Chirps from Center Ice

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

Category Archives: The AHL

The Olympic Calvary

1 Comment Posted by on February 9, 2014

In case you missed it: I set the table for today’s game against Hershey in Hershey.

So the NHL is on hiatus for the next two weeks because of the Winter Olympics in Russia. It’ll be good to go back to blogging up the highest level of hockey in North America for this time frame.

Wait. What’s that? The AHL is on hiatus for their own All-Star Break too? Just a week? Okay. Well, I guess I’ll make the most of what I have while I can.

Anyway, there are a slew of moves during the NHL break that are affecting East Division clubs in the AHL. We saw it firsthand yesterday with the reassignments of Jayson Megna, Brian Gibbons and Harry Zolnierczyk from Pittsburgh to Wilkes-Barre. Gibbons will head to St. John’s this week to represent the Penguins in the AHL All Star Classic.

As for the rest of the East Division, here’s who is on their way back down for the Olympic break, who each AHL East Division team plays and a reasonable expectation based off of who they do.

button_pit200       /       WBS

Pittsburgh / Wilkes Barre

This trio needs no introduction. For Wilkes-Barre, the additions could not come at a better time divisionally because the next five games are against Hershey (today) Binghamton (Friday) Hershey (Saturday and Sunday) and Binghamton (next Wednesday) — Win all of them, and the Penguins are likely division leaders and in solid shape for playoffs heading into the month of March. Lose, forget about the division lead and scrape and muck with teams from 6 through 13.

button_wsh200      /      HER

Washington / Hershey

Casey Wellman, Julien Brouillette and Patrick Wey — seemingly should be in the lineup this afternoon for the Bears. Bears get Wilkes-Barre (today) Albany (Friday) Wilkes-Barre (Saturday and Sunday) and Syracuse (next Saturday) for their next five. Bears can make a push for the division lead but have to jump over three other teams to get there. A daunting task, but nothing that the Bears can’t accomplish. A more reasonable expectation is for Hershey to solidify themselves in the Top 8 for playoffs.

button_ott200      /      BNG

Ottawa / Binghamton

The East Division leaders got MORE offensive help earlier in the week with the return of second leading scorer Stephane Da Costa as well as Mark Stone. Binghamton gets Wilkes-Barre (Friday) Worcester (Saturday) Wilkes-Barre (next Wednesday) Hamilton (next Friday) and Utica (next Saturday) for their next five. The division leader is hoping for a Hershey win today to keep the Penguins at bay and then have to deal with the Penguins for two of their next three games with tough Worcester and Hamilton teams in there and the always surprising Utica Comets. For Binghamton, maintaining the lead in the division is crucial. If they fall back to Hershey or Norfolk, there may be no returning to the top.

button_tb200      /      SYR

Tampa Bay / Syracuse

Defenseman J.P. Cote cleared waivers yesterday afternoon and played last night for Syracuse against Springfield, a 6-5 overtime loss for the Crunch. Kristers Gudlevskis and Vlad Namestnikov were sent back Sunday morning, but Gudlevskis is representing Latvia in the Olympics and won’t play for the Crunch. This will leave the Crunch in a bind in goal, something they have been used to in recent weeks. For Syracuse, it has to be about winning. The Crunch get Norfolk Friday and Saturday, Utica next Friday and Hershey next Saturday and Sunday. The Crunch may have to go 5-0 to even remain in the discussion for the 8 seed.

button_ana200      /      NOR

Anaheim / Norfolk

Anaheim hasn’t yet announced who they are sending back but it is likely that leading scorer Emerson Etem will be back and will no doubt continue to help the Ads in staying in lockstep with Wilkes-Barre in trying to chase down leader Binghamton. The Admirals get Syracuse Friday and Saturday, the makeup game with Charlotte next Tuesday and then Albany and Springfield next Saturday and Sunday. Ideally, for Norfolk, separation from Hershey and Wilkes-Barre is the goal and then Binghamton will handle themselves with playing Wilkes-Barre twice. They can just win and let the Pens, Bears and B-Sens knock the snot out of each other trying to stay away from the ever dangerous Admirals.

