Chirps from Center Ice

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

Category Archives: WBS

Preseason Game #3 – Hershey 2, Penguins 3

Comments Off on Preseason Game #3 – Hershey 2, Penguins 3 Posted by on September 30, 2018

The Penguins wrapped up their preseason slate in Hershey with an afternoon game with the Bears and won 3-2. Wilkes-Barre goes 3-0 on the preseason and now set their sights on setting a lineup, maybe naming a captain, and the Springfield Thunderbirds.

Here were a look at the lines:

Ryan Horvat / Cam Brown / Kevin Lynch
Renars Krastenbergs / Nick Saracino / Yushi Hirano
Troy Josephs / Cedric Lacroix / Patrick McGrath
Tyler Bird / Tobias Lindberg /

Matt Abt / Jeff Taylor
Kevin Spinozzi / Dane Birks
Johnny Austin / Tim Erixon
Dan Fick was the seventh defenseman.

Anthony Peters got the start, Johnny Muse backed him up. Penguins went 7 defensemen and 11 forwards.

In the first, Nick Saracino scored a power play goal to give the Pens a 1-0 lead. Logan Pyatt tried a clear, it ricocheted off of Bears starting goalie Ilya Samsonov’s skate and Saracino pounced on it and scored.

Later, a name that you are going to get familiar with and grow to hate if you are an opponent of the Bears.

That’s Axel Jonsson-Fjallby and that was a hell of a shot.

Penguins almost scored after the face-off that followed, but Tobias Lindberg wasn’t able to push it though.

In the second, the Pens had to kill off a carryover 5-on-3 power play and did so successfully. Later, Shane Gersich hacked and whacked at a loose puck in the crease to give the Bears a lead.

Off the face-off, the Penguins scored on a goal by Troy Josephs set up by nice pass by Tobias Lindberg.

In the third, Pens played bend but not break with penalties against, withstood the storm and got a goal with 7:31 to play from Renars Krastenbergs. Penguins maintained offensive zone time ad Krastenbergs was there to put the puck in and give the Penguins a lead.

Wilkes-Barre’s penalty kill went 8-for-8 and they scored a power play goal. Not a bad way to end the preseason, 3-0, and leading or tied for all but about a minute for all three games.

Highlights…..

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But it all starts for real beginning Saturday at home against the Springfield Thunderbirds.

Coaching staff will have some decisions to make Monday with who to send to Wheeling and who to cut. I’ll have stuff on Twitter once the announcements are made.

Schedule for this week going up on the blog is as follows:

Monday: Pacific Division Preview.
Tuesday: Central Division Preview.
Wednesday: North Division Preview.
Thursday: Atlantic Division Preview.

The previews will hit each day at noon. There is a drop down menu at the top of the blog to navigate from anywhere on the blog to get there once they debut.

I’ll drop in other news and notes as they come in. Gameday setup for Springfield will hit the blog Saturday at 3. Power Rankings will be back also, but on a new day. That day will be Thursday. I haven’t settled on a time just yet. I’ll let you know sometime next week.

Should be another fun year. Let’s Go Pens!

Postgamer

Preseason Game #2 – Penguins 6, Hershey 2

Comments Off on Preseason Game #2 – Penguins 6, Hershey 2 Posted by on September 29, 2018

I don’t care if it’s preseason, it’s always fun beating Hershey.

A more regular lineup for the Penguins tonight who beat the Bears 6-2.

Lines were:

Garrett Wilson / Linus Ölund / Jim Hayes
Tom Di Pauli / Teddy Blueger / Anthony Angello
Adam Johnson / Sam Lafferty / Ryan Haggerty
Troy Josephs / Tobias Lindberg / Sam Miletic

Will O’Neill / Chris Summers
Johnny Austin / Stefan Elliott
Matt Abt / Ethan Prow

Anthony Peters / Danny Tirone

Craig Skudalski took warmups. He signed a PTO with Wheeling, who open camp next week.

Penguins jump out to a 2-0 lead in the first period on a nice clean up goal by Sam Lafferty and a set up pass by Troy Josephs to Sam Miletic a few minutes later.

Matt Abt, who played well enough Thursday to earn a second look tonight, took a shot on Vanecek that was stopped, but big body Anthony Angello dug it out, shifted it over to Lafferty for the first goal of the game. Nice play by Abt and forecheck by Angello.

Bears caught napping overloaded on the near side when Josephs wheeled around the net and set up Miletic for the second goal.

Two Sam’s scored in the first. There’s a pun in there somewhere.

:15 into the second, Hershey cuts into the lead with a goal by Jeremy Morin. He raced past two defenders and scored.

Penguins could not score on a 4:00 double minor, so at least the power play is in midseason form.

Ethan Prow scored on a dart from the blue line that beat Vanecek high. I don’t think there was a screen involved but Anthony Angello was close by. He’s a big enough body to cause disturbances in front of the net.

