Chirps from Center Ice

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

Category Archives: WBS

Is that a Monster in my Closet?

1 Comment Posted by on June 11, 2016

No, it’s a trophy.

The Lake Erie Monsters have won the Calder Cup.

How good we as Lake Erie? They swept three of four series and lost only twice in the postseason. A 1-0 win over the Hershey Bears in Game 4 of the Finals Friday in overtime with 1.9 seconds left and the Monsters win Cleveland’s first Calder Cup since 1964 in the AHL’s 80th year.

No reason to hang your head if you are the Hershey Bears. The Bears gave the Monsters a hell of a fight and every game was close. There is no reason that it could not be the Bears celebrating their 12th Cup but the Monsters were that much better.

A feather in the cap for Ryan Craig, who captained Lake Erie and was the captain here in Wilkes-Barre for a year. Brad Thiessen was on that team but didn’t appear in a game.

So that does it for the AHL’s 80th season. In the ECHL, the Allen Americans defeated the Wheeling Nailers in sixth games on home ice Thursday. No reason to hang your head there either, as the Nailers gave the Americans a hell of a fight but again, much like Lake Erie, Allen was just that much better.

So enjoy these next few weeks of down time before free agency fires up again in July. More on that and what that means for the blog as the caldendar gets ready to flip to July.

The AHL, Wheeling

Monsters Take Game 1 – Uher Bolts, Other Notes

Comments Off on Monsters Take Game 1 – Uher Bolts, Other Notes Posted by on June 2, 2016

How are you enjoying your summer?

Coupla notes to keep up with the goings on in the AHL and hockey world.

Lake Erie took Game 1 of the Calder Cup Finals in Hershey Wednesday by a score of 4-1. Daniel Zaar scored twice, and Anton Forsberg stopped 26 of 27 shots as the Monsters steal home ice from the Bears and snap Hershey’s five game winning streak in the postseason. Game 2 Friday in Hershey. Lake Erie plays a heavy game and had multiple breakaways in the contest. If you follow the AHL on Twitter, there were GIFs of the goals and some of the breakaways. Hershey will need to respond Friday or else they could be in deep trouble against a Lake Erie team that beat Ontario in the Western Conference Finals, and the Reign are probably the masters at playing the heavy game.

We have our first defection in the offseason. Dominik Uher, set to be a restricted free agent this summer, comes home and signs with HC Sparta Praha of the Czech League. After a shoulder injury cut short Uher’s season at the end of January and the ascension of names like Jake Guentzel, Uher would have been playing from behind on the depth chart come the Fall. He could continue to fight and scratch it out over here or go home and get paid tax free money playing in his own country. He chose the latter, and who could blame him?

The 2016 Offseason Moves List has been updated appropriately.

The Wheeling Nailers are up 2-1 on the defending champion Allen Americans in the ECHL Kelly Cup Finals after a 3-2 win Wednesday at WesBanco Arena. Ty Loney, Anton Zlobin and James Melindy all tallied in the contest and Franky Palazzese stopped 28 of 30 to give the Nailers the 2-1 series lead. Game 4 goes Friday.

Stay cool.

The AHL, WBS, Wheeling

Kostopoulos Returns 5/24

1 Comment Posted by on May 24, 2016

He’s back. Again.

Coal Street with the first major re-signing of the offseason, announcing Tuesday afternoon that team captain Tom Kostopoulos has signed on for the 2016-17 season.

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Here are some thoughts from Kostopoulos, as told to Coal Street.

And more to the WBS media…

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And a nice video montage on Kostopoulos, which I have to believe they had at the ready no matter what his decision was ultimately going to be.

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You have to wonder what type of free agents Kostopoulos will attract back to Coal Street this offseason. I’d imagine that there is a list of quality players that would love to play for Kostopoulos in Wilkes-Barre. Time will tell.

The 2016 Offseason Moves list has been updated for the first time this season.

WBS

Bye Bye from Boyd — Pens LOSE 3-2 (OT)

3 Comments Posted by on May 15, 2016

WBS        @       HER

2                                         3

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Pay attention.

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins have made it to the playoffs for fourteen consecutive seasons.

No other team in the AHL can make that claim.

The Penguins, in those 14 seasons of postseason hockey, have made it to the second round 13 of those 14 seasons.

No other team comes close.

Wilkes-Barre has two newspapers covering the team from all angles.

Some teams don’t have a single newspaper running a daily or a beat writer covering the team.

Every Penguins game is on terrestrial radio.

Most teams aren’t.

