Chirps from Center Ice

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

Category Archives: The AHL

Thursday Notes 4/7

1 Comment Posted by on April 7, 2016

Couple of things to get to before the penultimate weekend of the regular season for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

From Wednesday, the Penguins signed goaltender Sean Maguire to a two year entry level contract which begins this fall. In the meantime, Maguire showed up in Wilkes-Barre on an ATO. He’s recovering from a minor injury and is not expected to appear in any games this weekend for the Penguins.

Also from Wednesday, the AHL announced their All-Rookie team. I have no news to report other than that. Dominik Simon, considered a strong contender to be named, wasn’t.

From Thursday morning, Pittsburgh recalled Tom Sestito. The Penguins needed a forward and with the last two games of the regular season being against division rivals, Sestito was called up for insurance.

From Thursday afternoon, the AHL announced it’s First and Second Team All-Stars. Matt Murray, Dustin Jeffrey amd Will O’Neill were named to the second team.

The three players from the Penguins being nominated is the most in team history and the first skaters to be selected as postseason all-stars since Janne Pesonen and Ben Lovejoy in 2008-09.

The Penguins magic number to clinch is 2. Pens get in tomorrow with a win at home against Lehigh Valley or a Hartford loss in Springfield.

Gameday setup for the last visit by the Phantoms this season hits the blog Friday at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!

Pittsburgh, The AHL, WBS

AHL Power Rankings: Week 26

1 Comment Posted by on April 4, 2016

There are two weeks left in the AHL regular season and still a lot to be decided for the 2016 Calder Cup Playoffs.

Seven teams have qualified. There are nine spots left; five in the East and four in the West.

Crossovers. Percentages. Games in hand. We try to make sense of it all in the Week 26 version of the Chirps from Center Ice AHL Power Rankings.

Hit the jump if you didn’t link in direct.

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Power Rankings

Carter Rowney Named AHL Player of the Month

Comments Off on Carter Rowney Named AHL Player of the Month Posted by on April 1, 2016

In a well deserved nomination, it was announced by the American Hockey League on Friday that Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins forward Carter Rowney was named AHL Player of the Month for the month of March.

Rowney’s March production saw him score 7 goals and assist on 10 others. He had a career high 9 game point streak and a hat trick during March and was far and away the Penguins best player.

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Rowney told Seth after practice today…

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In other news….

— Pittsburgh recalled Oskar Sundqvist on Wednesday after learning that Bryan Rust is sidelined with a lower body injury, day to day.

— Coal Street swapped back up goaltenders Thursday. Brian Foster up while Franky Palazzese went down. Head Coach Clark Donatelli told reporters Wednesday that this was a planned move to let Foster find his swagger down in Wheeling. In March, Foster put up a 3-1-1-1 record with a .920 SV% and a 2.16 GAA. He also had a 30 save shutout.

— Will O’Neill was named the Penguins nominee of the IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year. There were four other ex-Penguins also nominated, Matt Carkner (Bridgeport) Brandon DeFazio (Providence) Ben Street (San Antonio) and Ryan Craig (Lake Erie)

— Sahir Gill is on track for an April 15 return. Ethan Prow is in town but couldn’t practice because his gear got lost.

The Penguins will likely sew up a playoff spot this weekend. With the Penguins off tonight, their magic number can shrink to two if Hershey beats Hartford tonight. There is a caveat, however. A Bears win puts them back in first place over the Penguins. When I queued some of the fan base on Twitter, the results were mixed. Basically the tone being that playoff seeding is going to be paramount and that the Pens want to avoid Providence at all costs.

It ain’t supposed to be easy.

Gameday for Saturday’s home game with Bridgeport goes up on the blog Saturday at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!

Pittsburgh, The AHL, WBS, Wheeling

AHL Power Rankings: Week 25

Comments Off on AHL Power Rankings: Week 25 Posted by on March 28, 2016

We are about two weeks away from the end of the regular season and two teams have already qualified for the Calder Cup Playoffs.

These two teams are more than likely odds on locks to become foes in the Calder Cup Finals in June.

They are 1-2 in the Week 25 version of the Chirps from Center Ice AHL Power Rankings.

If you don’t know who, you either haven’t been paying enough attention to the AHL this season or you don’t read these Rankings on a weekly basis.

I am not going to ruin it for you in the lede. You will need to jump through to see who it is and where your favorite team ended up this week.

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Power Rankings

AHL Power Rankings: Week 24

Comments Off on AHL Power Rankings: Week 24 Posted by on March 21, 2016

It’s Week 24 of the AHL Power Rankings here at Chirps from Center Ice and there is already one team qualified for the Calder Cup Playoffs.

It’s the Toronto Marlies.

But the Marlies are not the number one team this week.

It’s not last weeks number one Grand Rapids, either.

Instead of me ruining it for you here in the lede, click through to see who it is and where your favorite team ended up this week.

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Power Rankings

AHL Power Rankings: Week 23

Comments Off on AHL Power Rankings: Week 23 Posted by on March 14, 2016

It’s the Week 23 Edition of the Chirps from Center Ice AHL Power Rankings and the door is open for teams in the Eastern Conference and teams in the Western Conference with some teams in crossover spots losing key games this weekend.

A once unbeatable team is leaving the door open for their second place divisional foes to take a run at the top spot.

One team has outscored opponents 45-11 in their 11 game winning streak.

To find out who these teams are and see where your favorite team ended up, jump through if you didn’t link in direct.

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Power Rankings

Hershey’s Garrett Mitchell Suspended Three Games

Comments Off on Hershey’s Garrett Mitchell Suspended Three Games Posted by on March 8, 2016

On Tuesday afternoon it was announced by the American Hockey League that Hershey Bears forward Garrett Mitchell has been suspended three games for what the League is ruling an, “illegal check to the head” to an opponent during Sunday’s game, a 5-4 Wilkes-Barre win.

That opponent was Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins forward Tyler Biggs. This is the video I took off of AHL Live which led to the suspension. Two speeds, real time then replay, slowed down.

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Here is a photo of the hit which ran in the local paper Monday.

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The hit by Mitchell went uncalled by the two referees working the game.

Mitchell will miss Hershey’s St. John’s trip this weekend and the March 19 game in Wilkes-Barre. Mitchell is eligible to return on Sunday, March 20 when the Bears host the Penguins at 5 p.m. at Giant Center.

It was reported by the Wilkes-Barre media Tuesday afternoon that Biggs was going through concussion protocol and that the Penguins sent tape to the AHL offices in Springfield for supplemental discipline on Mitchell.

The AHL, WBS

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