Chirps from Center Ice

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

GAMEDAY: @ Cleveland 10/11

Comments Off on GAMEDAY: @ Cleveland 10/11 Posted by on October 11, 2018

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Who: Cleveland Monsters

Where: Quicken Loans Arena

When: 7:00 p.m.

Last Game: This past Saturday in their home opener, the Penguins defeated the Springfield Thunderbirds 3-2 vis shootout. Zach Aston-Reese scored in regulation and in the shootout round. For Cleveland, the Monsters were in Toronto on Monday as the Marlies raised their 2018 Calder Cup Championship banner and spoiled the homecoming for the defending champs, handing the Marlies a 5-3 loss. Zac Dalpe had a pair of goals.

Record: For WBS: 1-0-0-0 (2 pts., 4th place Atlantic Division) // For CLE: 3-0-0-0 (6 pts., 1st place North Division)

Referee(s): Brandon Biggers / Michael Markovic

Linesmen: Ray King / Brendan Lewis

Why You Should Care: Big tests for both sides tonight in The Land. The Penguins are coming off a tough battle that they walked away from victorious Saturday against a good Springfield team and the Monsters sit atop the North Division after jumping out to a 3-0 start. Wilkes-Barre can’t underestimate Cleveland and the Monsters want to see how they stack up against one of the AHL’s better franchises. Should be a good one tonight.

Listen: Nick Hart on the call on WILK.

Watch: AHLTV is new and improved and a lot cheaper.

Other Game to Watch: They will all be watching us as it’s the only game on the schedule.

Next Five Games: @ CLE 10/13, vs. HER 10/17, @ LV 10/19, vs. LV 10/20, vs. HER 10/26

Gameday

AHL Power Rankings: Week 1

Comments Off on AHL Power Rankings: Week 1 Posted by on October 11, 2018

Back for another season on a different day are the Chirps from Center Ice AHL Power Rankings.

In the short term, we are going to run these on Thursday’s. They debuted at 10 am today because of the later Penguins game in Cleveland tonight, but that time may change to noon or sometime in the afternoon. I may stick with 10 am or go with noon. I may not even like Thursday’s, but it seems to work because it is one of the lightest days on the AHL schedule.

Anyway, I hope you like the new change.

So to this weeks Rankings, don’t look at the top. We have the Charlotte Checkers as the number one team over the only 3-0 team in the AHL in Cleveland. These early Rankings are just setups for 10 weeks from now and onward. Is Lehigh Valley really a mid-table team? No. I will tell you that right now. Are we overestimating Springfield? Probably, but that’s not for me to say for certain as these teams get into their schedules.

Iowa debuts at third. They dismantled a Moose team that did the same to Central Division foes last season.

A surprising Binghamton team is fourth followed by San Jose in fifth who lead their, “they don’t play as many games as we do” division.

After the Barracuda, jump through to see the rest if you didn’t link in direct. Enjoy!

1

 Last Week: CHA 6 @ RCH 2, CHA 4 @ RCH 2
Impressive start for the Checkers, who rolled into Rochester and took away all four points. Trip through New York continues this week with Utica and Syracuse.

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 This Week: @ UTI 10/12, @ SYR 10/13
Record: 2-0-0-0

2

 Last Week: RFD 1 @ CLE 4, RFD 2 @ CLE 5, CLE 5 @ TOR 3
Cleveland off to surprising 3-0 start. Big test coming this weekend when Wilkes-Barre stops by for the first time in a long while.

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 This Week: vs. WBS 10/11, vs. WBS 10/13
Record: 3-0-0-0

3

 Last Week: MTB 1 @ IA 4, MTB 1 @ IA 8
Tim Army’s group is 2-0 after week one and smoked the Moose quite handedly in both contests last weekend. Light schedule this week when Texas comes in Friday.

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 This Week: vs. TEX 10/12
Record: 2-0-0-0

4

 Last Week: TOR 5 @ BNG 7, HFD 3 @ BNG 5
Something is brewing in Binghamton, who are off to a 2-0 start. Three on the road this week.

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 This Week: @ LAV 10/12, @ LAV 10/13, @ BEL 10/17
Record: 2-0-0-0

5

 Last Week: ONT 1 @ SJ 4, SJ 5 @ BAK 1, BAK 3 @ SJ 2 (SO)
Good start for Roy Sommer’s crew. Barracuda sit atop the Pacific after the first week.

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 This Week: @ STK 10/13, vs. TUC 10/15
Record: 2-0-0-1

Read more of this post

Power Rankings

Tuesday Notes 10/9

Comments Off on Tuesday Notes 10/9 Posted by on October 9, 2018

What you see below was a Facebook status update. I didn’t think I had enough to string together for a blog post, but after I finished I looked at it and figured it was so here goes…

– Pens made cuts – sent Dane Birks, Kevin Spinoza and Cam Brown to Wheeling on Sunday.

– Pens had a goalie controversy until they didn’t. Matt Murray is out with a concussion (again, his third) and Tristan Jarry is on his way back up.

