Chirps from Center Ice

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

Category Archives: WBS

GAMEDAY: vs. Hershey 11/25

Comments Off on GAMEDAY: vs. Hershey 11/25 Posted by on November 25, 2011

vs. 

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Home Game: 9

AHL Game: 279

Who: Hershey Bears

Where: Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza

When: 7:05 p.m. EST

Media Kit

Last Game: This past Wednesday at home, the Pens lost to the Syracuse Crunch in a wild game 7-5. Bryan Lerg had two goals and a game high 9 shots on goal. For Hershey, this past Wednesday the Bears won at home vs. the Providence Bruins 4-3. Four different Bears scored goals while Keith Aucoin assisted on three of them.

Last Meeting: November 11 in Hershey, the Pens beat the Bears 4-3 in overtime. Simon Despres scored the game winner.

Record: For WBS: 10-5-1-3 (24 pts., 1st place East Division) For HER: 8-4-3-2 (21 pts., 2nd place East Division)

Why you should care: Penguins are slipping. Bears have come calling. If the Pens don’t watch, the Bears will beat the Pens, catch them in the standings and leave us all disappointed. John Hynes and crew are going to make sure that this does not happen.

Referee(s): Ryan Murphy

Linesmen: Jameel Chaudry / Leo Boylan

Twitter: @wbspenguins / @TheHersheyBears

Beat Writers: @CVBombulie / @timleone

Broadcasters: WBS: Tom Grace @TGracePens and Mike O’Brien @MikeOBrienWBS / HER: Scott Stuccio @ScottStuccio

Fan Bloggers: @nafsnep / @SweetestHockey

Radio: For WBS: 102.3 The Mountain / For Hershey: 1460 The Ticket

Television: AHL Live

Promotion(s): Dollar Dogs and Drafts – Eye Care Specialists Coats for Kids Collection

Other Game to Watch: Providence takes on Norfolk in Virginia this evening for the first of a doubleheader in Hampton Roads.

Next Five Games: @ BNG 11/26, @ NOR 11/29, POR 12/2, @ SYR 12/3, @ BNG 12/7

Gameday

First Quarter Grades

Comments Off on First Quarter Grades Posted by on November 24, 2011

So I managed to sneak away from Thanksgiving for a second to pass out some First Quarter Grades. The Penguins are 10-5-1-3 and currently lead the East Division with 24 points and sit second in the Conference overall.

We will break this down by Forwards, Defensemen and Goaltenders. Anyone who played gets a grade. Here we go:

Forwards:

Nick Petersen: In 12 games, Petersen shows 3-2-5 and a +6. Coming off of a concussion suffered in the rookie tournament in Ontario is learning the pro game. Out of all the rookies probably one whom the coaching staff trusts the most. Going to be fun seeing him develop. Grade: B

Brian Gibbons: In 18 games, Gibbons shows 5-8-13 and a +3. Small, quick, nice hands, will score some big goals. One of head coach John Hynes’ guys from the USA Hockey Development Program. Grade: B+

Ben Street: In 16 games, Street is 4-9-13 and a +6. Is our best option to score most nights. Took a while for him to find a goal and got two versus Syracuse this past Wednesday. Still a key contributor to this team. Grade: A

Zach Sill: 18 games played and shows a 2-1-3 and +1. Grit and guts centering a fourth line most nights. Not afraid to hit anyone.  He’s what you want your fourth line center to be. Grade: B

Colin McDonald: In 18 games has 4-12-16 and a +6. Was brought in for scoring after scoring 42 goals for Oklahoma City last year. I think he’s getting warm. If he gets on a roll, watch out. Grade: A

Geoff Walker: 12 games is 3-3-6 and even. If a chart was shown on a player’s performance Walker would be heading down right now. Coming off of a slight concussion. Walker is going to need to turn things around else he’ll get left behind. Grade: C+

