Last Game: Tuesday at home against Hartford, the Penguins won 3-2. The win snapped a brief two game losing streak the Penguins had brought with them into that game. For Hershey, the Bears last played on New Years Eve at home against the Providence Bruins and lost 4-1. Zach Sanford scored the lone Bears goal.
Last Meeting: Oskar Sundqvist’s four goals propelled the Penguins to a 6-2 win on home ice on December 10.
Record: For WBS: 22-7-3-0 (47 pts., 1st place Atlantic Division) — For HER: 18-7-5-2 (43 pts., 4th place Atlantic Division)
Why you should care: First of two this weekend between these two sides. Hershey is the more rested team with about a week in between games and the Penguins come in after nearly blowing a 3-0 lead to a last place Hartford team. Both teams being extremely well coached are going to want to get the jump on the other.
Promotion(s): WBRE Fan Friday ($14 Tickets), February Magnetic Schedule (First 5,000), Postgame Autographs, & $2 Draft Beers (6-7:30 p.m.)
Other Game to Watch: Providence, on a tear, hosts Springfield. The P-Bruins are the hottest team in the AHL right now and will want to continue their December success in the month of January.
Next Five Games: BNG 1/7, @ HER 1/8, @ TOR 1/11, @ RCH 1/13, @ SYR 1/14
Comments Off on Jake Guentzel and Tristan Jarry Named All-Stars
Posted by nafsnep on January 5, 2017
On Thursday afternoon, the American Hockey League announced the playing rosters for the All-Star Classic which will be held in Allentown at the PPL Center, home of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms January 29 and 30, later this month.
Two safe picks as all-stars in my opinion. Other Penguins who could have went include Oskar Sundqvist, David Warsofsky and Casey DeSmith.
Playing rosters consist of just 10 skaters and two goalies and every team in the division has to be represented, so while arguments could be made for Sundqvist, Warsofsky and DeSmith, let’s not get greedy here.
As for representation, Lehigh Valley as the host will send three guys, Hershey will send two with Chris Bourque acting as the playing captain, a distinction bestowed upon him a month ago by the AHL and Providence will send a pair as well. Everyone else (Springfield, Hartford, Bridgeport and Springfield) will send one player each.
Elsewhere in the AHL with ties to Wilkes-Barre, Ryan Craig will act as playing captain of the Western Conference teams, Craig won a Calder Cup with the Lake Erie, now Cleveland, Monsters for the Central Division. Kasperi Kapanen is a name familiar with Wilkes-Barre having played here a few seasons ago. He will represent the Toronto Marlies in the North Division.
Talk to you tomorrow when Hershey is in for the first of two with our South Central Pennsylvania rivals. Gameday setup hits the blog at 3 p.m. Friday.
Comments Off on Wheeling Wrap 1/3
Posted by nafsnep on January 4, 2017
Happy New Year as the Wheeling Wrap returns from its two week, one day holiday hiatus as we look back at five games the Nailers played during the holiday break.
On Tuesday, December 18, the Nailers hosted the Manchester Monarchs and won 4-3. It was a back and forth affair as the Monarchs scored the opening goal at 9:44 of the first period. Wheeling would respond three times after Manchester would score to go ahead. Finally it was Jordan Kwas’ goal in the third period that put the Nailers ahead for good. Adam Krause had two assists and Sean Maguire picked up third star honors with 23 of 26 saves.
Thursday, Sean Maguire was back in net for the Nailers and Wheeling would come through with another win, 2-1 at home against the Cincinnati Cyclones. Derek Army scored early in the second period and the Nailers would make life easy for Maguire who only stopped 16 of 17 shots. It was enough to earn Maguire first star honors for the night.
On Tuesday, December 27, the Nailers traveled to Toledo to take on the Central Division leading Toledo Walleye and were dealt a narrow 4-3 loss. Wheeling scored all three of its goals in the second period in the span of 8:02. Both teams struck on the power play but Toledo struck once more to put the Walleye in front for good. Doug Carr took the loss, stopping 24 of 28 shots.
