Chirps from Center Ice

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

Category Archives: WBS

Rake Leaves; Burn Leaves

Comments Off on Rake Leaves; Burn Leaves Posted by on June 21, 2012

I have found that summer hockey blogging is like a leaf in your yard. You don’t burn one leaf every time you see one. You rake them all into a pile and then burn them (at least in my neighborhood) Much like summer hockey blogging, every tidbit of information seen isn’t worth its own blog post.

Never fear, NHL Draft is this weekend then the following weekend is the start of NHL Free Agency. I will do my best to stay on top of how each move directly / indirectly affects WBS from both inside (players signed, traded by PIT) and outside (players signed, traded by other East Division teams)

Here are some of the leaves I’ve gathered to fire off (or burn) another blog post:

–> In collaboration with the January 20, 2013 Outdoor Game in Hershey, the Bears announced an Alumni Game to be held the day before, much like the Alumni Game the Penguins held in their tenth anniversary. The only problem I see in this game is who will play goal. In the Penguins Alumni game, Scott Stuccio and David Weninger tended the nets for the Penguins Alumni. Not surprisingly, the Penguins didn’t announce any goaltenders in their own release. I have virtually no idea who the Penguins can call in for this Outdoor Alumni Game. If you do, comments are open.

–> Meet the new Wheeling Nailers coach, same as the old Wheeling Nailers coach.

–> Calder Cup Champions Mike Angelidis and J.P. Cote are heading to Syracuse. If I am reading the articles correctly, Cote signed an AHL deal while Angelidis re-signed an NHL deal with Tampa Bay.

–> Not officially announced, so no link here but Pittsburgh is expected to make qualifying offers to Robert Bortuzzo, Alex Grant, Carl Sneep, Brian Strait and Keven Veilleux. They aren’t going to offer Alex Picard or Cal O’Reilly and forgotten souls Boris Valabik, Casey Pierro-Zabotel and Mattias Modig.

–> Here is your WBS Penguins Season in Review for April.

–> Wilkes-Barre officially announces details on the October 13 college game between Penn State and American International College on Saturday October 13. If you are a full-share season ticket holder, you get a ticket to the game included with your season tickets which is pretty cool.

–> Jacob Micflikier, who terrorized the Penguins as a member of the Hershey Bears, Charlotte Checkers and Albany River Rats, is taking his talents overseas to Switzerland. The link is in German, untranslated, you are on your own playing “Fun with Babelfish.”

So that’s all I have compiled in the last six or so days. I will have a draft recap and any news on trades or whatever probably Sunday, or if it is something major possibly sooner than that. Penguins color commentator Mike O’Brien will actually be on the ground in Pittsburgh this weekend covering the Draft. Follow him for official updates @MikeOBrienWBS or at facebook.com/mikeobrienwbs

Stay cool.

Not AHL, Pittsburgh, The AHL, WBS

East Division Musical Chairs

2 Comments Posted by on June 14, 2012

What has been known for months was finally made official today as the Tampa Bay Lightning announced an affiliation agreement with the Syracuse Crunch.

It’s kind of a kick in the pants to a Norfolk Admirals fan because instead of trying to defend the Calder Cup with the same NHL partner, you have to essentially start over with a yet to be named NHL partner. But, these plans that were unveiled today were in the works well before the playoffs started and probably well before the Admirals went on there 28 game winning streak. But it still hurts if you are an Admirals fan.

I have been asked on Twitter what this means for both sides. If a player was under contract to Norfolk (on an AHL contract) they could return to Norfolk. If the player was under contract to Tampa Bay (on an NHL contract) they will end up in Syracuse if they don’t stick in Tampa Bay. The coaches will shift from Norfolk to Syracuse.

It is anticipated that Anaheim’s affiliation will end up in Norfolk, but that has not been announced yet.

My blog pals at Chairman How’s Glorious Army have reaction on their new affiliation partners.

