Chirps from Center Ice

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

Category Archives: The AHL

Peter Mannino Named Goaltender of the Month

Comments Off on Peter Mannino Named Goaltender of the Month Posted by on April 1, 2014

Flashback to the evening of February 28. The Penguins had just been shutout by the Syracuse Crunch in Syracuse and were reeling.

Jeff Deslauriers had a terrible month in goal. He put up a 2-4-1 record with a robust 3.43 goals against average and a tepid 0.863 save percentage.

Rookie Eric Hartzell, the reigning January Goaltender of the Month, fared worse. A 1-3 record, with an even higher goals against average (4.45) and lower save percentage (0.838).

The Penguins as a whole, went 3-5-3 and were in fourth place in the East Division with 65 points and in a three way tie with the Hershey Bears and Providence Bruins for eighth place in the Eastern Conference.

Playoffs, seemed like a longshot.

Enter Peter Mannino.

Mannino, suspended by the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins in November for failing to report to the ECHL’s Wheeling Nailers, later reported to the Nailers in January and was re-assigned to the Penguins on February 28 in a swap for Eric Hartzell.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Mannino was named the March AHL Goaltender of the Month today. His March numbers are nothing short of staggering: 7-2-1 record, 1.09 goals against average and a 0.950 save percentage. In the 11 games Mannino appeared in, he never allowed more than two goals. The two losses to Utica and Providence were 2-1 defensive setbacks where, had the offense clicked better, we would have been talking about a goaltender that plays 10+ games in a month without losing a single one, with those numbers.

The Penguins now? Two points off of the division lead and solidly in playoff contention, sitting in the 5th seed in the ultra-competitive Eastern Conference. The magic number the night of the 4-0 blanking at the hands of the Crunch was a robust 43. Mannino’s magical month trimmed that number to a paltry 10.

The Penguins can, with help, wrap up their 12th consecutive trip to the Calder Cup Playoffs this weekend and enter the postseason with the League’s hottest, best goaltender. Other teams better take notice.

Let’s Go Pens!

The AHL, WBS

Week 26 AHL Power Rankings

Comments Off on Week 26 AHL Power Rankings Posted by on March 31, 2014

So we have two different situations in the East and West.

One Conference, the East, is as competitive as ever. 9 teams for 10 spots. Winners, losers and streakers.

In the other Conference, the West, no one wants the 8 seed. It changes nearly every day like the stock market. Rochester? Lost 9 straight. Utica? Get real. Oklahoma City, Rockford, Charlotte? Let’s pass the hot potato! You take it! No, you take it!

We have three reservations for playoffs. Playoff tickets were punched in Texas, Manchester and Grand Rapids. Those three are at the top of the Week 26 AHL Power Rankings this week.

Biggest gain this week are the 11-time Calder Cup Champion Hershey Bears, who handled their business this weekend winning both their games and got help from an unlikely source. The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins swept the Norfolk Admirals this weekend allowing the Bears to close the gap within a point of the Admirals for the eighth and final spot in the Playoffs.

Biggest free falls this week belong to the Utica Comets and the St. John’s IceCaps. The IceCaps may get passed for the 4 seed and lose out on home ice. The Comets are putting up a fight but may look back to this weekend if they do not make playoffs.

To see where everyone else ended up this week, click through the jump if you didn’t link in direct.

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Power Rankings

Week 25 AHL Power Rankings

Comments Off on Week 25 AHL Power Rankings Posted by on March 24, 2014

Texas awaits us all.

The Texas Stars were the first team to clinch a playoff spot this weekend. They remain the number one team in the Week 25 Chirps from Center Ice Power Rankings.

Really not that much change this week. Your Lake Erie Monsters are the biggest climbers this week, up ten in the 15th spot.

Biggest nosedives this week belong to Iowa, down eight and in the basement after being swept by Grand Rapids and Texas this week and Syracuse, a disjointed team that looked out of sorts Friday vs. Wilkes-Barre and Saturday vs. Albany.

You’ll need to click through the jump to see where everyone else shook out this week if you didn’t link in direct.

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Power Rankings

Week 24 AHL Power Rankings

Comments Off on Week 24 AHL Power Rankings Posted by on March 17, 2014

In Week 24 of the Chirps from Center Ice AHL Power Rankings, you have a dogfight in the East for jostling between positions 4 on back and a dogfight in the West for who is going to be the eighth seed.

Each of the division leaders are represented in the top 7 this week. The lone team that I have in the mix with the division leaders? The St. John’s IceCaps, who I have dubbed the “most dangerous team” in the Eastern Conference.

The Binghamton Senators and Worcester Sharks are the biggest gainers this week. The Senators win three straight and get back to the top of the East Division and the Sharks have won six straight and are starting to knock on the door for the playoffs.

Biggest drop this week belongs to the Rochester Americans, who have been crushed by call-ups, trades and injury. They are barely hanging on as a playoff team and the rabid back of dogs behind the Amerks look ready to overtake Rochester.

Went pretty deep with each teams capsule this week. Click through to see my handiwork if you didn’t link though direct:

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Power Rankings

AHL Trade Deadline Wrapup

1 Comment Posted by on March 12, 2014

The AHL trade deadline came and went today. For the East Division, one team made a move.

Hershey acquired Kris Newbury from Adirondack in exchange for Derek Whitmore. For Whitmore, he’ll finally get to play as he’s been a scratch for the Bears. For Newbury, a chance to win with a contender. Newbury was second on the Phantoms in scoring.

Acquiring Newbury doesn’t solve the Bears veteran situation, either.