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins have a stable relationship with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Hell, half of the reason why the Pittsburgh Penguins are as far along in their postseason is because of guys like Matt Murray, Mike Sullivan, Conor Sheary, Tom Kuhnhackl, Derrick Pouliot. All started the season in the AHL with Wilkes-Barre.

You have the unthinkable occurring with the New England teams drying up. Portland? Gone. Springfield? Depends. Binghamton? Shaky ground.

Step back for a minute and drink all that in. What would you rather have? A Calder Cup or an AHL team that is the envy of the league and dare I say a premier destination for minor league hockey?

Ask anyone from Norfolk or Manchester. Both teams recently won the Calder Cup. Both had their teams ripped away from them. Now they are playing in the ECHL. Oklahoma City was a win away from the Calder Cup Finals last year and are now a barren wasteland for hockey. They don’t have a team or any prospects for one. Their fans have nothing to cheer for but for ECHL Wichita up north or some junior teams.

Perspective, is what I am saying. If you have read this blog for as long as I have been writing it, you know that I have said that the Penguins day will come. It isn’t this year. When it does, it becomes all the more sweeter.

And don’t let me hear you say that the Bears straight up beat the Penguins in Game 7 in overtime 3-2. It was close. The entire series was close. If this was a nine game series, it would have went 9. If it was 11, it would have went there, and on and on…

But here we find ourselves. With this series and this opponent with how the Penguins and Bears were matched up, there is nothing to hang your head on. The Bears and Penguins were two evenly matched teams. Someone had to win and someone had to lose. I had a feeling long ago that this would go seven and end in overtime of some kind. It did. The Penguins got caught on the losing end. It happens.

Full credit to the Hershey Bears on a hell of a series. It could have done either way. Run this series 100 times and you probably get a 50/50 split.

Thank you’s to come, but pop through the jump to read the game story first….

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Postgamer

Atlantic Division Final Game 7: Hershey Bears

Comments Off on Atlantic Division Final Game 7: Hershey Bears Posted by on May 15, 2016

 

@     her14_200

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Atlantic Division Final — Game 7

AHL Game: I7

Who: Hershey Bears

Where: Giant Center

When: 5:00 p.m.

Series: Tied 3-3 (Best of Seven)

Media Kit

Last Game: Friday in Game 6 the Penguins won 6-2. The line of Tom Kostopoulos, Jake Guentzel and Carter Rowney combined for 11 points and a +12 rating.

What to watch for: Sticking with the theme of the series and regular season, first goal. The team that has scored the first goal in every contest between these two teams has gone on to win the game. Who scores first tonight may be crucial in determining who advances.

Referee(s): Tom Chmielewski / Garrett Rank

Linesmen: Francois Dussureault / John Grandt

Twitter: @wbspenguins / @WBSGameDay / @TheHersheyBears

Facebook: /WilkesBarreScrantonPenguins // /TheHersheyBears

Instagram: wbspenguins / thehersheybears

Beat Writers: @CVSethLakso and @TLTomVenesky

Broadcasters: WBS: Mike O’Brien @MikeOBrienWBS / HER: Scott Stuccio @ScottStuccio

Fan Bloggers: @nafsnep / @ChocHockey

Radio: For WBS: WILK News Radio / For Hershey: 1460 The Ticket 

Television: AHL Live

Gameday

They Couldn’t Get One More? — Pens WIN 6-2

Comments Off on They Couldn’t Get One More? — Pens WIN 6-2 Posted by on May 13, 2016

HER        vs.        WBS

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My headline tonight was spoiled because had the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins scored seven goals the headline tonight would have been, “Using Seven to Get to Seven.”

But alas, here we are.

A 6-2 pasting of the Hershey Bears tonight as the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins force a Game 7 in a series ticketed for such since the end of Game 2.

If anyone expected anything different, they are crazy.

The only thing that I can’t get a handle on is what happens in Game 7. I have no idea. The series has gone the distance, yet I have no idea what to expect in the final game of the series. The team that has scored first has gone on to win since the beginning of the season. Does that change? No idea. Expect the unexpected.

Casey DeSmith opposed Justin Peters.

Jump through if you didn’t link in direct, lots of eye candy for you in this one.

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Postgamer

RAPID RECAP – Pens WIN 6-2

1 Comment Posted by on May 13, 2016

Tom Kostopoulos isn’t going out this way. 

In what could very well be his final season, a five point performance propels the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins to a 6-2 win which forces a deciding Game 7 Sunday in Hershey. 

Kostopoulos and his linemates Carter Rowney and Jake Guentzel swept three stars and combined had 11 points between them. 

The most complete 60 minute game I think I have ever witnessed. 

More to follow in a bit. 

Rapid Recap

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