Jason Williams: In 14 games, shows 3-10-13 and a +3. Runs the power play unit. More of a setup guy but I think he’s another guy that if he gets warm, he will get hot and may start scoring a lot of goals. Grade: B+

Bryan Lerg: 19 games for Lerg, 8-8-16 and +8. Is the teams best player. Can do it all for the team and is just an overall complete player. Got cold for a bit but that is a casualty to other teams scouting. Grade: A

Ryan Craig: 12 games, 2-1-3 and a +3. Craig had knee surgery and was back in two weeks, well before schedule. Most nights is the heart and soul of the team. As the captain, the leader of the team on the ice and off. Higher grade because of his quick recovery from surgery. Grade: B+

Matt Rust: 4 games 0-3-3 and +2. Has been hurt. Plays hard every night, or, plays like he doesn’t want to get shipped to Wheeling. Gotta love that. Grade: C+

Brandon DeFazio: In 17 games, is 2-1-3 and even. Most nights is a fourth /checking line winger. Coaching staff trusts him out there. Grade: B

Eric Tangradi: In 16 games is 8-6-14 and even. Is the teams first callup. Lots of eyes on this prospect. Can’t argue with performance. Only behind McDonald and Lerg in points on team by two. Grade: A-

Paul Thompson: 15 games, 3-4-7 and +6. Another first year rookie learning and adjusting to the pro game. He will make some mistakes but will learn from them. Grade: B-

Ryan Schnell: 4 games, 0-1-1 and +1. When here, is either a scratch. They want to have Schnell be the gritty fourth line banger. Sill and DeFazio are ahead of Schnell in this department however. Grade: C-

Niko Dimitrakos: After Keven Veilleux went down for the season with a knee injury, Dimitrakos was brought in and has played every game. 5-3-8 and a +3. Would Veilleux have the same numbers in the same amount of games? Probably not. But Dimitrakos is an adequate fill-in. Grade: B

Defensemen:

Joey Mormina: In 19 games, shows 2-1-3 and a -1. The -1 is a bit of a surprise, but Mormina is on this ice most nights against the oppositions best players. Grade: B-

Carl Sneep: Second year defenseman has played 18 games, 0-7-7 and a +7. He’s on track to be in Pittsburgh within the next two years provided he stays the course and doesn’t stray off track. Grade: A

Philip Samuelsson: 16 games, is 1-2-3 and +7. Sometimes seeing him play you’d think he belongs in Wheeling. I still think that once the defense in Pittsburgh heals up he will get sent down. Trial by fire so far for the rookie. Grade: B+

Cody Wild: Has played 11 games as has yet to register a point. Is +2. If Pittsburgh has a healthy blueline Wild isn’t even here in my opinion. Grade: C-

Robert Bortuzzo: 9 games, 1-2-3 and a +5. Plays shutdown defense. Played one game in Pittsburgh. Loves to block shots. You want him on the ice when the game is on the line. Grade: A-

Alex Grant: 7 games, 0-1-1 and +3. Really belongs in Wheeling. Is usually the scratch. Being a scratch and not playing and not making mistakes is really killing his development. Grade: D

Alexandre Picard: Teams best defenseman. 1-4-5 and a +10 in 10 games. Played up in Pittsburgh before returning this past week. If the other defenseman take Picard’s lead Wilkes-Barre could allow fewest goals in the league easily. Grade: A

Simon Despres: 19 games, 3-3-6 and a +2. Will be in Pittsburgh in a few years. Some nights looks great but has a tendency, at least to me, to take a few shifts off. More seasoned opponents feed off this and take advantage. Grade: B+

Gone but not forgotten…

This list is a group of players either up in Pittsburgh, or hurt. No Grades here.

Brian Strait: 5 games, 1-3-4 and a +6. Was called up to Pittsburgh and hurt. I can’t wait for him to get healthy and return. Some night’s his absence is as loud as the arena crowd.

Cody Chupp: 6 games, 0-2-2 and a +2. Is in Wheeling. Never saw anything above the fourth line. He’ll be back I think.