– I upgraded to a five year plan with the Penguins. The early access, my own line and parking spot put me over the top.

– As some of you may know, the Power Rankings will be out Thursday. I’m not married to Thursday’s yet, but I’m not staying up late on Sunday to run them on Monday anymore. May run them Tuesday, but Thursday it is for now.

– Pens are going to be on NHL Network later in the season. Way later, March 13 and April 7 in Lehigh Valley against the Phantoms.

That’s all. Pens are the only game in town when they play a rare Thursday game in Cleveland. More then.

About Me, Pittsburgh, The AHL, WBS, Wheeling

Birds Battle — Pens WIN 3-2 (SO)

Comments Off on Birds Battle — Pens WIN 3-2 (SO) Posted by on October 6, 2018

       vs.       

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This one was fun.

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins battled the Springfield Thunderbirds tooth and nail tonight in Wilkes-Barre for the Penguins season opener. The Thunderbirds are going to be good this year and Michael Hutchinson is going to win them a lot of games. They didn’t disappoint, but it was the Penguins coming away with the two points with a 3-2 shootout win over Springfield.

When Tristan Jarry was re-assigned by Pittsburgh Friday, I thought that was the end of Anthony Peters here in Wilkes-Barre with John Muse already here on an NHL contract.

You will have to pry Anthony Peters out of the net with a crowbar. He was excellent. Sending him to the ECHL would be a waste of his talents, quite honestly.

Zach Aston-Reese didn’t have the best training camp with Pittsburgh so they sent him back to the AHL to work on things. Scoring a goal in regulation? Check. Scoring a goal in the shootout to help your team win? Check.

The only bit of concern was once again the power play. Wilkes-Barre could not score on the power play at opportune times and was 0-for-4 for the night.

Lines were…

Garrett Wilson / Adam Johnson / Jimmy Hayes
Zach Aston-Reese / Sam Lafferty / Anthony  Angello
Thomas Di Pauli / Teddy Blueger / Ryan Haggerty
Tobias Lindberg / Linus Ölund / Sam Miletic

Chris Summers / Stefan Elliott
Will O’Neill / Zach Trotman
Matt Abt / Ethan Prow

Anthony Peters / John Muse

Notes: The Penguins signed Matt Abt and Renars Krastenbergs to AHL contracts. Krastenbergs was sent to Wheeling….also this:

https://twitter.com/ScottStuccio/status/1048693147637874688

I knew that this was going to happen when Obie moved on leaving a spot open on color commentary. Stuccio won’t be at all the games, but will be filling in from time to time and it’s great to have him back.

First Period: Had everything. Goals, fights, more goals, more fights. Thomas DiPauli spilled a puck in the first minute of the game and Paul Thompson struck just :36 into the new season.

Thank you again to Taylor for first GIFing these things and second allowing me to run them here.

Ethan Prow scored the first Penguins goal of the season a few minutes later for the Penguins on a shot from the point that Hutchinson had to have been screened on and it was a tie game.

Zach Aston-Reese got the Penguins ahead with a nice curl and drag move here.

Hutchinson got most of it, but not all of it.

Then, all hell broke loose.

Garrett Wilson and Joel Lowry fought setting off an end of a period that had featured 46 PIMs.

Springfield’s penalty box had about six players in it at one point but the Penguins weren’t able to score on the power play. I said this at the end of the period…

Second Period: Thunderbirds connect on a power play half way through when a pin balling puck eludes Peters. Paul Thompson again, and it’s a brand new hockey game…

Penguins had a scare late when a puck dribbled through Peters but never crossed the line entirely. Pens killed a late power play and it was off to the…

Third Period: Goalie battle. Neither willing to give an inch. Michael Hutchinson was an offseason acquisition for the Florida Panthers from the Winnipeg Jets / Manitoba Moose and comes as good as his accolades with the Moose last year showed. But staring him down from 200 feet in the opposite direction was Anthony Peters, no slouch in his own right. No team scored here in the third, the Penguins had a late power play come and go.

Overtime: Anthony Peters with a ten baller here…

Aston-Reese came inches from ending it with 1.7 left but couldn’t get the extra oomph (I can say oomph on a blog, you couldn’t do that in a newspaper) to put it across the line and be the overtime hero.

Shootout: Zach Aston-Reese with the only goal. Anthony Peters stopped all three shooters he faced.

Three Stars: 

That graphic there saves me time. If anyone on Coal Street reads the blog, please keep doing this.

Around the Division: Charlotte, with an impressive weekend, sweeps a two game series with Rochester after a 4-2 win over the Amerks in Rochester tonight…Lehigh Valley beats a Bridgeport team that is built to contend 6-3…Providence coughs up a stunning 3-2 loss to the Laval Rocket, the Bruins are 0-2 to start the year…Hershey has their home opener spoiled by Syracuse with a 3-2 loss. Hartford was off.