Elsewhere:

–> Not all is lost for Norfolk fans, as the AHL PR department chimed in with this:

–> Mattias Modig, who was under contract with Pittsburgh as a restricted free agent and never played a single game for Wilkes-Barre, signed with Växjö in a Swedish league. I updated the 2012 Offseason Moves list and have the link taking you to the team website in Swedish over there.

–> Penguins Season in Review is up for March.

But for news on Friday, have a great weekend!

The AHL, WBS

A Six Pack Will Tide You Over*

1 Comment Posted by on June 13, 2012

Finally some material for the blog! Oh, the joy!

A good majority AHL teams have announced six guaranteed home dates for the 2012-2013 upcoming season. The Penguins joined the party today. Here they are:

Saturday, October 20, 2012 (home opener)
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Saturday, January 12, 2013

These dates will probably be forgotten in August when the AHL schedule is announced, but it is quality fodder for bloggers like me with nothing to blog about.

Looking at the late date for the home opener, it’s probably safe to say that the Penguins open the season on the road. I have seen a majority of teams announce guaranteed dates around October 12, October 13 so it may be safe to say that the AHL will kick it’s 77th season off that weekend. Of note the AHL started last year on October 7.

Elsewhere around the League:

–> The Norfolk Admirals know how to party hard. They also like Coors Light apparently.

–> Bravo to all 30 AHL clubs who have raised more that $3,000,000 for charity this year.

–> My buddy Eric P, late of the Wilkes-Blog, started his own Penguins website. Go have a see. I put a link up at the bottom left under “Other WBS / PIT blogs”

That’s all the well has this go around. I’m always around on Twitter and now on Facebook if you haven’t heard. Friend me if you haven’t already just to see how bad I am at it.

Enjoy the warm weather!

* – 21 means 21

The AHL, WBS

Baby, It’s Cold Outside

Comments Off on Baby, It’s Cold Outside Posted by on June 5, 2012

Penguins topics keep rolling in so for your reading enjoyment, I tender the following:

–> A few details revealed today regarding the January 20, 2013 outdoor game between the Hershey Bears and the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins at Hersheypark Stadium as far as tickets go. The Bears season ticket holders will get first crack on June 18 then Penguins season ticket holders will get their pre-sale June 26. It’s a Ticketmaster only event.

–> The Bears released the logo for the event:

—

–> The AHL announced today that you can watch the rest of the Calder Cup Finals between Norfolk and Toronto on television on the CBS Sports Network. It’s channel 613 on DirectTV. Game 3 is Thursday night.

–> Take a trip down memory lane with October, November and December WBS “Season in Review” recaps from this past season.

–> Announced today that ex-WBS, ex-PIT head coach Michel Therrien was named head coach of the Montreal Canadiens. Best remembered for this rant.

–> If you haven’t heard, I caved and joined Facebook. I don’t think I will ever completely figure it out over there. Read about why here.

–> Putting a bow on the poll I ran regarding the who will be in WBS crease come the fall, it looks like it is pretty split over who you think could or should be in the WBS come the fall. Thanks, as always, for your participation.

Latest always on Twitter, so if you have been redirected here from Facebook and aren’t following yet, do yourself a favor and follow me please!

Let’s Go Pens!

The AHL, WBS

What is it we do around here again?

Comments Off on What is it we do around here again? Posted by on June 4, 2012

With all this recent non-Penguin related topics being discussed on the blog I needed a refresher on what exactly the purpose of this blog is for. Let’s check the top of the page again: “A fan blog about the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins” – Oh. That. The Penguins. Right!

Anyway, the organization finally gave me some content to blog about. Today, they announced the signing of G Tomas Vokoun to a two year contract.

In reading the tea leaves, one could confidently surmise the following:

  • Brent Johnson’s days as backup to Marc-Andre Fleury are over.
  • The organization did not feel incumbent Brad Thiessen was NHL ready enough to offer him the backup role to Fleury.
  • Pittsburgh now has one of the best, if not the best 1-2 goalie combos in the NHL with the addition of Vokoun.

