Chirps from Center Ice

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

Fun with MS Paint (Clear Day Rosters)

AHL Clear Day Rosters were announced today. You can find the full 30-team rosters here.

I decided to have a little fun with MS Paint. Here is what the Penguins Clear Day Roster looks like:

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Players not listed the above list include Matt Rust, Steve MacIntyre, Philip Samuelsson, Cody Wild and Patrick Killeen. Keven Veilleux and Boris Valabik are done for the year with injuries. Killeen can play because Brad Thiessen is still up on recall to Pittsburgh. The rest are listed as “in residence” meaning essentially that if there is an injury to any player on the Clear Day list, the “in residence player” can play.

Here is what the rest of the East Division Clear Day Lists look like, side-by-side:

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So there you have it.

Gameday for today’s matchup vs. St. John’s here on the blog later at 3 p.m.

Let’s Go Pens!

Don’t Blink – Pens WIN 3-2

Penguins get two bang bang goals :20 apart from Paul Thompson and Brandon DeFazio to surge ahead late in the third period down 2-1 to win their only game of the weekend in comeback fashion 3-2.

Scott Munroe vs. Michael Leighton

Lineup notes: This was Leighton’s fourth straight start for the Phantoms in where he was 3-0 with a 1.33 GAA and a 0.962 save percentage. Steve MacIntyre, Cody Wild and Philip Samuelsson were not on the trip. Scratched was Matt Rust for Bryan Lerg and Carl Sneep for Alex Grant. Grant is 19th in defensemen scoring.

First Period: You couldn’t tell that the Phantoms played two prior games and that the Pens were off all weekend. The Phantoms jumped on the Pens early but Munroe held the fort early. Then Oliver Lauridsen fired a puck on the goal line from the corner at goal which popped to Matt Ford which he nudged in to give the Phantoms a 1-0 lead.

Second Period: Brandon Manning put a hook in on Nick Petersen. In the ensuing power play, Ben Street would backhand one home past Leighton to even the score at 1. Phantoms would later come in two on none on a slow developing play and I tweeted at the time that Munore had been sharp. Well, next sequence with Brian Strait breaking his stick trying to clear the puck out of his zone, Matt Ford would score from the slot to put the Phantoms back out ahead 2-1.

Third Period: Penguins would get two power play chances but did not score on any of them. Then, Paul Thompson scored in a scrum to tie the game then Brandon DeFazio would score on Leighton’s doorstep to push the Pens up 3-2. The Phantoms were then denied by a spawling save by Scott Munroe on his back from a Shane Harper shot from the low left circle. Adirondack would pull Leighton but were unable to find the equalizer.

Three Stars: 3) Garrett Roe (two assists, +1) 2) Ben Street (goal, -1) and 1) Matthew Ford (two goals, +1)

Notes: Adirondack was undefeated leading at home after one period (10-0-0-1) Penguins get their overall third come from behind and AHL leading 21st road victory. O’Reilly on faceoffs is amazing. Mark my words him in the dot come late in the season is going to be an enormous asset to have. Penguins missed Alex Grant in power play situations I think today, going only 1 for 5.

Around the Division: The Hershey Bears win in overtime 2-1. Ryan Potulny netted his 22nd goal at :22. He also wears number 22. The St. John’s IceCaps avenge their loss to the Bingahmton Senators last Tuesday by winning 5-2 in the Southern Tier of New York. Syracuse beats Albany 2-1. Norfolk is idle till this Friday.

Standings: Norfolk leads the Division, Conference and League with 81 points. Penguins are second in the Division with 73 points. Bears draw two back with 71. Crunch have 56 points and the B-Sens 50.

Conference: 1-NOR (81) 2-StJ (75) 3-BRI (68) 4-WBS (73) 5-HER (71) 6-CT (68) 7-ALB (63) 8- WOR (61)

Tomorrow is Clear Day, or the AHL’s equivalent of the trade deadline. Depending on moves, I will probably have something here in the form of a blog post tomorrow evening. Of course, for immediate reactions, please follow me on Twitter @nafsnep

Pens most likely will have off or a light skate tomorrow. St. John’s in town for the first time ever as the IceCaps Tuesday.

Let’s Go Pens!