Dustin Jeffrey: In a two game conditioning assignment had one assist and was even. I think he dinged his knee up again at some point because he is back on injured reserve in Pittsburgh.

Devin DiDiomete and Steve MacIntyre: DiDiomete played two games and was shipped to Wheeling then was released. MacIntyre came down on conditioning and played four games and didn’t register a point but did this.

Goaltenders:

Scott Munroe: Has appeared in 6 games. Has two shutouts, a 2.25 GAA with a 0.904 SV%. Is a decent replacement to Thiessen and can be as good. Grade: B

Brad Thiessen: Has appeared in 16 games. Two shutouts, a 2.50 GAA and a 0.901 SV%. Will be in Pittsburgh next year. Numbers aren’t where he wants them to be. Expect him to change this in the next quarter and be back up among league leaders in GAA and save percentage. Grade: B

So there you all have it. Hope you enjoyed reading. If you agree, disagree or want to comment, please feel free.

Let’s Go Pens!

Quarterly Grades

Build Your Own Headline – Pens LOSE 7-5

1 Comment Posted by on November 23, 2011

Strange game tonight. Tons to get to. Lots to dissect. Pens lost this one 7-5 tonight. Lots of different ways to go at this one.

Scott Munroe vs. Iiro Tarkki. Boatloads of lineup changes after the disappointing weekend in New England. Carl Sneep, Brian Gibbons, Geoff Walker, Alex Grant and Paul Thompson all scratched.

First Period: Before you even could say “huh” the Pens were down 3-0. Scott Munroe had not made a single save. Kyle Palmieri, Rick Schofield and J-F Jacques all scored. Thiessen relieved Munroe. Then late, Palmieri struck again on the power play to make it 4-0 Syracuse. Final shots this period was 15-7 Wilkes-Barre.

Second Period: Matt Kennedy scored even strength to make it 5-0 Syracuse. He took a nice feed from Rick Schofield and went 5-hole on Thiessen. Then next shift Alex Picard fresh from Pittsburgh made it 5-1. But, Nicolas Deschamps pushed the lead back to five and made it 6-1. This made for six Syracuse goals on ten shots. Pens would miss a bunch of open nets but this was due to last second stick lifts by Syracuse blue liners. A flurry of goals from the Penguins would close out the period with Bryan Lerg getting one on a deflection of a Jason Williams point shot. Then, Zach Sill would score on a  wraparound to make it 6-3. Syracuse would take its time out and Bryan Lerg would score again to make it 6-4 on a nice wrist shot. Pens would run out of time in the period. It looked like late that Syracuse had no answers. 15+ minutes of this period was spent in the Penguins offensive zone.

Astute Twitter follower Sean Mc tweeted that Munroe was off the hook for the loss despite not recording a save.

Third Period: The effort was there, the urgency was not. I tweeted at the end of the second that next goal would win the game. That would come off of the stick of Peter Holland with Simon Despres in the box for holding the stick when all he needed to do was pass out of his defensive zone instead of trying a fancy dangle move. Late, John Hynes would use a strategy move I liked. With 5 minutes to go in the period and Wilkes-Barre on a power play he pulled Thiessen. At that point, why not? Syracuse had only 18 shots on goal at this point. Syracuse was unable to net the empty netter and Ryan Craig would make it 7-5. Wilkes-Barre would use its timeout but get no more goals.

Three Stars: 3) Bryan Lerg (2 goals, even, 9 shots) 2) J-F Jacques (goal, assist, +1, Gordie Howe hat trick) 1) Kyle Palmieri (2 goals, assist, +1)

Around the Division: Norfolk lost 6-3 to Charlotte. Hershey edged Providence 4-3. Binghamton was idle.

