Chirps from Center Ice

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

Category Archives: The AHL

Jake Guentzel and Tristan Jarry Named All-Stars

Comments Off on Jake Guentzel and Tristan Jarry Named All-Stars Posted by on January 5, 2017

On Thursday afternoon, the American Hockey League announced the playing rosters for the All-Star Classic which will be held in Allentown at the PPL Center, home of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms January 29 and 30, later this month.

Joining Penguins Head Coach Clark Donatelli, who will lead the Atlantic Division All-Stars, will be Jake Guentzel and Tristan Jarry.

Two safe picks as all-stars in my opinion. Other Penguins who could have went include Oskar Sundqvist, David Warsofsky and Casey DeSmith.

Playing rosters consist of just 10 skaters and two goalies and every team in the division has to be represented, so while arguments could be made for Sundqvist, Warsofsky and DeSmith, let’s not get greedy here.

As for representation, Lehigh Valley as the host will send three guys, Hershey will send two with Chris Bourque acting as the playing captain, a distinction bestowed upon him a month ago by the AHL and Providence will send a pair as well. Everyone else (Springfield, Hartford, Bridgeport and Springfield) will send one player each.

Elsewhere in the AHL with ties to Wilkes-Barre, Ryan Craig will act as playing captain of the Western Conference teams, Craig won a Calder Cup with the Lake Erie, now Cleveland, Monsters for the Central Division. Kasperi Kapanen is a name familiar with Wilkes-Barre having played here a few seasons ago. He will represent the Toronto Marlies in the North Division.

Talk to you tomorrow when Hershey is in for the first of two with our South Central Pennsylvania rivals. Gameday setup hits the blog at 3 p.m. Friday.

The AHL, WBS

AHL Power Rankings: The Double Issue

1 Comment Posted by on January 2, 2017

Welcome to a jam packed Double Issue of the Chirps from Center Ice AHL Power Rankings. I sincerely hope you all had a nice Christmas and New Years holiday. The Power Rankings return after a two week holiday hiatus and there is a lot to get to.

There is a third place team in the Atlantic playing like the best team in the AHL.

A familiar face at the top of the Pacific and the Central Division.

A couple of quietly underrated, dangerous teams and…

…the defending champs making a push.

Click through the jump if you didn’t link in direct to see where the teams lined up this week.

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Power Rankings

AHL Power Rankings: Week 10

Comments Off on AHL Power Rankings: Week 10 Posted by on December 19, 2016

It’s Week 10 in the AHL Power Rankings and there is a new number one at the top of the heap this week.

It’s the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins, the best team in the AHL right now followed by the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, the team that is staying step for step with the Penguins and a team, like Wilkes-Barre, running roughshod over the other AHL teams.

Important note: No Power Rankings next week due to most of the AHL teams having off this week because of Christmas, so I am doubling up weeks and we will see you back here for the Rankings in a double issue January 2.

Head past the jump if you didn’t link in direct to see where the remainder of the AHL teams file in as we hit Christmas week.

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Power Rankings

AHL Power Rankings: Week 9

Comments Off on AHL Power Rankings: Week 9 Posted by on December 12, 2016

We are here in Week 9 in the AHL Power Rankings and there is not an Atlantic Division team in the number one slot this week.

The first Atlantic Division team featured in the rankings isn’t even a playoff team.

Wait, what?

The Stockton Heat have consistently been a good team and one that is been at the top of the Pacific Division all season. So have the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins you say, but they aren’t the number two team.

That team is the Providence Bruins, a team on an absolute tear, with points in 12 straight games. With how top heavy the Atlantic is, it’s Providence that has maintained the most consistent of the top four teams in the Atlantic, so that is why they are number two this week.

Jump through to see it all laid out with the logos of the teams instead of me explaining it to you in the long form version.

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Power Rankings

Wednesday Notes 12/7

Comments Off on Wednesday Notes 12/7 Posted by on December 7, 2016

Bunch of stuff to get to for a Wednesday so let’s dive in.

On Tuesday, the format for the AHL All-Star classic was revealed. 

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Slight alterations from last year, which was 4-on-4 for 4:30 followed by 3-on-3. Now, its just straight up 3-on-3 for 10 minutes. That’s going to be madness.

Later Tuesday, the Wheeling Nailers received goaltender Sean Maguire and traded goaltender J.P. Anderson to the Adirondack Thunder. Maguire has been injured since the start of the season, so he finally can get to Wheeling and show the brass down there what he can do. The Nailers will go with Doug Carr and Maguire as their tandem in goal. Trading Anderson to a division rival, who happens to lead said division, doesn’t make any sense to me but there are roster limits in the ECHL so Wheeling needed to find a home for Anderson to make room for Maguire.

Pittsburgh confirmed the Maguire news this morning along with Teddy Blueger being “officially” re-assigned to Wilkes-Barre. Blueger had been practicing on Coal Street.

Seth with news on Carter Rowney’s status…

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Things are looking bad, right? Wrong.

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For Guentzel, after a blazing start, he disappeared from the lineup and has been a healthy scratch. His NHL time will come, but sitting in a press box watching, vs. on the ice playing, does nothing for his continued development.

For Pouliot, I see this as a crossroads for the defenseman. He hasn’t really lived up to the hype that came with him when he was drafted so far. He has had flashes of brilliance, but when it came down to making a decision on who to send back to the AHL between he and Steve Oleksy, the brass chose Pouliot. Is it necessarily a knock against Pouliot? No. I don’t believe so. How he takes another reassignment to the AHL this time will most likely define his remaining professional hockey career.

Head Coach Mike Sullivan’s thought process on today’s reassignments…

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You are caught up for now. Short of a scoopful of beneficial information, the next blog update will come at 3 p.m. Friday for the Gameday setup for the matchup with the Hershey Bears.

Pittsburgh, The AHL, WBS, Wheeling

AHL Power Rankings: Week 8

Comments Off on AHL Power Rankings: Week 8 Posted by on December 5, 2016

Week 8 here at the Chirps from Center Ice AHL Power Rankings and unlike last week, there isn’t much movement at the top.

We also wouldn’t say that there is a clear, undisputed number one team either. That’s because the top two teams from last week are the same top two teams this week.

I am not going to give it all away in the lede here, so hop through the jump if you didn’t link in direct to see the list this week.

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Power Rankings

AHL Power Rankings: Week 7

Comments Off on AHL Power Rankings: Week 7 Posted by on November 28, 2016

It’s Week 7 here at the Chirps from Center Ice AHL Power Rankings and, as the calendar flips to December, there is a serious logjam at the top this week.

Take for example, the Hershey Bears, who have taken points in their last six games. But that only has Hershey in tenth in this weeks Rankings. Are there really nine teams better than the Bears? Maybe, but there were four teams that didn’t move at all in this weeks Rankings.

There is a new number one this week as the Lehigh Valley Phantoms loss on Saturday to the lowly Hartford Wolf Pack is enough to knock the Phantoms off the top spot. I am not going to give away the new number one team, you will just need to click through the jump if you didn’t link in direct to see who it is.

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Power Rankings

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