GAMEDAY: @ Adirondack 3/4

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Away Game: 30

AHL Game: 863

Who: Adirondack Phantoms

Where: Glens Falls Civic Center

When: 3:00 p.m. EST

Media Kit

Last Game: Sunday at home vs. the Norfolk Admirals, the Pens lost 3-2. Alex Picard had a goal in the loss and was named the second star of the game. For the Phantoms, last night in Albany they won in overtime 3-2. Ex-Hershey Bear Matt Ford netted the game winner in overtime.

Record: For WBS: 32-18-2-5 (71 pts., 2nd place East Division) — For ADK: 28-26-2-1 (59 pts., 4th place Northeast Division)

Why you should care: The Penguins play just once this weekend and should be the more rested team looking to jump on what should be a tired Phantoms team coming off of two road games Friday and Saturday. The Pens need this game to keep pace with the rest of the division.

Referee(s): Tim Mayer / Chris Brown

Linesmen: Frank Murphy / Mike Emanatian

Twitter: @wbspenguins / @PhantomsHockey

Beat Writers: @CVBombulie / @PSPhantoms

Broadcasters: For WBS: Tom Grace @TGracePens and Mike O’Brien @MikeOBrienWBS / For ADK: Bob Rotruck @BobRotruck

Fan Bloggers: @nafsnep

Radio: For WBS: 102.3 The Mountain / For Adirondack: PhantomsRadio

Other Game to Watch: Twelve games today, which is actually the most for this weekend. St. John’s is in Binghamton today looking to avenge a 5-1 loss the B-Sens put on the IceCaps this past Tuesday.

Next Five Games: STJ 3/6, @ PRO 3/9, @ BRI 3/10, @ SPR 3/11, @ NOR 3/14

Calm Before the Storm?

Yeah, there is nothing to blog about.

–> I played radio with Bob Howard of the Power Play Post Show this week. Here is the link. I am about thirty minutes in but if you can, listen to the whole thing.

–> Here’s Jonathan Bombulie’s update from today. We may see Scott Munroe and Bryan Lerg Sunday in Glens Falls. I still think Patrick Killeen gets the start in goal, but who knows.

Looks like, looking at the schedule, that this lull is the last one we’ll have here on the blog for the rest of the season as the games are spaced out enough to where I should have enough quality fodder to run on a daily basis.

Retweets of what Norfolk and Hershey do this weekend on the Twitter side of life. Gameday will be up here Sunday at 11 a.m. in advance of the 3 p.m. start.

Let’s start blogging again! Go Pens!

Thursday Tidbits

Couple of things worth mentioning…

–> Matt Rust, Philip Samuelsson and Cody Wild are back from their Wheeling assignments. Ryan Schnell was re-assigned.

–> Bombulie had a Carl Sneep update. We may see him this weekend. Also, looks like Patrick Killeen will be on the hill against Adirondack.

–> Former Penguin Chris Minard is the AHL’s Player of the Month.

–> Get used to more of Norfolk’s Cory Conacher.

–> An interesting quip from Eric P from the Pensblog.

I played radio with Bob Howard from the Power Play Post Show today. His podcast with yours truly will be up later tonight. I will retweet him on the Twitter side and run a link here later.

Pump the Tires of that Wheel

Wheeling got stronger today as Cody Chupp, Matt Rust, Philip Samuelsson and Cody Wild were sent there in anticipation of a big game in Elmira against the Jackals with Atlantic Division leader implications tonight. The Jackals are a point ahead of the Nailers for the lead in the division.

From the AHL Transactions Page, Ryan Schnell was called up from Wheeling. Probably just a roster move to make room for the quartet coming from Coal Street.

Bombulie had a goaltending update today. Brad Thiessen is still on recall to Pittsburgh, who is in Dallas tonight. They travel to Colorado Friday for a game Saturday. Logistically with Wilkes-Barre traveling to Glens Falls Saturday night, Thiessen won’t be back this week. Head Coach John Hynes eluded to that in today’s update.

Other than that, not a whole heck of a lot going on. Catch yourself up with the Third Quarter Grades and an East Division Discussion I had in earlier blog features.

Let’s Go Pens!

Third Quarter Grades

Three quarters of the season down on Sunday with the Pens taking a 32-18-2-5 mark good for second place in the East Division with 71 points.

After the bump, you will find the Grades. If you missed yesterday’s trade deadline aftermath, you will find it one post down.

In keeping with the First Quarter and Second Quarter Grades, anyone who skated this quarter gets a look. Here we go:

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