The Penguins, Senators, Admirals and Crunch went about their Wednesday and didn’t make any moves.

For Wilkes-Barre, they sent Tom Kuhnhackl and Harrison Ruopp back to Wheeling and retained G Eric Hartzell. Turns out that WBS had their goaltending coach in town and wanted Hartzell along with Jeff Deslauriers and Peter Mannino all on the ice for instruction.

One other piece of news, WBS signed Conor Sheary to an amateur tryout contract today. Sheary captained the UMass Minutemen and led them in points (9-19-28) this season. He’s signed to an AHL deal for next season, too.

So you are wondering what type of player the undrafted Sheary is. So am I. Thankfully, I didn’t have to look far:

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I really don’t excited for kids coming out of junior or college because it’s a totally different game, playing with men. Take ex-Penguin Casey Pierro-Zabotel for example. He comes over from leading the Western Hockey League in points in 08-09 and joins the Penguins. He goes on to play 9 games, registering one assist. He was sent to the ECHL and has never been seen again.

Reasonable expectation for Sheary is maybe a game in late March or mid-April or after the Penguins have clinched a playoff spot.

Next update here will likely be the Gameday setup for the Friday home game vs. Hamilton.

The AHL, WBS, Wheeling

Week 23 AHL Power Rankings

Comments Off on Week 23 AHL Power Rankings Posted by on March 10, 2014

No double digit ups or downs in the Week 23 Chirps from Center Ice AHL Power Rankings.

Your Chicago Wolves and St. John’s IceCaps hold down the 1-2 spots for the second time this week. Both the Wolves and IceCaps are solidly in the playoffs and don’t lead their divisions. They are making it tougher for seeds 5 on back in the Conference.

Biggest risers this week are my your Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins, up 9 spots this week and in a tie for the East Division lead.

Biggest fall this week belongs to your Bridgeport Sound Tigers and Rockford IceHogs. The Sound Tigers have lost four straight after winning seven straight and the IceHogs can’t beat the Milwaukee Admirals.

Jump through to see where everyone else ended up.

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Power Rankings

NHL Trade Deadline and the AHL East Divison

1 Comment Posted by on March 5, 2014

With all the hype surrounding trade deadline day for the NHL, let’s cut to the chase and examine how it affects the AHL’s East Division.

Let’s get right to it…

button_pit200       /       WBS

Pittsburgh / Wilkes Barre

Marcel Goc from Florida and Lee Stempniak from Calgary for draft picks. So, the Wilkes-Barre roster and prospect pipeline stays intact. Chuck Kobasew, who cleared waivers yesterday, to Wilkes-Barre. Chris Conner can NOT be sent to Wilkes-Barre because he was not on waivers yesterday. So, ideally from a Wilkes-Barre perspective, it’s Conner for Kobasew. I’ll reserve judgement on whether this is good or bad after I see what Kobasew and do in the AHL.

Jonathan tweeted that Simon Despres and Brian Gibbons were on the Wilkes-Barre roster at 3 p.m. and thus eligible to return to the Penguins at some point.

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button_wsh200      /      HER

Washington / Hershey

Bears end up netting Chris Brown from Phoenix / Portland in an NHL deal for Marty Erat and John Mitchell. Brown has put up solid numbers in Portland for the past two seasons. He’s 14-21-35 so far this year. Brown was also sent from Phoenix with Rostislav Klesla, but Klesla’s stay in Chocolatetown lasted less than 24 hours as he was sent to Buffalo with G Michal Neuvirth in the trade for G Jaroslav Halak.

Connor Carrick and Dmitry Orlov were eligible to be sent to Hershey, but were not and will remain with Washington for the duration.

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button_ott200      /      BNG

Ottawa / Binghamton

Initial returns are that the winners of the NHL Trade deadline in the East Division are the Binghamton Senators, who get a depth defenseman in Patrick Mullen from the Utica Comets and Alex Grant (yes, THAT Alex Grant) from Norfolk / Anaheim for Andre Petersson. Grant makes a dangerous Binghamton power play even more dangerous. Ottawa also papered down Cody Ceci and Mike Hoffman, making that duo eligible for the AHL if the need arises.

In another minor move, Ottawa loaned Joe Corvo to the AHL’s Chicago Wolves. But Corvo, a Chicago area native, is hurt and isn’t expected to play the rest of the season. He also is making $900K this season.

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button_tb200      /      SYR

Tampa Bay / Syracuse

Dana Tyrell and Matt Taormina to Columbus for Jonathan Marchessault and Dalton Smith. Syracuse looks like the big winner in this trade. Marchessault was Springfield’s leading scorer (14-27-41) Richard Panik was recalled earlier today, meaning his AHL days are done at least for this year and Vlad Namestnikov was sent to Syracuse. If there is one downside, the moves today leave the Crunch a bit thin on the blue line.

button_ana200      /      NOR

Anaheim / Norfolk

Anaheim traded away G Viktor Fasth to the Edmonton Oilers and got RW Andre Petersson from Ottawa for D Alex Grant. Petersson’s 17-23-40 automatically makes him Norfolk’s leading scorer.

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Jonathan’s take on today’s proceedings is here.

In my view, Wilkes-Barre has the most work to do in the divsion, with seemingly everyone else bolstering up their rosters. The Kobasew add is nice and should help, but you just never know with how a player who has spent most of his time in the NHL will take a demotion back to the AHL. You go from airplanes and caviar to bus rides and 3 a.m. McDonald’s stops.

Time, always tells.

Not AHL, WBS

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