The Nailers lost Doug Carr to AHL recall to Wilkes-Barre and then traveled to Reading this past Friday and lost 4-2. Derek Army and Michael Webster scored for the Nailers, but the Royals scored the go ahead and insurance goal late in the third period. Sean Maguire took the loss with 24 saves on 28 shots.
On New Years Eve, the Nailers picked up a big 5-2 win over the Elmira Jackals at home.Kevin Schulze netted a pair of goals, Gage Quinney dished out three assists and Sean Maguire took home first star honors stopping 34 of 36 shots.
On Tuesday afternoon, the ECHL announced the playing rosters for the ECHL All-Star Classic which will be held in two weeks in Glens Falls, NY at the home of the Adirondack Thunder. The Wheeling Nailers will send Kevin Schulze to the games.
The Nailers sit fifth in the North Division with a 15-12-2-0 record good for 32 points.
This week, the Nailers play a pair of games at home hosting the Toledo Walleye Friday and the Cincinnati Cyclones Sunday.
Comments Off on Too Close to the Wolf — Pens WIN 3-2
Posted by nafsnep on January 3, 2017
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Coming into Tuesday nights game with the last place Hartford Wolf Pack, you’d think that this would be what the doctor ordered for the top team in the AHL who lost two in a row coming in.
After the first period, you knew the quick two game losing streak was coming to an end. Confident, almost.
After the second, well ask me about half way into the third you say.
Where am I going with this you ask? The Pens went up 3-0 and nearly lost this one as a late Hartford push isn’t enough to get them across the line as the Penguins barely hold on and win 3-2.
Another weekday home game and so another chance for me to lazy leg it through the lines:
Casey DeSmith backed up Tristan Jarry, who opposed Brandon Halverson.
Notes: If you are missing Kevin Porter’s name, that’s because earlier in the day Tuesday the AHL suspended Porter one game for his third period hit on Providence’s Rob O’Gara on Friday. Porter played the next night in Binghamton which I find to be an extremely careless and lazy action by the League, whom I rarely criticize. I’m not upset at the suspension, Porter was suspended earlier in the season a game and I was frankly quite surprised the League didn’t suspend him more games. I’m surprised that the AHL waited until Tuesday to bring the hammer down on Porter. What if Porter did something suspension worthy Saturday? It’s lazy by the AHL. I don’t want to hear that because of New Years that this is some type of excuse either. The League had games Saturday and Sunday.
Anyway, I have spent too long ranting on this topic.
In Porter’s place, Jake Guentzel jumped on top line duty with Kostopoulos and Simon. Chad Ruhwedel and Dave Warsofsky were back in fresh from NHL reassignment.
In the first, the Penguins totally dominated the Wolf Pack, taking an 11-0 shot advantage and a 2-0 lead where it counted the most. Teddy Blueger found himself wide open at the top of the slot to open the scoring for the Penguins. Later, Josh Archibald got a piece of a Dave Warsofsky shot from the blue line that connected to double Wilkes-Barre’s lead.
It was ugly for Hartford. They looked like tackling dummies on a football practice field. They were there, you could see them, but the Penguins did whatever they wanted to them and they never hit back.
In the second, the Wolf Pack were better in that they didn’t allow the Penguins to score any goals and Halverson had some luck with a pad stop and his posts as Warsofsky and Gill came narrowly close to extending the lead.
Both teams had back to back power plays, but the Penguins remained in cruise control heading into the third.
There, the Penguins would connect on a power play to make it a 3-0 lead. A Derrick Pouliot shot from the point was redirected by Dominik Simon off the post right to Chad Ruhwedel cutting in off the wall that made it 3-0.
Right after that, a Steven Fogarty shot found its way in past Jarry through bodies that eliminated any hopes of a Penguin shutout at 5:45.
Hartford had been building momentum ever since they didn’t get steamrolled in the second period like they did the first. They were, in spurts, playing like the better team.
A Tanner Glass shot bounced in then out which made it 3-2 with about 5:30 left to play.