Standings: Hershey the winner of the evening with the two teams ahead of them losers. 1-WBS (24) 2-HER (21) 3-NOR (21) 4-SYR (19) 5-BNG (14)

Conference: 1-StJ (27) 2-WBS (24) 3-CT (23) 4-HER (21) 5-MCH (21) 6-MCH (21) 7-SPR (20) 8-ALB (20)

It’s going to be interesting what Bombulie’s take is on this one. For what it is worth, if you allow a team 18 shots on goal all game and score five goals of your own, you will win 98% of the time in this league. Penguins put 54 shots on goal tonight. Iiro Tarkki is a hell of a goaltender to begin with. Regardless, if WBS limits a team to 18 shots and even scores three goals it still probably wins a game.

It’s the peaks and valleys of a minor league hockey season. It happens. With all the success Wilkes-Barre has had these past two seasons, this performance with these stats was due.

Penguins are at the quarter pole on the season. I will try to get the First Quarter Grades out tomorrow as I have all the stats lined up. All it takes is getting everything down on paper and in the blog. If I run it tomorrow be prepared for nonstop tweets about it all weekend, as you’ll all probably miss it eating Thanksgiving dinner.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Let’s Go Pens!

Postgamer

GAMESDAY: vs. Syracuse 11/23

Comments Off on GAMESDAY: vs. Syracuse 11/23 Posted by on November 23, 2011

vs. 

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Home Game: 8

AHL Game: 265

Who: Syracuse Crunch

Where: Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza

When: 7:05 p.m.

Media Kit

Last Game: This past Sunday in Worcester the Pens lost 3-1. Eric Tangradi had a power play goal late in the game. For Syracuse, this past Saturday at home the Crunch lost 5-2. Patrick Maroon had a goal and was a +2 as the only bright spot in the loss.

Last Meeting: October 28 in Syracuse, the Pens won 5-3. Nick Petersen had a goal and an assist and was named the games first star.

Record: For WBS: 10-4-1-3 (24 pts., 1st place East Division) For SYR: 7-6-2-1 (17 pts., 4th place East Division)

Why you should care:  Pens are coming off of an anemic weekend. Yesterday’s practice was a tough one so expect some lineup changes. I would expect a focused effort by the home team this evening.

Referee(s): T. J. Luxmore

Linesmen: Scott Pomento / Jameel Chaudry

Twitter: @WBSPenguins / @SyracuseCrunch

Beat Writers: @CVBombulie / @PSCrunchHockey

Broadcasters: WBS: Tom Grace @TGracePens and Mike O’Brien @MikeOBrienWBS / SYR: Jason Lockhart @JLCrunch

Fan Bloggers: @nafsnep / @Allovimo

Radio: For WBS: 102.3 The Mountain / For Syracuse: The Score 1260

Television: AHL Live

Promotion(s): PA Lottery Night (first 2,500 fans 18 and older) – Remember Whensdays (1960s)

Other Game to Watch: Norfolk welcomes the Midwest Division leader Charlotte Checkers to the Scope this evening in what is sure to be a shootout as the two teams do not like each other.

Next Five Games: HER 11/25, @ BNG 11/26, @ NOR 11/29, POR 12/2, @ SYR 12/3

Gameday

Sharkbit. Pens LOSE 3-1

Comments Off on Sharkbit. Pens LOSE 3-1 Posted by on November 20, 2011

Pens played two games in two different cities in under two nights to shootout losses. Tonight showed that big time. Wilkes-Barre ran into a well rested Worcester Sharks team and were down 2-0 7:10 into the game and lost 3-1.

Brad Thiessen vs. Tyson Sexsmith. Robert Bortuzzo was the surprise scratch as he took warmups, but could have had swelling bad enough from a shot he took last night in Manchester to sit. Cody Wild was in for him.

First Period: Benn Ferriero scored while Thiessen was screened. Worcester pressed early in the game and it won them it. Later with Ryan Craig in the box for hooking, Ferriero scored again, under a lost the same circumstances (Thiessen screened) which would spell the end of Thiessen who would get relieved by Scott Munroe. To this point, Worcester took 7 shots on goal. The remainder of the period WBS would only allow them one. With 7:46 left in the first the Penguins only had two shots on goal. They would triple that to six as the period would end.