Time, always tells.

The AHL

Weekend Setup 2/6

Comments Off on Weekend Setup 2/6 Posted by on February 6, 2014

Besides the big trade involving Paul Thompson for Spencer Machacek, there were a few things going on this week you should know about, that you may already know about and if you don’t know, now you know…

Andrew Ebbett is back in Wilkes-Barre. Harry Zolnierczyk went up Tuesday. Getting Ebbett back should help the Penguins power play.

Speaking of power play, the Portland Pirates scored four of ’em Wednesday in Binghamton, and rolled the East Division leading B-Sens 5-1. The Pirates have at least one power play goal in each of their last ten games and are 10th overall in the AHL on the power play (19.7%) coming into this weekend.

Speaking of Portland, new acquisition Spencer Machacek has three of his nine goals this year scored against the Pirates playing for Springfield.

The Olympics start this weekend. The NHL will be on hiatus, so to fill evening air time, if you own a satellite radio like I do, the AHL will be featured on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. Wilkes-Barre will be featured on Friday, February 14 when they square off against the Binghamton Senators up in Southern New York.

Gameday for the game vs. Portland will be up on the blog at 3 p.m.

The AHL, WBS

Spencer, For Hire*

Comments Off on Spencer, For Hire* Posted by on February 6, 2014

Announced this evening that Paul Thompson was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Spencer Machacek. Machacek, playing for Springfield, will report to Wilkes-Barre.

The immediate fallout from a move like this is change of scenery for both. Seems like everyone BUT Thompson was called up to Pittsburgh with all the injuries up top. He was scratched a few times in Wilkes-Barre during the call-ups too.

Machacek, a veteran, has played 34 games for Springfield, and is 9-10-19. He’s tied for second on the Falcons in goals and, in case you were wondering, is 2-3-5 on the power play. The Falcons have the 22nd ranked power play coming into the weekend.

Machacek’s best years were a few years ago, when with the Chicago Wolves. He was an All-Star for the Wolves in 2010-11. He’s a veteran, so he has been a scratch a few times for Springfield, but now he will be able to play and hopefully reinvigorate his career playing for Wilkes-Barre.

I guess we find out soon. The Penguins host the Portland Pirates tomorrow at 7:05.

Let’s Go Pens!!

* – I know, I know.

The AHL, WBS

Week 18 AHL Power Rankings

Comments Off on Week 18 AHL Power Rankings Posted by on February 3, 2014

Microblog: News du jour out of Coal Street Monday were the recalls of D Nick D’Agostino and D Harrison Ruopp and Eric Hartzell being named AHL Goaltender of the Month for January.

Big streaks for the Rochester Americans (7 in a row) and the St. John’s IceCaps (9 of 10 wins) have these respective clubs in the top five this week in the Chirps from Center Ice AHL Power Rankings for Week 18.

But the Binghamton Senators reign above all this week with an impressive five point lead on the rabid pack of dogs in the East Division.

Speaking of the ‘Dogs, the ones that play in Hamilton, they are the team with the sharpest drop this week, down 12.

Click through the jump if you didn’t link in direct to see the rest of the Rankings!

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Power Rankings

Surgery, Suspensions, Postponements, Oh My!

Comments Off on Surgery, Suspensions, Postponements, Oh My! Posted by on January 28, 2014

Big news day today. All the news broke as I was walking over to lunch and and my phone in my pocket. It always happens that way. Anyway, in order of relevance….

— Jonathan Bombulie reports that Zach Sill underwent surgery today which will NOT end his season. Tremendous news for Sill’s sake first, the organization and fans.

— Personnel moves on Coal Street today. D Barry Goers is back with the team on a new PTO while D Nick D’Agostino and D Harrison Ruopp were sent to Wheeling to play.

— Staying in Wheeling, Cody Sylvester was named ECHL Player of the Week. Chaz Johnson, signed by Wilkes-Barre to an AHL deal in the summertime, was given an 8 game suspension for his antics in this fight (start at the 1:30 mark) Saturday in Cincinnati vs. the Cyclones.

