Comments Off on GAMEDAY: vs. Springfield 1/5
Posted by nafsnep on January 5, 2018
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Who: Springfield Thunderbirds
Where: Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza
When: 7:05 p.m.
Last Game: Wednesday at home against Bridgeport, the Penguins won 3-2 in overtime. Wilkes-Barre battled back from a 2-0 deficit to start the third and tied it late on a Greg McKegg power play goal and Teddy Blueger scored the overtime game winner to win it for the Pens. For Springfield, the Thunderbirds beat the Hartford Wolf Pack in the Connecticut capital Saturday 5-4. Ex-Penguin Bobby Farnham had a pair of goals for the Thunderbirds in the win.
Last Meeting: December 13 in Wilkes-Barre, the Pens won 6-3. The Penguins used three goals in the third period to propel past the Thunderbirds.
Record: For WBS: 19-10-2-1 (41 pts., 3rd place Atlantic Division) // For BRI: 14-19-1-1 (30 pts., 8th place Atlantic Division)
Referee(s): Reid Anderson / Cameron Voss
Linesmen: James Tobias / J.P. Waleski
Why You Should Care: Can the Penguins keep the streak going against Springfield? The Pens will be looking for carbon copies of the last three games, keeping them close and trying to stay perfect on the penalty kill, to propel them past Springfield today.
Promotion(s): WBRE Fan Friday ($14 Tickets), Postgame Autographs, $2 Draft Beers (6-7:30 p.m.) / PA Lottery Giveaway (Fans 18 and older)
Other Game to Watch: Lehigh Valley visits Toronto. The Phantoms are looking to keep the heat on first place Providence.
Next Five Games: BEL 1/6, @ BEL 1/12, @ LAV 1/13, LV 1/17, @ PRO 1/19
Comments Off on That’s All-Star Casey DeSmith to You…
Posted by nafsnep on January 4, 2018
The American Hockey League announced on Thursday afternoon the playing rosters for the All-Star Classic which will be held in Utica, NY on January 28 and 29.
Staying with the four divisions that make up the “teams” that will compete in a round robin four on four and three on three tournament, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins will have two nominees head to Central New York in a few weeks.
Forward Daniel Sprong and Goaltender Casey DeSmith were named today. First selections for both. Sprong is in his rookie year, DeSmith his sophomore season. Release from Coral Street here.
Sprong is currently with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Here’s the Atlantic Division roster…
Team Atlantic: Chris Bourque (HER) Austin Czarnik (PRO) Tanner Fritz (BST) Alex Grenier (SPR) Danick Martel (LV) Daniel Sprong (WBS) Valentin Zykov (CHA) Sebastian Aho (BST) TJ Brennan (LV) John Gilmour (HFD) Jordan Binnington (PRO) Casey DeSmith (WBS)
Penguins are among the Providence Bruins, Bridgeport Sound Tigers and Lehigh Valley Phantoms to have two players represent their teams out of the 12 players selected for the Atlantic Division team. Hershey, Springfield, Charlotte and Hartford are only sending one representative.
DeSmith said his selection was unexpected because he didn't play in many games due to a few call-ups to Pittsburgh. He becomes the fourth consecutive WBS netminder to make the team. "It's a huge honor. It speaks to the goaltending strength the organization always has." https://t.co/YrkjpYqQ0u
Donatelli on Sprong's selection: "He probably could have had another three or four (goals) easy, if not five or six. Just a great dynamic scorer. We wish him the best. He came down here and worked his tail off. It wasn’t always easy; he went through some hard times.”
Sounds like Clark is speaking in past tense regarding Sprong. Your interpretation may vary.
The ECHL also named their All-Star squads. They are adopting the same format as the AHL this year. Their games are being held in Indianapolis this year and will be hosted by the Indy Fuel. Wheeling’s Cody Wydo, currently up with Wilkes-Barre, was the lone Nailer selected.