Thiessen is a Group VI unrestricted free agent. Having Vokoun inked in June means that he has all but played his final days in a Penguin sweater. He could test the market and see if there is a team out there willing to give him a shot at an NHL backup deal but realistically, there are only 60 of those jobs to be won in the NHL (30 teams carry two goaltenders) is Thiessen one of the 60 best goaltenders in North America right now?

So where does this leave the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton goal crease come the fall? Good question. Scott Munroe is an unrestricted free agent. Patrick Killeen is under contract but ideally could use another year of ECHL before he’s ready for AHL full time. What do you do?

I’ve decided to bust out the poll again and let you, the reader, decide what happens:

–

No matter what happens, could be a very interesting off season.

Let’s Go Pens!

Pittsburgh, WBS

Swiss Bear Swapping

Comments Off on Swiss Bear Swapping Posted by on May 29, 2012

Couple of notable AHL East Division moves and shoes dropping to keep up on. Here goes:

–> We have our first Penguin defection. Jason Williams tweeted today that he is signed for the next two years with Ambrì-Piotta in the NLA in Switzerland. Here is the already translated release from Ambrì for you.

The 2012 Offseason Moves chart has been adjusted accordingly.

–> If you really like having fun with translation machines, check this article out. It’s translated from Czech regarding Washington goalie Tomas Vokoun. In summary, he’s not planning on returning to the Caps in 2012-2013. This would mean that mean goaltender Braden Holtby could be graduated to the NHL.

–> Staying with Washington, they traded Chris Bourque to Boston on May 26 for Zach Hamill. Bourque is an unrestricted free agent. It was clear he was not returning to the Caps next year. Hamill is a bit of an underachieving forward. He was 8-13-21 and a +5 in 41 games for the Providence Bruins. He is a restricted free agent.

Good move for the Caps, because they get something for nothing basically.

I could have my next blog post tomorrow, or I could have my next blog post in ten days. Who knows. Up to date on Twitter as always. Keep cool.

The AHL, WBS

Summer Writing

Comments Off on Summer Writing Posted by on May 16, 2012

Check back on the blog occasionally for topics such as what you are about to read. Majority of these stories don’t warrant their own blog posts and some don’t even warrant being discussed at all. I guess I am just going to keep blogging to keep myself sharp.

Here goes:

–> Pittsburgh signed Reid McNeill to a three year entry level contract yesterday. From what I have seen / read on him, he is a mobile, steady defensive defenseman.

–> The AHL Conference Finals kickoff tomorrow. You know it’s Norfolk – St. John’s in the East and it’s Oklahoma City – Toronto in the West. It’s the top two seeds in both Conferences. Read all about it here.

–> Here’s my prediction for both series: Norfolk in six, Toronto in seven. We will see how wrong I am.

–> Interesting developments on the Twitter side if you don’t already follow that I haven’t mentioned here on the blog. The Allentown arena that is supposed to be built to house the Adirondack Phantoms is a mess. I’m not going to go into details as to why as I have really haven’t been paying attention to it. Anyway, a man by the name of Paul Carpenter wrote an article last week slamming Hershey and Wilkes-Barre as “podunk” towns. Today, he wrote a retraction after angry Bears and Penguins fans vilified him.

–> A funny exchange between two California ECHL teams:

https://twitter.com/StocktonThunder/status/202824406433660928
https://twitter.com/StocktonThunder/status/202825386776735744

–

Hilarious. Of note, the Bakersfield Condors were the only ECHL Western Conference team to not make playoffs this year.

–> Speaking of the ECHL, they look like they will grow by two tomorrow as the Central League’s Evansville Icemen and league champion Fort Wayne Komets have press conferences scheduled to announce (it’s forecasted) moves to the ECHL in 2012-2013.

–> Finally, decided to make a chart and add it to the tabs above on the blog to keep track of offseason moves for the Penguins. Should be a good project this summer. I will be adding the names and making a chart within 24 hours. I’ll tweet when it’s up and running.

Expect more of these kinds of posts as the summer wears. Gotta stay sharp.

Let’s Go Pens!

Not AHL, The AHL, WBS

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