— Staying in the ECHL, the San Francisco Bulls are no more, ceasing operations immediately thereby ending their season early. The Bulls were an affiliate of the San Jose Sharks organization. Worcester was their AHL club.

— Back in the AHL, tonight’s Norfolk / Charlotte game was postponed because of snow. The game will be rescheduled for March 4.

— Three players were added to the AHL All-Star Classic in Newfoundland. None of them were Penguins. You can check out who here.

Gameday for tomorrows game with Syracuse will be up up at 3 p.m.

Let’s Go Pens!!

Not AHL, The AHL, WBS, Wheeling

Week 17 AHL Power Rankings

2 Comments Posted by on January 27, 2014

Ebbing and flowing is in season in the American Hockey League and so too here in the Week 17 Chirps from Center Ice AHL Power Rankings.

Some teams you may not expect are on winning streaks. Some teams you may not expect are on losing streaks. It’s reflected here in the Rankings.

One of those teams for example, are your Bridgeport Sound Tigers, winners of four in a row and whom enjoy the biggest jump in Week 17, up ten spots from last week.

On the other end, the Abbotsford Heat are down nine spots after losing to the Utica Comets twice this weekend in British Columbia this weekend in overtime.

Your Manchester Monarchs are number one in the Rankings again and number one overall in the AHL. It doesn’t appear anyone outside of Springfield right now can catch the Monarchs.

If you didn’t link through direct, please click through the jump to see where everyone else shook out this week.

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Power Rankings

Thursday Notebook 1/23

Comments Off on Thursday Notebook 1/23 Posted by on January 23, 2014

Just a couple of things rolling around the hopper…

— Steve Oleksy is back with Hershey, having cleared waivers Tuesday. So too is G Philipp Grubauer. The Capitals recalled D Nate Schmidt in what was probably a swap for him and Oleksy. The Penguins play Hershey this Sunday.

— Something which hit me out of left field, but the St. John’s IceCaps could be no more in a few years as parent Winnipeg is looking to place an AHL team in Thunder Bay, Ontario to be “closer” to their prospects. The arena in Thunder Bay hasn’t been built yet, so everything is premature. I was more shocked at a) the very thought of moving a team out of St. John’s. Mile One Centre has sold out every game since the IceCaps were born; b) how quickly things escalated with the Jets having a word on it then the IceCaps and c) the announcement coming weeks before the AHL puts on its showcase event in the AHL All-Star Classic.

It also got me to thinking how well we, as Wilkes-Barre fans, have it as Wilkes-Barre fans. If your single biggest gripe is the parking lot at the Mohegan Sun Arena not being 100% paved or not being able to hear Mike O’Brien call a Penguins game over the air on 102.3 because of a football game, then you, me, us have it pretty damn good. Count your blessings.

— Ex-WBS Penguin Dustin Jeffrey was placed on and cleared waivers these past 24 hours. Remember that Pittsburgh put Jeffrey on waivers a few weeks ago he was claimed by the Dallas Stars. Pittsburgh could have hypothetically claimed Jeffrey back and assigned him to Wilkes-Barre.

— The Penguins did re-assign Zach Sill to Wilkes-Barre Thursday morning. Pittsburgh did activate Andrew Ebbett from injured reserve.

The Sill re-assignment came Thursday morning, then Jeffrey went unclaimed at noon, and then the announcement that Ebbett was re-activated off of injured reserve at around 2 p.m. That timeline made sense because either Jeffrey was getting claimed or someone was coming off of reserve. You never see Pittsburgh skate not carry an extra forward at anytime.

— Here’s a story from Nailers beat writer Shawn Rine which provides an in-depth look at the Peter Mannino saga.

Penguins will get to Norfolk Thursday afternoon for a pair of weekend games against the Admirals. Friday’s game begins at 7:30, so the Gameday setup for that will hit the blog Friday at 3:30.

Not AHL, Pittsburgh, The AHL, WBS

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