Tense times.
Hartford had a late power play after a careless Derrick Pouliot penalty put them there. But with Halverson vacated for the 6-on-4 man advantage, the Wolf Pack never found the equalizer.
I’m even taking the veteran option on three stars!
3 Stars: 1) C. Ruhwedel – WBS (GWG-1A) 2) J. Archibald – WBS (1G) 3) D. Pouliot – WBS (2A)
Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off. Kevin Schulze was named an All-Star for Wheeling. More tomorrow in the Wheeling Wrap, which I’m pushing to Wednesday, so look for that at noon then.
Video highlights…
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But for breaking news, expect the next blog update after Wednesday’s Wheeling Wrap to be the Hershey Gameday setup Friday at 3.
Last Game: Saturday in Binghamton, despite putting up 46 shots at Chris Driedger, they lost 3-2. Jake Guentzel scored a third period power play goal but got no closer. For Hartford, the Wolf Pack hosted the Albany Devils on Saturday and lost 3-1. Nicklas Jensen scored the only goal for Hartford in the loss.
Last Meeting: December 14 in Hartford, the Pens won 6-2. Six different Penguins found the back of the net for Wilkes-Barre. The aforementioned Nicklas Jensen scored one of the two goals for the Wolf Pack in the losing effort.
Record: For WBS: 21-7-3-0 (45 pts., 1st place Atlantic Division) — For HFD: 11-17-3-1 (26 pts., 8th place Atlantic Division)
Why you should care: Penguins need to get back to their winning ways against the last place Hartford Wolf Pack. They have some reinforcements down from Pittsburgh in the form of Tristan Jarry, who should get the start tonight and David Warsofsky and Chad Ruhwedel. If not, their lead on the division may be in jeopardy.
Other Game to Watch: No other games in the Eastern Conference tonight. Milwaukee hosts Rockford. The Admirals are looking for a win to get closer to division leading Grand Rapids.
Next Five Games: HER 1/6, BNG 1/7, @ HER 1/8, @ TOR 1/11, @ RCH 1/13
Welcome to a jam packed Double Issue of the Chirps from Center Ice AHL Power Rankings. I sincerely hope you all had a nice Christmas and New Years holiday. The Power Rankings return after a two week holiday hiatus and there is a lot to get to.
There is a third place team in the Atlantic playing like the best team in the AHL.
A familiar face at the top of the Pacific and the Central Division.
A couple of quietly underrated, dangerous teams and…
…the defending champs making a push.
Click through the jump if you didn’t link in direct to see where the teams lined up this week.
Have to assume with the health of Kris Letting and Trevor Daley that one if not both Ruhwedel and Warsofsky will remain in Wilkes-Barre. Brian Dumoulin is still out with his broken jaw. My guess is it will be Chad Ruhwedel, who played in last nights overtime win against the Montreal Canadiens.
As for Jarry, it is a bit of a risk re-assigning him to Wilkes-Barre being as though should he get hurt while back that leaves Pittsburgh with no NHL contracted goaltender as a back up. Yeah, you could say that Sean Maguire is under an NHL deal, but he is in Wheeling and too green to even consider as a viable option.
Wilkes-Barre plays Tuesday at home against Hartford, Friday at home against Hershey, Saturday at home against Binghamton and again Sunday in Hershey. Pittsburgh is off till next Sunday when they play Tampa Bay.
Assume Jarry gets the Tuesday game against the Wolf Pack, and is either called up or backing up Casey DeSmith Friday against Hershey and then either called back up Saturday or Sunday if not already called up by Friday.
As for Wheeling, the Nailers do not play again until Friday when they host the Toledo Walleye and then again Sunday when they host the Cincinnati Cyclones. My guess is depending on how the dominoes fall later in the week with whenever Pittsburgh recalls Jarry again will spell out Doug Carr’s status for the Penguins this coming weekend. You would have to assume, should Jarry go up before Friday, that Carr gets one of the three weekend games against either the Senators or Bears.
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WBS News
Chirps from Center Ice 