Second Period: Simon Despres turnover in his own zone lead to a 2-on-1 for Worcester which Brandon Mashinter would score on a hack and whack of his own rebound. Nothing really happened this period other than Bryan Lerg high sticking Nick Petrecki good enough for a 4:00 penalty. Wilkes-Barre would kill it off, however.

Third Period: Green flag hockey to start the period and before you knew it, it was 12:03 to run to the end of the period. Sexsmith saw everything and left little to no rebounds. Late, Eric Tangradi would spoil the Sexsmith shutout bid with :25 left.

Three Stars: 3) Brandon Mashinter (goal, +1) 2) Benn Ferriero (two goals, +1) and 1) Tyson Sexsmith (34 saves on 35 shots)

Around the Division: No one else skated tonight. Big missed opportunity because WBS had games in hand on the division.

Standings: Things stay the same as they were last night. 1-WBS (24) 2-NOR (21) 3-HER (19) 4-SYR (17) 5-BNG (14)

Conference: Could have got to one point behind St. John’s who was idle, but it looks like this: 1-StJ (27) 2-WBS (24) 3-SPR (20) 4-NOR (21) 5-ALB (20) 6-BRI (20) 7-CT (19) 8-ADK (19)

Interesting absence in this list is the Hershey Bears whom, if playoffs started today, would miss the playoffs. It’s November though.

WBS and the booster club are bussing home tonight. I’m sitting here in my hotel room in Worcester and will travel home tomorrow morning. WBS will have an off day tomorrow and will probably practice Tuesday for the Wednesday home game vs. Syracuse.

Updates here on the blog as content allows. A guy named Sidney is back in Pittsburgh, which could mean that WBS is getting a few forwards back. The question is how many and who.

Let’s Go Pens!!!

Postgamer

GAMEDAY: @ Worcester 11/20

Comments Off on GAMEDAY: @ Worcester 11/20 Posted by on November 20, 2011

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Away Game: 11

AHL Game: 257

Who: Worcester Sharks

Where: DCU Center

When: 4:00 p.m.

Media Kit

Last Game: Last night in Manchester, the Pens lost in a shootout 4-3. Ben Street had a regulation goal and an assist in the loss for WBS. For Worcester, on Friday in Manchester they lost in overtime 3-2. Matt Irwin had a goal and an assist in the OT loss.

Record: For WBS: 10-3-1-3 (24 pts., 1st place East Division) For WOR: 5-4-2-2 (14 pts., 5th place Atlantic Division)

Why you should care: Wilkes-Barre finishes up it’s three game road trip with a Sunday afternoon game in Worcester seeking it’s first win in it. The Pens have played the least amount of games in the East Division at current. No other East Division team is playing today. The Pens have lost two straight games in shootouts and want to win to finish out the the weekend to distance themselves from the rest of the division. Worcester should be well rested, having not played last night and will not go away easy. It’s going to take a focused effort to win this afternoon.

Referee(s): Terry Koharski / Jarrod Ragusin

Linesmen: Chris Aughe / Todd Whittemore

Twitter: @WBSPenguins / @WorcesterSharks / @SharksAHLInGame

Beat Writers: @CVBombulie

Broadcasters: WBS: Tom Grace @TGracePens and Mike O’Brien @MikeOBrienWBS / WOR: Eric Lindquist

Fan Bloggers: @nafsnep / @Darryl210

Radio: For WBS: 102.3 The Mountain / For Worcester: WTAG AM 580 / 94.9 FM

Television: AHL Live

Other Game to Watch: WBS is the only East Division team in action today. But keep an eye on Connecticut and Providence. With Springfield idle, a Connecticut win can put them in sole possession of third in the conference.