Notes from practice today…
Casey DeSmith was not at practice on Coal Street today. Donatelli told media that he’s essentially in purgatory and playing, “Should I Stay or Should I Go” by The Clash at his apartment on repeat waiting on whether he is being recalled to Pittsburgh. Only part of that last sentence is true, I’ll let you decide which is correct. Of note, Tristan Jarry participated in practice with Pittsburgh earlier. The Pens host the Carolina Hurricanes tonight before traveling to Brooklyn to take on the Islanders Friday.
Zach Trotman and Adam Johnson were also at practice at Coal Street today. I’d suspect that if a recall was going to be made, it would have been done already.
Sebastian Caron was at practice again today. The plan is to go with DeSmith and Anthony Peters this weekend, but if that can’t happen because Pittsburgh does recall DeSmith, then the plan is to go with Peters the starter and Caron the backup. Personally I find this plan nonsensical but as I always say, I blog about the team, I don’t run it.
Gameday setup for Friday’s matchup vs. Springfield, provided they are able to get here safely with the winter weather, hits the blog Friday at 3.
In case you don’t get the headline, Teddy Blueger is from Latvia. As I was walking into the game tonight a Pens promo person asked me if I wanted to participate in a Pens trivia game, the subject being Teddy Blueger. I politely turned the guy down. The question ended up being what country Teddy Blueger is from.
Blueger’s overtime game winning goal caps off a tumultuous game for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins. More on that in a minute.
The big news before the game was the announcement by the team that they signed Sebastian Caron to a PTO. Tristan Jarry left the game Tuesday night against Philly with an apparent injury. Casey DeSmith was not recalled today, but held out of the game likely at the request of the NHL team.
So why not recall the recently released Adam Morrison? Not that easy. Wheeling is down in Norfolk, who is in the direct path of that winter storm you may have heard of and most likely wasn’t available to be returned safely to Wilkes-Barre. Pens went the nostalgia route and signed a blast from the past to backup Anthony Peters in Sebastian Caron.
Extremely cheap move, in my opinion. There are 27 ECHL teams and all day to sign a guy who actively plays, get him in on a PTO and sit him down to watch an AHL game. Thankfully, Peters didn’t get injured tonight, because that would have been a disaster against a fifth place team hot on the Penguins tails. You may think it’s fun to see a guy you cheered for 12 years ago skate for your present day Penguins, but people pay money to watch this product. If the team isn’t putting forth the best possible product on the ice regardless of backup, that’s troubling.
Anyway. Pens win 3-2 in overtime against Bridgeport. Third win in a row for the Penguins, second in overtime.
Sound Tigers weren’t slouches tonight and weren’t slouches coming in. They hadn’t given up a power play goal in some time and have not allowed their opponents to have 10 or more shots in a period in some time either.
That all changed in the third period, however.
Anthony Peters opposed Christopher Gibson.
Lines were…
Zach Aston-Reese — J-S Dea — Ryan Haggerty
Garrett Wilson – Greg McKegg – Christian Thomas
Thomas Di Pauli – Teddy Blueger – Colin Smith
Cody Wydo – Jarrett Burton – Patrick McGrath
Andrey Pedan – Kevin Czuczman
Jeff Taylor – Jarred Tinordi
Chris Summers – Ethan Prow
Anthony Peters – Sebastian Caron
First Period: Bridgeport scored on their first power play of the night. Travis St. Denis from the near dot on a one timer that gave the Sound Tigers a 1-0 lead.
Later, Sound Tigers doubled their lead when a Kyle Burroughs shot rebounded to Michael Dal Colle.
Wilkes-Barre settled a bit, got a power play that they got close on a few times but didn’t score. They killed a late Garrett Wilson penalty.
Second Period: Penguins only muster four shots at Gibson in the period that featured no scoring. Couple power plays for each side but nothing to write home about.
Third Period: Thomas DiPauli appears to have scored a goal on the backhand to break the Gibson shutout, but referee Furman South washed the goal out immediately because Colin Smith was standing in the blue paint. South applied rule 69.3 from the AHL Rulebook.
In part, from the rule book,
69.3 Contact Inside the Goal Crease – If an attacking player initiates contact with a goalkeeper, incidental or otherwise, while the goalkeeper is in his goal crease, and a goal is scored, the goal will be disallowed.