Steven Whitney scored for the Bears when the Penguins were caught standing around spectating to bring the Bears back within one.

But Wilkes-Barre got up on the wheel and got two goals by the end of the second, one by Teddy Blueger on a nice give and go with Ryan Haggerty and then another on a terrific shot between the legs of a Bears defender by Sam Lafferty, his second of the game.

If you have “Good Sam” in your pun pool this year as possible headlines for the blog, that one may go off the board quickly this season and be overused is Sam Miletic makes the team also.

We had fun with it on Twitter after Sam Miletic scored a power play goal that made it 6-2. Endless pun possibilities.

Anyway, Penguins were essentially on cruise control all period, finally got the power play to click and even killed off a Will O’Neill double minor.

Three stars were Haggerty, Lafferty and Miletic.

These two teams meet Sunday afternoon in Hershey at 5. Talk to you then.

Postgamer

J-S Dea Claimed on Waivers by NJ Devils

Comments Off on J-S Dea Claimed on Waivers by NJ Devils Posted by on September 28, 2018

The ghosts of Ray Shero and John Hynes strike again…

https://twitter.com/NJDevils/status/1045709941552680961

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Always a possibility, never a certainty that a guy would get claimed. I didn’t forsee any team claiming Dea, but Shero signed him as an undrafted unknown and Hynes helped develop him. Dea was a good player stuck on the wrong franchise. There never was any doubt that he would start the season in Wilkes-Barre in my mind, but he’s over-ripened at the AHL level and needed to break out. New Jersey putting a claim in on him allows that.

This after a nice article from Jonathan Bombulie which was featured on the AHL site today.

In case you are wondering, the Penguins would have the right of first refusal should New Jersey ever try to sneak Dea down to their AHL club in Binghamton and re-expose him to waivers. Pittsburgh could then re-claim him and assign him to Wilkes-Barre. I don’t see that happening, but I’ve been wrong before.

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Zach Trotman was the other player put on waivers by Pittsburgh Thursday and he cleared. No Penguins were on waivers noon Friday.

The AHLTV set top app (I only have Apple TV, can’t speak on others) is live in the App Store, so if you have a smart TV with the apps supported by the AHL’s new streaming device, queue up ‘AHLTV’ and stream away this upcoming season.

Practice updates were quiet Friday, I didn’t see anything from Tom or Tyler out of Coal Street today. So more Saturday night here on the blog after the Penguins second preseason game of the season against Hershey. Head Coach Clark Donatelli did tell the media Thursday night that Anthony Peters would get the whole game Saturday. Beyond that as far as other lineup changes is anyone’s guess.

Talk to you Saturday after the game.

Pittsburgh, The AHL, WBS

Preseason Game #1 – Penguins 3, Phantoms 2

Comments Off on Preseason Game #1 – Penguins 3, Phantoms 2 Posted by on September 27, 2018

The Penguins play one week night regular season home game in October (October 17 against Hershey) then none in November and two in December before nothing of the sort before March again. Besides Sunday afternoon home games, work night games are right up there with things I like the least about this goofy hobby of mine.

A preseason work night home game? Someone on Coal Street is trolling me.

The Penguins kicked off their preseason with a 3-2 win against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

I don’t go nuts on preseason write ups. So let’s get to the nuts and bolts because 6:50 Friday morning* will be here before you know it.

Lines were:

Sam Miletic – Linus Ölind – Renārs Krastenbergs
Yushiroh Hirano – Cam Brown – Ryan Horvat
Pat McGrath – Cédric Lacroix – Troy Josephs
Tyler Bird – Nick Saracino – Zac Lynch

Dane Birks – Kevin Spinozzi
Johnny Austin – Dan Fick
Jeff Taylor – Matt Abt

John Muse – Danny Tirone

Craig Skudalski took warmups, didn’t rush and was the scratch.

In the first, Pens found themselves up 2-0 on goals from Matt Abt and Linus Ölund. Abt’s shot came when a Phantoms defender got tangled up with referee Dan Kelly behind the net and Ölund’s goal was a rebound off of Phantoms netminder Branden Komm’s pads set up by Sam Miletic’s blazing speed. Both goals came :37 apart.

Muse was sharp in the first, blocking shots through traffic and bailing out his defensemen.

In the second, Phantoms connect on a power play :04 into a Hirano hooking penalty when Phil Myers scored to cut it to one for Lehigh Valley. Muse was standing on his head making a case to be the backup goalie come opening night. When in doubt, go with the guy with the NHL contract (Muse) and option Peters to the ECHL, but that’s a conversation for another day.

Phantoms would score another power play goal when Cole Bardreau whacked in a puck that popped up on Muse to tie the game at two.

Penguins get the lead back on a five on three power play when Sam Miletic posted up near side and whacked in a rebound Komm spilled.

