Chirps from Center Ice

(blogger note: I am in New York City attending my brothers wedding. I needed to turn the keys of the blog over to the venerable Jenni Probst, who runs the blog Chasing Checkers covering the Charlotte Checkers. It wasn’t easy, but Jenni does solid work. These are my questions, this is her work)

It’s finally here! This afternoon, the AHL released its schedule for the 2013-2014 season. Click here for the league release, complete with links to all thirty teams schedules and a month by month breakdown.

I think that the concept of the question and answer session I did for last years schedule was well received. So I am bringing it back again this year. Here it goes…

Question #1: Who is the first opponent the Penguins play this season?

Answer: The first opponent the Penguins will play this season will be the Bridgeport Sound Tigers on Saturday, October 5 at 7pm at the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Question #2: We know the Penguins home opener is on October 12. Who are they playing?

Answer: The Penguins open the doors of the Mohegan Sun Arena for their 15th season and welcome in the Hershey Bears at 7 p.m.

Question #3: Are the Penguins playing any Western Conference teams this season?

Answer: Yes.  They will face four Western conference teams, all out of the North Division.  The Utica Comets will play the Penguins for the first time in either team’s history.  The Rochester Americans, Toronto Marlies and Hamilton Bulldogs will also play the Penguins for a total of 10 games this season. Utica is on the schedule four times, Toronto, Rochester and Hamilton are on the schedule twice.

Question #4: How many games against in division foes will the Penguins play this year?

Answer: 38 total, or half the schedule.  Hershey 12; Binghamton 8; Norfolk 8; Syracuse 10.  These are split home and away.

Question #5: What is the longest roadtrip of the season?

Answer: January 17-26.  They play six games on the road.  The first half is a swing of three games against Atlantic division teams, followed by three games against Hershey and Norfolk.

Question #6: When is the longest homestand of the season?

Answer: Six games from December 11-27.   

Question #7: How many times do the Penguins play three games in three nights?

Answer: They will have eight three-in-threes this season.  One in October, two in January, two in February, two in March and two in April.

Question #8: The furthest in-division rival the penguins play are the Norfolk Admirals. How are those away games against the Admirals set up for the Penguins this season?

Answer: They play in Norfolk January 24 and 25, followed by Hershey on the 26^th.  They visit Norfolk again on March 28 and 29^th with no games immediately before or after.

Question #9: How many times do the Penguins play each month?

Answer: Here’s a nifty chart:

Question #10: You have a daily breakdown of games, too, oh chart master?

Answer: Your guest blogger probably shouldn’t have had a beer while dissecting the schedule, because this question was challenging, but here you go  The Penguins don’t play any games on Monday or Thursday:

Question #11: Where is the All-Star Classic this year?

Answer: To be announced.

Question #12: How many times are all thirty AHL teams playing on the same night?

Answer: Only twice this year. Saturday, January 11, Saturday, February 22, 

Question #13: What’s the theme that the Penguins are going with this season?

Answer: Yep.  The 2013-14 motto for the Penguins 15^th Anniversary is, “Honoring the Past. Envisioning the Future.” Click here for the printable schedule and a look at the logo.

Question #14: Do the Penguins play in any special venues?

Answer: Yes.  They play two games in Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall on March 1 and 23 against the Albany Devils.

Question #15: Are the Penguins doing a PensFest like they did last year?

Answer: Details to be announced soon.

Question #16: When will the soon-to-be famous Chirps from Center Ice AHL Team Previews be out this year?

Answer: You have to ask Jason.

Question #17: How disappointed are you that the Penguins don’t face the Charlotte Checkers this year?

Well, despite the fact their last meeting was less-than-stellar for the Penguins, and ended their 2010-11 Playoff run, I really wish those two teams were going to meet up, mostly because Jenni over at Chasing Checkers is awesome, and the Charlotte Checkers are a lot of fun to watch!

Hey, how the heck did that last question get in there. What the?

Underscoring the AHL schedule release, Pittsburgh announced Rookie Tournament details, complete with roster and bios. Jonathan Bombulie had a blurb on newly minted Penguin Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond as well as his own thoughts on the schedule and the Rookie Tournament.

Dissection complete for another year. If you have any questions, leave them in comments or hit me on Twitter or Facebook.

Can’t wait to get going. Let’s Go Pens!

(would again like to thank Jenni for taking time out of her busy schedule to step in and blog for me as I am in the Big Apple for my brothers wedding. Please be sure to check out her work during this season.)

I am on vacation from my big boy job this week, but the AHL news cycle was as active today as its been in weeks.

No, the schedule isn’t out yet. More on that in a minute.

No, the AHL All-Star Classic venue hasn’t been announced yet either.

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins announced today the signing of Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond, a 6’2, 210 pound behemoth of a man that can absolutely throw. Some of his work…

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The signing creates a massive logjam in the toughness department because you have Steve MacIntyre, Zach Sill, Letourneau-Leblond and quite possibly Harry Zolnierczyk all under contract for the Penguins this Fall.

Anyway, Letourneau-Leblond played for the Norfolk Admirals last season and went 3-5-8, a +7 with 98 PIMs. 1-2-3 of that 3-5-8 came in a game from outer space against the Penguins in February that saw Letourneau-Leblond score a goal and assist on two others and tough guy Jay Rosehill score two goals and assist on another.

Both Rosehill and Letourneau-Leblond scored on goals which were assisted by the other.

Letourneau-Leblond was ranked 80th on the Jonathan Bombulie / Michael Cignoli big board, by the way.

The 2013 Offseason Moves List has been updated appropriately.

Not to be outdone, but our friends in Hershey were active on the wire today as well, signing Brandon Segal, which gives the Bears the top-six right wing need they were looking for. He’s a vet, putting Hershey one over to start the year (Derek Whitmore, Jeff Taffe, Jamie, Johnson, Dane Byers and Tyson Strachan being the others)

There were other Penguins related page two’s worth noting:

— Ian Altenbaugh’s story from the other day on WBS D Reid McNeill, who is training with Gary Roberts for this upcoming season.

— Mike Bales, who worked this season with the departed Brad Thiessen and current WBS goaltender Jeff Zatkoff, was promoted to Pittsburgh as their goaltending coach.

— On Zatkoff, he was spotted in North Carolina practicing with Carolina Hurricanes players / prospects. Photoset here. Zatkoff summers in Raleigh, N.C.

So on the, “You Decide” part of the blog headline. A question. Do you like the offseason haul that the Penguins have reared so far? Does it put Wilkes-Barre / Scranton among the league elite? Four players, Chris Conner, Nick Drazenovic, Andrew Ebbett and Brendan Mikkeslon are all in the Top 50 on the aforementioned Big Board. All quality players. But how do they matchup against the other divisional heavyweights in Syracuse and Hershey and the AHL overall? Vote…

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Finally, I have the sense that the AHL schedule will be released this week. Only problem is, I am traveling to New York City on Thursday for my brothers wedding for the weekend. I’ll likely not have enough time, enraptured with the marital activities, to tweet or blog up a proper analysis. So I have enrolled the services of Jenni Probst, head cook and bottle washer of the blog Chasing Checkers to pinch hit for me while I am away in the Big Apple. Look for her piece Thursday, or Friday, depending on how quickly or slowly Springfield gets its act together.

Stay cool.