If a goalkeeper, in the act of establishing his position within his goal crease, initiates contact with an attacking player who is in the goal crease, and this results in an impairment of the goalkeeper’s ability to defend his goal, and a goal is scored, the goal will be disallowed.
If, after any contact by a goalkeeper who is attempting to establish position in his goal crease, the attacking player does not immediately vacate his current position in the goal crease (i.e. give ground to the goalkeeper), and a goal is scored, the goal will be disallowed. In all such cases, whether or not a goal is scored, the attacking player will receive a minor penalty for goalkeeper interference.
If an attacking player establishes a significant position within the goal crease, so as to obstruct the goalkeeper’s vision and impair his ability to defend his goal, and a goal is scored, the goal will be disallowed.
For this purpose, a player “establishes a significant position within the crease” when, in the Referee’s judgment, his body, or a substantial portion thereof, is within the goal crease for more than an instantaneous period of time.
For what it’s worth, I didn’t see any of those parameters applied there. Donatelli told media post game that it wasn’t a play that could be reviewed and he’s right, it can’t be because that is in the rule book.
That controversial call seemed to light a fire under the Penguins.
The Penguins finally do score a clean goal when Ryan Haggerty scored off of an initial shot from Zach Aston-Reese that knuckled and handcuffed Gibson to put the Penguins on the board legally, and it was a 2-1 game.
Penguins on a last minute power play with Peters pulled score to tie the game when Garrett Wilson fed Greg McKegg in the slot to tie the game. That was the first power play Wilkes-Barre has scored in eight games, breaking Bridgeport’s streak of 33 straight kills in the process.
Overtime: In overtime and the momentum flowing, Pens capitalize on a turnover and Teddy Blueger scores through the five hole of Gibson to end it.
Hell of a way to battle back. Credit the Penguins for sticking around with Bridgeport and quickly erasing a two goal deficit.
Three Stars: 3) Zach Aston-Reese (credited with the initial goal which was later switched to Haggerty, Aston-Reese had an assist and was +1) 2) Greg McKegg (power lay goal, even) and 1) Teddy Blueger (overtime game winning goal, +1)
In the division, they all watched us.
Standings: Providence (.703 percentage points) — Lehigh Valley (.657) — Penguins (.641) — Charlotte (.632) — Bridgeport (.563) — Hershey (.486) — Hartford (.471) — Springfield (.429)
Wheeling Update: The Nailers are in Norfolk tonight and lost in overtime 3-2. Christian Horn had a hat trick for the Admirals, Riley Bourbonnais and Kevin Schulze scored for the Nailers in the loss. Colin Stevens took the overtime loss for Wheeling.
Video Highlights:
Wilkes-Barre hosts Springfield Friday. I may come here to mention the recalls (if any) made by Pittsburgh Thursday. If not, check out the Gameday setup with the Thunderbirds Friday at 3.
Comments Off on GAMEDAY: vs. Bridgeport 1/3
Posted by nafsnep on January 3, 2018
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Who: Bridgeport Sound Tigers
Where: Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza
When: 7:05 p.m.
Last Game: Saturday in Hershey, the Penguins won in overtime 2-1. Dominik Simon scored the goal in overtime for the Pens. For Bridgeport, the Sound Tigers shout out Binghamton at home 5-0. Christopher Gibson had a 19 save shutout.
Last Meeting: Bridgeport beat the Penguins 3-2 in overtime on December 16. Sebastian Aho scored the overtime goal against the Penguins.
Record: For WBS: 18-10-2-1 (39 pts., 4th place Atlantic Division) // For BRI: 16-12-2-1 (34 pts., 5th place Atlantic Division)
Referee(s): Furman South / Micheal Sheehan
Linesmen: Libor Suchanek / Jud Ritter
Why You Should Care: Important Atlantic Division matchup taking place in Wilkes-Barre tonight against a 4th place team in the Penguins and a 5th place team in Bridgeport. Penguins are without some players today because of call-ups to Pittsburgh and Bridgeport is coming off of a strong 5-0 shutout of a terrible Binghamton team, so it should be an interesting game tonight. The key to the Penguins success is going to be what got them wins on Friday and Saturday last week; be good on the penalty kill, get ahead and keep the game tight.