In the third, John Muse stole the show with stop after stop. Pens finally killed a penalty and then failed to score on a power play of their own. Muse ended up being the story of the period. Pens withstood the pressure Lehigh Valley put on them and Muse was up to task.

Muse didn’t get a star in the three stars, that went to Abt, Ölund and Miletic in that order. He deserved one.

Anyway, that’s it. If there is news Friday I’ll have it here, otherwise talk to you again after the Saturday game against Hershey.

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* – that’s when my alarm goes off.

Postgamer

Preseason Eve 9/26

Comments Off on Preseason Eve 9/26 Posted by on September 26, 2018

Just a few loose ends to tie off before the Penguins first preseason game Thursday night at home against Lehigh Valley at 7:05.

— Ryan Haggerty bagged himself a two year NHL contract. The Penguins had an extra contract laying around for him once they cut ties with Freddie Tiffels. Haggerty did impress at camp in Pittsburgh, and earned himself an NHL contract. It’s odd how sometimes those things play out. Haggerty re-signed with Wilkes-Barre over the summer, an AHL deal attended Pittsburgh’s camp as sort of a head start to get himself ready for AHL camp then Tiffels breaks for Germany, Pittsburgh has a free contract laying about and Haggerty has a dynamite camp for the NHL team. I have a feeling it won’t be his last time in Pittsburgh, he easily could earn himself a recall at some point during the season.

— Haggerty was placed on waivers Tuesday and cleared, and was on the ice at Coal Street on Wednesday afternoon.

— Ethan Prow cleared his waivers on Tuesday.

— A familiar face for Penguins in D Tim Erixon skated with the team Tuesday and was added to the camp roster Wednesday on a tryout. Erixon played for Binghamton and Springfield last year.

— John Muse is expected to start tomorrow against his old team in exhibition action. Both he and Anthony Peters will get a full game, so you figure Muse tomorrow, Peters Saturday at home against Hershey and a combination of both Sunday in Hershey unless there is plans to work in the other netminder in camp, Danny Tirone.

— Expect a lineup full of non-regulars, which is common for the first game as these guys are battling to make camp.

— Injuries: They expect Czuczman back sooner than December, probably in November….Joe Cramarossa is out a month with an upper body ailment.

— AHL Rulebook was updated for 2018-19. Lots of changes on the goalie equipment and twelve pages on what constitutes goalie interference. So it’s gonna be fun getting hot that the 62 nimrods that come through Wilkes-Barre or are assigned to work Penguins games in other cities as they try to figure out, on the fly, skating in motion, whether the goalie was impeded with when a goal was scored. Oh! The joy!

Don’t expect anything too in depth from the blog Thursday night. It’s a work night preseason game. Probably just a blurb on who stood out, who won, what the lines were, etc. I say that now but knowing me it’ll be as in depth as anything. Talk to you then.

Pittsburgh, WBS

2018-19 WBS Training Camp News / Notes

3 Comments Posted by on September 24, 2018

I waited all weekend for Coal Street to announce a training camp roster after announcing a schedule Friday but that never came to pass because Pittsburgh still had a lot of AHL guys on the roster through Sunday. But on Monday afternoon, we have a clearer picture of it all so here I am to break it all down for you.

First, here is the training camp schedule. If you want to head to Coal Street and sit in an ice box to watch the practice, you can, it is free and open to the public.

Update 1: Here is a look at the entire roster.

Pittsburgh made two sets of cuts so far, 5 last week and then 18 on Sunday. They are minus one since Freddie Tiffels wanted out of being a German North American yo-yo from AHL to ECHL, so Pittsburgh put him on unconditional waivers and terminated his contract. He has a deal already lined up in Germany.

Anyway, Forwards Troy Josephs, defensemen Dane Birks and Joe Masonius and goaltender Anthony Peters were sent down on Thursday and Tobias Lindberg, Jimmy Hayes, Adam Johnson, Joseph Cramarossa, Thomas Di Pauli, Teddy Blueger, Sam Miletic, Sam Lafferty, Anthony Angello, Linus Olund, Garrett Wilson and Ryan Haggerty; defensemen Chris Summers, Stefan Elliott, Will O’Neill, Jeff Taylor and Ethan Prow; and goaltender John Muse were sent down Sunday. Lindberg, Summers, Muse, Elliott, Hayes, Prow and Wilson needed waivers and were not on with this group that was on Monday morning:

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Of note, all of the guys that were put on waivers Sunday cleared Monday after noon.

Update 2: Ethan Prow was placed on waivers Monday, if he is not claimed he will be added to the WBS training camp roster after noon on Tuesday.

Anyway, you should be familiar with the bodies of work of Josephs, McGrath, Spinozzi and Peters, but of these other guys, here is what I got on them:

Forwards

Tyler Bird: Fifth round draft pick of the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2014 has a Wheeling ECHL deal lined up for this season. 6’1 forward out of Brown University. Was a combined -47 in college.