Next Five Games: SYR 11/23, HER 11/25, @BNG 11/26, @ NOR 11/29, POR 12/2

Gameday, Travel

Shot Down. Pens LOSE 4-3 in Shootout

Comments Off on Shot Down. Pens LOSE 4-3 in Shootout Posted by on November 19, 2011

Wilkes-Barre loses in a second consecutive shootout, this time 4-3 to Manchester. I liked WBS’ tenacity after getting scored on each time. Points are points, so we take them and move on.

Brad Thiessen vs. Jeff Zatkoff. Cody Wild was scratched for Alex Grant, Nick Petersen for Paul Thompson.

First Period: Early defensive problems from Wilkes-Barre. At times, it didn’t look like they knew up from down. It looked the opposite of last night, actually, where WBS was just mesmerized by the Manchester speed. Then Robert Bortuzzo and Jordan Hill fought. Bortuzzo got some good shots in but Hill got the takedown. Later, Rob Mignardi just trucked Tangradi into the Manchester bench. Referee Keith Kaval was ready to call a boarding penalty on Mignardi, but Geoff Walker came skating in and fought him. Walker ended up with a 2 minute instigator, 5 for fighting and a 10 minute misconduct for instigating, (read rule 46.10 in the AHL Rule Book for the full explanation) Mignardi, meanwhile, just got 2 for boarding and no power play would come out of it. Late, with Andrew Campbell in the box for a roughing call after a whistle and Jordan Nolan in the box for a hook, Niko Dimitrakos would score to put the Pens up 1-0.

Second Period: Seemed to start the period, none of the Penguins went to the net on power plays. Manchester killed off all carryover penalties then Linden Vey cleaned up a rebound to tie the game. Then, Andrew Campbell left unmarked on the Manchester blue line uncorked a laser beam to make it 2-1 Manchester. Almost right after, Ben Street would dig a puck off the wall and score to even things at 2.

Third Period: Pens came out buzzing. Zatkoff made three big saves in one shift. Manchester would hold true and then Jordan Nolan would score an odd power play goal with Joey Mormina in the box for high sticking. The puck would disappear for about 4 seconds. Everyone started cheering, the spotlight went on the Monarchs celebrating from above with no red light on, no point at the net from Kaval or anything. Then, all of a sudden the celebration happened and Manchester scored. Seemed that the puck died behind Thiessen and Nolan poked it home. Then right after again, Robert Bortuzzo would score to even things at three. Zatkoff was on his head again, but we would head to overtime.

Overtime: Actually started three on three with penalties in the third period. Marc-Andre Cliche and Ben Street had the best chances for their respective sides but no one would score and we’d head to a shootout.

Shootout: David Meckler and Marc Andre Cliche score for Manchester, Jason Williams scores to continue it. Thiessen has to save a Jordan Nolan attempt and does not and the Monarchs skate away with the extra point.

Three Stars: 3) Marc-Andre Cliche (shootout goal, even) 2) Ben Street (goal, assist, even) 1) Justin Azevedo (two assists, +1)

WBS could have folded up shop and went home with its tail between its legs after the second and third Manchester goals but they responded to tie things both times. Shootouts are crap shoots. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. These points will be remembered in April.

Around the Division: Norfolk loses in St. John’s 3-1. Albany defeats Hershey in a shootout 6-5. Syracuse loses 5-2 to Adirondack. Binghamton was dormant.

Standings: WBS inches up to three points over Norfolk, 24-21 respectively. Hershey has 19 points, Styracuse 17 points and idle Binghamton has 14 points for three through five.

Conference: 1-StJ (27) 2-WBS (24) 3-SPR (20) 4-NOR (21) 5-ALB (20) 6-ADK (19) 7-CT (19) 8-HER (19)

Wilkes-Barre plays in Worcester tomorrow at 4 pm, looking to get a win. Shootout loss point losses are meh, I want to get a win in Worcester tomorrow afternoon. Gameday for that will be up at high noon.

Let’s Go Pens!!!

Postgamer

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