Promotion(s): None
Other Game to Watch: Pens / Sound Tigers is the only game in the division tonight. Milwaukee hosts a Grand Rapids team on the rise tonight. Griffins are a win away from getting back to .500.
Next Five Games: SPR 1/5, BEL 1/6, @ BEL 1/12, @ LAV 1/13, LV 1/17
Comments Off on Busy Tuesday 1/2
Posted by nafsnep on January 2, 2018
Hope you all had a great New Year, lots to get into, so gets get going.
Pittsburgh sent a trio of players down to Wilkes-Barre on Monday, Casey DeSmith, Andrey Pedan and Garrett Wilson were returned while Pittsburgh recalled Dominik Simon. Simon was a man against boys Saturday in Hershey when Pittsburgh swapped him for Daniel Sprong, who the Pens recalled earlier that day. Simon scored the overtime game winning goal against the Bears.
Pittsburgh continues to struggle offensively and while Sprong’s two-way game hasn’t rounded into complete form, everything I have read from the brass up top was that his scoring is a punch that the NHL team desperately need. My take is that with Simon wrecking shop against the Bears in Hershey, that the Pens find a way to get the duo into the lineup and start winning games. Pittsburgh visits Philadelphia tonight.
Wilkes-Barre recalled Cody Wydo and Reid Gardiner Tuesday morning, after their brief stint with the Nailers on Saturday.
In a separate transaction, with DeSmith back in town, the Pens released Adam Morrison from his PTO. Morrison returns to Wheeling.
Michael Leighton was not at practice Tuesday, according to Pens media, Casey DeSmith was in one net and Anthony Peters was in the other.
Tom dropped in with injury updates….
WBS Injury update: Gage Quinney (upper body) could return this weekend – not the case for Sestito, Bengtsson, Kostopoulos and Leighton who are all week-to-week
In a move that had no effect on the AHL Penguins, the Wheeling Nailers traded their fourth leading scorer, Hunter Fejes, to Orlando for Chris Francis and Michael Turner, who combined have a total of eight points between them. Fejes, the one constant for the Nailers this year amongst a turnstile of recalls to Wilkes-Barre, had 14 goals and 14 assists for 28 points with the Nailers.
Seems strange to me, but then again, I don’t manage or coach these teams, I just blog about them.
Finally, Daniel Sprong was named AHL Rookie of the Month for December. Sprong had nine goals, three of them game winners and five assists good for 14 points in 12 games. Sprong joins John Curry and Jake Guentzel as former Penguins to be named rookie of the month. Amazingly, Guentzel and Curry were both rookies of the month of December as well. Must be something about that month.
Pens are back in action Wednesday at 7 against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, Gameday setup hits here Wednesday afternoon at 3.
Comments Off on AHL Power Rankings: Week 13
Posted by nafsnep on January 1, 2018
Happy New Year everyone and the Week 13 Chirps from Center Ice AHL Power Rankings are due.
After a hiccup Saturday, the Manitoba Moose are still your number one team as we flip to 2018.
A bit of a shake up to the rest of the top five as Toronto drops out and Lehigh Valley drops in. Providence is your new number two, Rochester drops to number three, Lehigh Valley debuts as number four and Charlotte remains in fifth.
After the Checkers, take a look at six on back if you didn’t link in here direct.
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Last Week: SJ 3 @ MTB 2, SJ 2 @ MTB 5
16 game point streak ended Saturday in Game 1 against San Jose, but the Moose responded back with aplomb and won Game 2, keeping the Moose number one again.
n/a
This Week: @ CHI 1/5, @ IA 1/6
Record: 24-6-1-2
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Last Week: PRO 5 @ UTI 4 (SO), PRO 3 @ UTI 1, PRO 2 @ BEL 3 (OT)
P-Bruins did what they needed to do this week, mining points out of every contest. Busy week coming upon with some hungry teams on the menu.
+1
This Week: vs. HFD 1/5, @ SPR 1/6, vs. SYR 1/7
Record: 21-8-3-0
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Last Week: LAV 3 @ RCH 1, RCH 2 @ TOR 0, LAV 4 @ RCH 2
Despite going 1-2 for the week, the Amerks have chased down the Marlies for the top spot in the North which Toronto holds, for now.
