interviews with players in Pittsburgh and in Wheeling. Scott also takes over as Director of Marketing for the Ice Rink at Coal Street and Director of Communications for the Penguins. He will also will conduct the intermission interviews on radio and television. What wasn’t disclosed was who will be running the weekly Penguins Report Radio Show at Lucky’s Sporthouse.

Official press release from the Pens here. Quick analysis from beat writer Jonathan Bombulie here.

To sum up Bombulie, you were either a Stuccio guy or a Grace guy. I never got heavy into the team like I am now when Tom Grace was around. I cannot form an opinion on him. I liked Stoosh. I liked what he brought night after night. Granted, I never listened to the home broadcast and was at 19 road games last year and only heard Stuccio while watching things on AHL Live, so take my opinion for what it’s worth. From what I have gathered in reading all the opinions on Twitter and from conversations with people I know, it’s split 50/50 on this announcement with people who love it and people who hate it.

Let’s get to news from around the league:

• The Springfield Falcons have a new head coach.
• Mike Angelidis inked a deal with Tampa Bay / Norfolk. On the cheap too if he ends up in Virginia. Norfolk is loaded this year. Count them, Charlotte, us, Hershey and Syracuse as serious contenders this year. If you are a wrestling fan, you may be familiar with the Mega Powers. If so, you’ll appreciate this quote I came up with: “The Mega Powers explode in the East Division this Winter” If not, please keep reading…
• Graham Mink was traded to St. Louis today. Mink skated this year for the Rochester Americans. Healthy scratch in a Game 7 playoff game vs. the Abbotsford Heat this past Spring. From my view, got an absolute raw deal from Amerks management. Rochester in general is getting picked apart this offseason with Jamie Johnson, Jeff Taffe, Steve McIntyre and now Graham Mink all headed to different teams. For one of the AHL’s most tenured teams, on it’s 75th anniversary year, fans are absolutely getting the shaft from management. There is more to the story here, so if you’d like to do some reading on the topic, head on over to Keith Wozniak’s page or check out Kevin Oklobzija’s blog for more if you so desire.
• This story on how the AHL schedule is created each year makes me laugh every time I read it. The league always puts this story out on how the schedule is created around this time of year. Seriously, on a giant magnet board with tiny colored shapes which represent each team? Let’s hope there isn’t an earthquake in the league offices in Springfield or else you may see Abbostford play Norfolk at home on Friday then be in Portland Saturday night then Peoria Sunday.

I closed the voting a day early on the latest poll one blog post down. The overwhelming consensus is that no one cares about what the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins are called. I still hate the “Baby” tag, but I will drop complaining about it from this day forward. You guys don’t care, so I won’t constantly keep making an issue out of it. Thanks for voting.

One final thing. The Penguins will be in a Rookie Tournament in London, Ontario next month and I openly debated on Twitter last night about going. After reaching out to Jonathan Bombulie via e-mail and Patrick Williams via Twitter, I think I am going to pass. I will be tuning in if it is on TV and will tweet about results both here and over on Twitter.

Busy day news-wise in the AHL for late July. In no particular order:

• The Rochester Americans have a new head coach.
• Darren Haydar looks like he is headed back to Chicago.
• The Oklahoma City Barons introduced their new mascot.
• Look for something big from the WBS Penguins within the next few days.*
• There is a big pow-wow coming up in Hershey August 6 hosted by Bears PBP John Walton and Tim Leone from The Patriot News. Confirmed guests include Binghamton’s PBP guy Grady Whittenburg and Adirondack’s Owen Newkirk.**
• The Binghamton Senators signed goaltender Barry Brust. Nice write-up from someone who has seen him play in Houston.
• Bissonnette was told by his agent to shut down his Twitter page.

*- The Pens stated that it was a player signing AND a big announcement. Speculate amongst yourselves on who you think the player could be. The player signing came ahead of the “big announcement” so this tells me that it could be an available player from this list (towards the bottom). The “big announcement” could be the Pens home opener date, which has not yet been announced. I personally don’t think it will be a “Winter Classic” type of announcement. That type of an announcement is leaked well before the press conference. Not only that, but in order to have a game you need two teams, right? I have seen nothing from any other AHL team reagrding a “big” announcement.

**- Pens PBP Scott Stuccio needs to be at this event in order for me to take half day at work and drive to Hershey to live tweet this for y’all. Walton assures me that he has reached out to Stoosh, and they are still hammering things out.

Don’t forget to vote in the Brett Sterling poll. Also, I am planning my visit to the Coal Street Complex either tomorrow or Thursday.