Cam Brown: One of the summertime signings by the Penguins this offseason, was in on a loan and played one game last year. Appeared in 13 with Springfield. Put up 53 points in 55 games for the Nailers. If he could put that together at the AHL level, Penguins have themselves a diamond in the rough.

Yushiroh Hirano: Japan product who wants to ply his trade in North America. Researching him, found this article on him from last week on theScore worth checking out.

Ryan Horvat: Every AHL training camp has that one guy that went unsigned all summer that gets an invite to camp that makes you say, “I remember that guy.” Well, Horvat is that guy this go around. He has AHL and championship experience. Played last year with Springfield and won a Calder Cup with Manchester in 2014-15. I had him #71 on the Big Board and described him as a depth winger. He wore an A for the Thunderbirds last year and had 21 points in 57 games. He could push for a bottom six spot.

Renars Krastenbergs: Latvian kid who has international experience. 31 points in 61 games for OHL Oshawa last year. He’s only 19.

Cedric Lacroix: Wheeling signed him over the summer. Graduate of the University of Maine. He can throw, too, had more than a few fights playing for Sioux City of the USHL.

Defensemen

Matt Abt: Nailers signed him on a tryout last Spring and then signed him in August. RIT product. 6’4, put up decent numbers for RIT and judging off his PIMs, can fight too.

Johnny Austin: One of the offseason signings by the Penguins. He’s probably ticketed for Wheeling. Was a -10 on a really bad Laval team on a tryout out of UConn.

Craig Skudalksi: Local product who was in camp with the Pens last training camp. Bounced around in the lower levels of pro hockey last season.

Goaltender

Danny Tirone: Nailers signing. Good numbers for the University of New Hampshire, this will be his first year pro.

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So there you have it on some guys you may not be familiar with.

Out the door, the Penguins have a shiny new app for your phone. They were kind enough to let me get a first look at it this weekend and it’s a really well put together app that pushes any and all kind of information at you relative to the Penguins (news, goals, final scores, notes, etc.) developed by HockeyTech, the same company behind the new AHLTV, it’s worth downloading and using throughout the year.

More this week, as business starts to pick up with this Thursday’s preseason game against Lehigh Valley.

WBS

Weekend Update 9/14

Comments Off on Weekend Update 9/14 Posted by on September 14, 2018

Another week closer to the start of the hockey season. NHL camp started Friday in Pittsburgh. But since the last time I blogged, there were some newsy items I just want to hit on here:

Tom Sestito has retired. He was mulling an offer with an AHL team out west, but told Lindsay Kramer:

“It came to do I want to move the family across country again or call it quits?” he said. “I had enough, I guess. I think I just don’t have it mentally to play another year.”

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What Kyle was referring to…

https://twitter.com/TomSestito23/status/822134654513778688

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That playoff series with the Bears was probably one of my most enjoyable to cover as a fan and a blogger. It had everything. Sestito was a giant part of that. Sestito may have retired, but legends never die.

Other news…

Penguins rookies went 0-3 and weren’t competitive at all against the three other teams they played last weekend. Take nothing away from this. It was a four day tournament for a bunch of teenagers and players still years away from the AHL. Adam Johnson shined in the tournament, but that’s because he has the experience playing at this level of hockey.

(If you think I am late with this stale news, sorry, I’m trying to enjoy the final knockings of summer and don’t get worked up over rookie tournaments that will be an afterthought come October)

On AHLTV, Stephen Meserve from 100 Degree Hoickey spoke with AHL VP of Communications Jason Chaimovitch about how the whole thing came about. They listened to you about an antiquated AHL Live system that overstayed its welcome and was grossly overpriced. It’s a good read.

Wheeling shores up its goaltending situation with the signing of Evan Cowley. The coaching staff is high on this guy.

Pittsburgh announced its training camp roster. No surprises of the names invited. Ryan Haggerty, on AHL contract only with Wilkes-Barre, gets an invite.

A notable absence on that roster list is Kevin Czuczman. He’s injured. He had offseason shoulder surgery and is out until December. Probably went straight to the operating table after the series with Charlotte and is still rehabbing. If I had to guess, it’s a rotator cuff and without giving away what I do for full time work, it’s a six month recovery period, barring complications.

As noted by Tyler here, Pens are deep on defense, so while Czuczman will be missed, his absence shouldn’t hurt Wilkes-Barre too badly out of the gate.

Too good not to share, Derrick Graffius had his own thoughts on Penguins training camp.

So that’s that. Look for Wilkes-Barre top put a camp roster out at some point during the coming days, probably later next week. When they do, I will have words here.

Enjoy the weekend.

Pittsburgh, The AHL, WBS, Wheeling

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