Chirps from Center Ice

Couple of things to stay on top of this afternoon:

–> Scott Munroe has signed with the Adirondack Phantoms. Munroe was a rock solid backup to Brad Thiessen last season for the Penguins and will mentor two rookie goaltenders eyeing the nets in Glens Falls this season.

–> Here’s the story from beat writer Tim McManus from The Post-Star in Glens Falls, NY and another from Micheal Cignoli from The Saratogian in Saratoga Springs, NY.

–> The 2012 Offseason Moves list has been updated accordingly. Worth mentioning that the remaining names on the list that are unsigned are Chris Barton, Robert Bortuzzo, Alex Grant, Casey Pierro-Zabotel, Matt Rust and Cody Wild. It’s assumed that Eric Tangradi has or is re-signing with Pittsburgh very soon.

–> Here’s a piece from the Penguins on Brian Gibbons and Paul Thompson, looking to build off of their rookie seasons and avoid the sophomore slump.

If you like to read tea leaves like I do, you’ll notice that a name was no where to be mentioned in that article. That name belongs to Nick Petersen. Petersen, who as you recall missed the second half of the Penguins postseason due to what the Pens dubbed, “personal reasons.” Peterson remains under contract to the Penguins. Let me disclaim that I have no inside information on the inner workings of what goes on at Coal Street. That said, if I had to bet any amount of money, I’d wager that Petersen’s ship has permanently sailed the waters of Wilkes-Barre. It doesn’t help that Jonathan Bombulie mentioned it today in his blog entry. I guess we all have to wait and see what happens on that end.

But for more signings, defections or otherwise, have a great weekend.

Good things come to those who wait. This afternoon, the AHL released its schedule for the 2012-2013 season. Click here for the league release, complete with links to all thirty teams schedules and a month by month breakdown.

I decided to shake things up this year in my own dissection and do a question and answer session regarding this year’s schedule. Here’s how it works, I ask the question and answer it. Here goes nothing:

Question # 1: Who is the first opponent the Penguins play this season?

Answer: The first opponent the Penguins will play this season will be the Binghamton Senators on Saturday October 13 at 7:05 at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena in Binghamton, NY.

Question # 2: We know the Penguins home opener is on October 20. Who are they playing?

Answer: The Penguins open the doors of the Mohegan Sun Arena for their 14th season and welcome in the Bridgeport Sound Tigers at 7:05 p.m.

Question # 3: Are the Penguins playing any Western Conference teams this season?

Answer: Yes. The Rochester Americans and Toronto Marlies twice. One game on the road and one game at home.

Question # 4: How many games against in division foes will the Penguins play this year?

Answer: Hershey 12; Binghamton 10; Norfolk 8; Syracuse 8. They are split home and away.

Question # 5: What is the longest roadtrip of the season?

Answer: March 8 to March 20. They play seven on the road, all mainly in the Northeast.

Question # 6: When is the longest homestand of the season?

Answer: Five games from November 7 to November 16.

Question # 7: How many times do the Penguins play three games in three nights?

Answer: That will happen eight times this season, three times in October, once in January, three times in February and once in March.

Question # 8: The furthest in-division rival the Penguins play are the Norfolk Admirals. How are those away games against the Admirals set up for the Penguins this season?

Answer: They play in Norfolk January 15, February 18 and 19 and April 2. They have no game with anyone else before or after those dates.

Question # 9: How many times do the Penguins play each month?

Answer: The Penguins already beat me to this in their press release, but excuse me while I whip this nifty chart out.

Question # 10: That’s pretty impressive there, chart boy, let’s see you give me a weekly breakdown of Penguins games.

Answer: The Penguins already did that too! But since you asked nicely:

Question #11: Where is the All-Star Classic this year?

Answer: The All-Star Classic is in Providence, RI this season on January 27-28, 2013 at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.

Question # 12: How many times are all thirty AHL teams playing on the same night?

Answer: Three nights: Sat., Mar. 23, Fri., Apr. 19 and Sat., Apr. 20.

Question # 13: What’s the theme that the Penguins are going with this season?

Answer: They are going with “Experience the Excitement” this season. Click here for the printable schedule and a look at the logo.

Question # 14: Other than the game outdoors versus Hershey on January 20 at Hersheypark Stadium, do the Penguins play in any special venues?

Answer: Yes. They play in Atlantic City Sunday November 25 at 4 p.m. at Boardwalk Hall versus the Albany Devils and Friday February 22, 2013 at Wells Fargo Arena (home of the Philadelphia Flyers) vs. the Adirondack Phantoms at 7 p.m.

Question # 15: Are the Penguins doing a PensFest like they did last year?

Answer: They are. It is scheduled for Friday, September 7 at Coal Street.

Question # 16: When will the world famous Chirps from Center Ice AHL Team Previews be out this year?

Answer: Probably the first week of October. Stay tuned to the blog for more details!

Dissection complete for another year. If you have any questions, leave them in comments or hit me on Twitter or Facebook.

Can’t wait to get going. Let’s Go Pens!

EUREKA! We have news!

The AHL schedule will be released tomorrow at 3 p.m. Wilkes-Barre time pending Board of Governors approval. Get the breakdown of who we play, when we play them tomorrow on the Twitter feed. I have a fun thing planned tomorrow breaking it all down for here on the blog tomorrow evening.

A few other things happened since the last time I blogged:

–> The Penguins re-signed Cody Chupp and Denver Manderson and signed Scott Zurevinski. Chupp will probably moonlight again in Wheeling this season and appear in WBS a few times this year. I’d expect the same from Manderson too. As far as Zurevinski, probably here for training camp then in Wheeling all season.

–> Of course, this all changes if there is a NHL lockout. Instead of trying to bend my brain over what the depth chart would look like if that happened on this blog, Jonathan Bombulie blogged up his version of what things could look like in Wilkes-Barre in October if the NHL season does not start on time.

–> Boris Valabik signed with a Czech team. Here’s the already translated link for you.

–> My brother is getting married in New York City the weekend of November 2. I am openly taking applications for someone to cover any WBS games that weekend for the blog. E-mail me, tweet me on Twitter or flag me down or whatever it is you call it to get someone’s attention over on Facebook if you are interested and we can chat.

See you tomorrow with schedule in hand!

Wilkes-Barre announced this morning a four game preseason schedule. Link through to the official or just continue reading:

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Who did we upset in Binghamton that the Senators won’t play us anymore?

Expect the full schedule by mid to late August.

But for a schedule matrix of opponents, which doesn’t appear to be happening this summer, have a great weekend.

We have hit the dog days of summer. There is nothing out there worth blogging about. Here are three worthwhile tidbits which are probably already stale:

–> Keith Aucoin signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Good luck to him. Here is Tim Leone’s story on Aucoin’s departure.

–> In the wake of the Ryan Craig signing with Springfield, Jonathan Bombulie feels there is going to be a dawning of a new age come the fall.

–> Pens D-man Alex Picard has flown the coop for the KHL’s HC Lev Praha. Since you can’t read Czech, I already translated the story for you. You’re welcome.

The AHL matrices are expected to be released any day. Of course, I have been saying that for a few weeks now. That will probably be the next update.

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