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This Week: vs. BRI 1/5, vs. LV 1/6
Record: 20-8-3-3
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Last Week: LV 5 @ WBS 4, CHA 1 @ LV 3, CHA 5 @ LV 2
Split a pair with the Checkers. Head to the class of the North Division this week.
+5
This Week: @ TOR 1/5, @ RCH 1/6
Record: 21-10-2-2
5
Last Week: CHA 2 @ BNG 6, CHA 1 @ LV 3, CHA 5 @ LV 2
1-2 this week, lost ground on first place Providence. A pair this week with Hershey, looking to make up that ground.
Comments Off on Simon Says Overtime Goals — Pens WIN 2-1 (OT)
Posted by nafsnep on December 30, 2017
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The big news in the organization today was the recall of Daniel Sprong to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Sprong, coming off of his second hat trick of the season last night, earns his first recall of the season. Pittsburgh sent Dominik Simon back in the transaction. In an unrelated move, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins recalled Cody Wydo and Reid Gardiner from Wheeling about an hour after the Sprong news.
I wrote that paragraph at around 6:10 p.m. Saturday night. Fast forward about three hours and it’s the aforementioned Simon that completely asserts himself in the contest with the Hershey Bears tonight, scoring the game winning goal in overtime to propel the Penguins past their I-81 rivals by a score of 2-1.
So the Penguins sweep the weekend and close out 2017 on a winning note.
Here’s how they lined up tonight…
Zach Aston-Reese — J-S Dea — Ryan Haggerty
Thomas Di Pauli – Greg McKegg – Dominik Simon
Adma Johnson – Teddy Blueger – Colin Smith
Cody Wydo – Jarrett Burton – Freddie Tiffels
Jarred Tinordi – Ethan Prow
Kevin Czuczman – Zach Trotman
Kevin Spinozzi – Chris Summers
Anthony Peters – Adam Morrison
Lineup Notes: Thomas DiPauli returned from his four game absence and Dominik Simon made it in time from North Carolina last night and those two were in for Gage Quinney and Daniel Sprong. Ethan Prow replaced Jeff Taylor on defense. Cody Wydo was in for Patrick McGrath on the fourth line. Reid Gardiner joined Taylor, McGrath and Quinney on the healthy scratch list.
First Period: No scoring in the period, but the Penguins dominated the play in the period and the difference maker was the play and passing from Dominik Simon. If he wasn’t setting up his teammates, he was creating chances. He drew a penalty and in the power play that ensured, the Penguins spent the entire time in the zone and fired shot upon shot on Bears starting goaltender Vitek Vanecek.
Second Period: Anthony Peters was dialing in, stopping a Wayne Simpson breakaway and the follow-up rebound.
Right around the mid-point of the second period, Zach Aston-Reese put one home for the Pens to give them a 1-0 lead.
This game featured tow things. Physicality and goaltending. Jarred Tinordi laid a hit on a Bear right at center ice that set up a three on one for Hershey. Anthony Peters stopped it. Then the Penguins had to kill two penalties late and did so successfully thanks in part to shot blocking and saves made by Anthony Peters.
Third Period: Penguins were perfect last night on the penalty kill against the Hartford Wolf Pack and perfect again tonight against the Hershey Bears. Seconds after their fourth kill of the night on the Bears power play, Ty Graovac scored to tie the game on this goal…
Penguins got a power play but were not able to score on it. Later, J-S Dea thought he scored but replay confirm that the puck did not cross the goal line. Teams traded late penalties, but it was off to…
Overtime: Dominik Simon raced past all three Bears defenders and that was your ballgame…
🚨GAME-WINNING GOAL GIF🚨 – New number, same result – Dominik Simon wins it in OT in Hershey. pic.twitter.com/4jDVd2a3bE
Pens are off now until Wednesday when they host the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. I’ll have the Week 13 AHL Power Rankings up at a special time on Monday and that time will be at noon. Check them out then. Have a safe New Year.
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WBS News
Chirps from Center Ice 