Chirps from Center Ice

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

Category Archives: The AHL

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.

Read more of this post

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

Philip Samuelsson Named Player of the Week

Comments Off on Philip Samuelsson Named Player of the Week Posted by on January 20, 2014

If you are a defensive defenseman who all of a sudden looks like an offensive defenseman, you probably are going to help your team win a few hockey games.

You are also going to draw the attention to yourself on a league wide scale.

Monday afternoon, the AHL announced that Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins Philip Samuelsson was named the AHL’s Player of the Week.

A goal, four assists and a +6 rating over three games will do that for someone known more for his defense than his offense.

Samuelsson is the first Penguin in over two years to receive the Player of the Week Award. (Ben Street, 11/13/2011) Congrats to Philip!

Don’t forget to check out my Week 16 AHL Power Rankings if you haven’t yet.

The AHL, WBS

Week 16 AHL Power Rankings

Comments Off on Week 16 AHL Power Rankings Posted by on January 20, 2014

Not a bunch of radical movement up or down in the Week 16 Chirps from Center Ice AHL Power Rankings this week. Your Oklahoma City Barons are the biggest risers this week up 7 spots to 22nd this week. See, that’s just the thing this week, there really isn’t that much room for movement. Five teams in the Top 10 didn’t move from last week.

Your Adirondack Phantoms and Milwaukee Admirals are on the biggest slide this week, down 6 spots each.

The Toronto Marlies are your new numero uno this week. OT wins over the Wild and Wolves while the Monarchs and Stars both lose a game by wide margins are enough to vault the Marlies to the top spot.

If you didn’t link in direct, hop through the jump to see where everyone ended up this week.

Read more of this post

Power Rankings

Week 15 AHL Power Rankings

3 Comments Posted by on January 13, 2014

Here at the Chirps from Center Ice Power Rankings Politboro, if you run down and catch a team that was way out in front of you a few weeks ago, you get massive brownie points. Also, if you lead your division by a wide sum, you get much consideration.

I am talking about your Texas Stars, your new number one this week, and your Grand Rapids Griffins, who lead the Midwest Division by 10 points, the biggest margin in the AHL. The Stars overtake Abbotsford for first in the West with a win Friday against the Heat. The Heat were obliterating everything in its path a few weeks ago.

Are the Grand Rapids Griffins better than four teams in the East Division? They lead their division by 10 points and until each team plays the other in a season we may never know.

The Norfolk Admirals are the most overrated team in the Rankings this week. Hershey is on a tear. Binghamton and Wilkes-Barre have both led the East Division for weeks now, yet the Politboro says they remain third.

The aforementioned Griffins and your Syracuse Crunch are the biggest risers this week, up 8 spots. The Springfield Falcons and Lake Erie Monsters are both down 10 spots from last week.

Alright, enough talking. If you didn’t link in direct, jump through to see where everyone else ended up.

Read more of this post

Power Rankings

That’s All-Star Brian Gibbons to You

Comments Off on That’s All-Star Brian Gibbons to You Posted by on January 9, 2014

The AHL announced its AHL All-Star team today. The format is a bit different in years past. Instead of West vs. East, it’s a 20-man team comprised of All-Stars playing against Färjestad BK, one of the top professional teams in the Swedish Hockey League.

So, 20 players selected in a league with 30 teams, there were going to be some teams with no representation.

Not on Coal Street.

Brian Gibbons, currently on recall and playing on the top line with the Pittsburgh Penguins, was named to represent the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins in the game.

A high honor for Gibbons and the other 19 guys named, because of instead of 48 players selected and every team represented, you have a more exclusive group of players spotlighted and nominated to go and play against a team from overseas, something that has never been done at this level of professional hockey.

No one from Adirondack, Albany, Hartford, Hershey, Norfolk, Portland or Worcester was elected on the East’s side. Manchester and Springfield will send two each, Binghamton, Bridgeport, Providence, St. John’s and Syracuse will each have a player from their team sent.

On the West side, Abbotsford and Texas will send two each, Chicago, Grand Rapids, Milwaukee, Rochester, Rockford and Toronto each send one with Charlotte, Hamilton, Iowa, Lake Erie, Oklahoma City, San Antonio and Utica shutout.

Players with Wilkes-Barre connections include Ben Street for Abbotsford and Jason Jaffray for St. John’s. Jaffray will serve as Team Captain representing St. John’s.

Two other minor things to mention, the Penguins and Albany Devils announced today that the time for March 1 game vs. the Devils at Atlantic City has been changed from 7 p.m. to 5 p.m. Adjust your schedules accordingly…..Also, the Pens released CJ Severyn from his PTO. I’m guessing he goes back to ECHL Orlando since that’s where we got him from.

The AHL, WBS

Week 14 AHL Power Rankings

2 Comments Posted by on January 6, 2014

Week 14 of the AHL Power Rankings are here, and boy, is there some ridiculous travel coming up for some teams.

Springfield, your new number one this week, host Albany Friday then are in Hershey Saturday then have to go all the way back to Massachusetts for an afternoon home game with Norfolk.

Hershey, all of a sudden hot, are in Binghamton Friday, host the aforesaid Falcons Saturday then go all the way to Albany Sunday. Edit: No, they go to Atlantic City to play the Devils, not all the way up to the Capital District of New York. My error.

Portland is in St. John’s to start the week for two games, then return to the States for a home game Friday, then two road games Saturday and Sunday.

Providence and Syracuse have a home and home. There’s no easy way in and out of Providence.

So yes, tough slogs ahead for some teams.

Anyway, your highest climbers this week are Adirondack, Charlotte and Oklahoma City, up seven spots this week. The biggest drops belong to Albany and Adirondack, both down eight.

If you didn’t link through, hit the jump to see where everyone else landed and safe travels!

Read more of this post

Power Rankings

← Older posts

Newer posts →