Standings: Early days. No more percentages. It goes Charlotte with 4, Lehigh Valley, Hartford and Wilkes-Barre with 2, Springfield with 1 and Bridgeport, Hershey and Providence with 0.

Wheeling Update: Nailers are still in preseason, they get going next weekend.

If Coal Street runs a highlight package, I will edit it in here. I am probably going to cut my own for road games and stuff with the AHLTV platform. But it’s late, there were audio issues on AHLTV tonight in house and I want to get this gamer out at a reasonable hour so I could sit and cut up the stuff, but would rather just push this out now vs. try to do it all and and add it in.

Pens are off til Monday. My Power Rankings won’t run until Thursday. I am moving them there, for now, to see how it goes for me. It became way to strenuous on me on Sunday night’s trying to sort out and build the Rankings. Sometimes I would be sitting at the computer for 6 plus hours if the Penguins were playing on Sunday’s. I don’t want to do that anymore so Thursday it is. We will see how it goes.

Pens plan on making roster moves before they hit the road for two in Cleveland next weekend so when that news breaks, look for it here. Those games in Cleveland are next Thursday and Saturday.

Let’s Go Pens!

Postgamer

RAPID RECAP – Pens WIN 3-2 (SO)

Comments Off on RAPID RECAP – Pens WIN 3-2 (SO) Posted by on October 6, 2018

Pain that it ended in a shootout, cause these two teams match up well.

Goalie battle for the ages. Michael Hutchinson and Anthony Peters were outstanding. Penguins have three goalies on the roster, Peters you would think is the odd man out, he’s earned his stay here in Wilkes-Barre.

Springfield is going to be good this year. Their play and their goaltender will win them a lot of games.

Zach Aston-Reese had a regulation and shootout goal and the Penguins take the extra point.

Full work up in a bit.

Rapid Recap

GAMEDAY: vs. Springfield 10/6

Comments Off on GAMEDAY: vs. Springfield 10/6 Posted by on October 6, 2018

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Who: Springfield Thunderbirds

Where: Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza

When: 7:05 p.m.

Last Game: This is the first regular season game for both teams.

Record: For WBS: 0-0-0-0 (– pts., – place Atlantic Division) // For SPR: 0-0-0-0 (– pts., – place Atlantic Division)

Referee(s): Conor O’Donnell / Mike Sheehan

Linesmen: Ryan Knapp / J.P. Waleski

Why You Should Care: First game of the season always brings optimism. Standing in the way is a vastly improved in offseason Springfield Thunderbirds team that could contend this season. Take nothing from the 3-0 preseason that the Penguins played last weekend. The real season starts tonight against a very dangerous Springfield Thunderbirds team.

Listen: Nick Hart on the call on WILK.

Watch: AHLTV is new and improved and a lot cheaper.

Promotion(s): Opening Night / Geisinger Magnetic Schedule

Other Game to Watch: Lehigh Valley opens their Atlantic Division Championship defense against another strong and rebuilt team from the offseason in the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

Next Five Games: @ CLE 10/11, @ CLE 10/13, vs. HER 10/17, @ LV 10/19, vs. LV 10/20

Gameday

Oh Captain!

1 Comment Posted by on October 5, 2018

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins made the worst kept secret official Thursday afternoon when they announced that Garrett Wilson was named playing captain for the 2018-19 season. Chris Summers will serve as the alternate and they will rotate the third “A”.

Good on Wilson, who is seen as a leader on and off the ice.

Wilson joins a number of ex-Penguins to wear the, “C” around the AHL. Colin McDonald is captain in Lehigh Valley, Kevin Porter in Rochester and yesterday the Milwaukee Admirals named Jarred Tinordi their captain.

Philip Samuelsson signed on with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Samuelsson led AHL defenders in +/- last season and this is a big time get for the reigning, defending, undisputed Atlantic Division Champions in Lehigh Valley. Wilkes-Barre sees the Phantoms twice in October.

That’s all. If something breaks later I’ll have a blurb. If not, tonight is opening night in the AHL. I will be playing around with the new AHLTV streaming that the League touted this summer on the computer, my iPhone and Apple TV.

EDIT: Tristan Jarry was re-assigned to Wilkes-Barre by Pittsburgh on Friday afternoon. Interesting decisions ahead now for the coaching staff on Coal Street regarding who to start in goal and who to cut. In my opinion, at least in the short term, the answer is simple. It’s John Muse. Peters will be assigned to Cincinnati of the ECHL (who have his rights) sometime next week when the ECHL’s regular season gets going a week from now. When in doubt, go with the guy(s) with the NHL contracts.

Oh, and on the subject of ex-Penguins as Captains elsewhere in the AHL, Derrick in the comments below reminded me of Paul Thompson and the Springfield Thunderbirds. Add another name, as Cal O’Reilly was named captain of the Iowa Wild in advance of their opener Friday with the Manitoba Moose.

Gameday setup for Saturday’s opener hits here Saturday at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!

The AHL, WBS

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