Chirps from Center Ice

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

Don’t Get On That Bus!

Comments Off on Don’t Get On That Bus! Posted by on January 8, 2012

Pittsburgh was very direct today (for once) regarding the health of two star players. Center Jordan Staal and Forward James Neal are out for a while with injuries.

But wait! There’s more! Craig Adams left practice today with an apparent knee injury.

No doubt, call-ups from Wilkes-Barre are coming. Most likely in the form of Eric Tangradi for Neal and either Jason Williams or Ryan Craig for Staal. Who ever loses out on the replacement for Staal could very well be the replacement for Adams between Williams and Craig, if a third call-up is needed.

Wilkes-Barre leaves for Norfolk tomorrow. There may be a few extra seats available on that bus.

In the opening sentence of the grim report by the Pens, they used the “When it rains, it pours” line.

Someone send a truck full of umbrellas to Pittsburgh, immediately!

Let’s Go Pens!

Pittsburgh, WBS

Too Much Crunch – Pens LOSE 4-3

Comments Off on Too Much Crunch – Pens LOSE 4-3 Posted by on January 7, 2012

Woes versus the I-81 neighbors to the North continue as the Pens drop this game 4-3. Robert Bortuzzo was re-assigned and played for Peter Merth. Speculation to any ailment to Thiessen last night proved wrong as…

Brad Thiessen vs. Jeff Deslauriers

First Period: Goals traded within about :45 of one another between Matt Smaby on the power play and Matt Rust off a rebound made it a 1-1 game going into first intermission. Pens were killing a Geoff Walker interference penalty when they turned the puck over to Smaby who was off to the races and scored.

Second Period: Ben Street is in the box for a hooking call. Ex-WBS Penguin Luca Caputi works a tic-tac-toe pass to Kyle Cuminsky who puts it past Thiessen and in to put the Crunch up 2-1. Then, Kyle Palmieri takes the puck behind Thiessen’s net, and backhands one past Thiessen to put the Crunch up 3-1. Pens couldn’t do anything with a Syracuse too many men on the ice call late.

Third Period: Alex Grant ripped a shot from the far point which Geoff Walker tipped home to cut the Crunch lead to 3-2. Deslauriers stood on his head twice when Brian Gibbons and Jason Williams had chances in on him close. Syracuse took another too many men on the ice call which the Pens couldn’t cash on. It would prove to be the momentum that Syracuse would need to win the game as shortly after, a defensive breakdown led to a Kyle Palmieri goal from the slot. It’d prove to hold up as the game winner as late Paul Thompson would tip a Geoff Walker shot from the left face-off dot to make it 4-3. Pens would have chances late with Thiessen pulled but couldn’t find the equalizer.

Three Stars: 3) Luca Caputi (two assists, +1) 2) Geoff Walker (goal, assist, +1) and 1) Kyle Palmieri (two goals, +2)

Around the Division: Hershey beat Adirondack at home 5-2. Albany sweeps Norfolk down in Virginia by winning 3-1. Binghamton lost to Rochester 3-2.

Standings: Hershey 47, Norfolk 45, Wilkes-Barre 43, Syracuse 34, Binghamton 34.

Conference: 1-StJ (47) 2-HER (47) 3-CT (44) 4-NOR (45) 5-MCH (44) 6-WBS (43) 7-WOR (39) 8-ALB (39)

Hershey plays tomorrow in the game in hand they have on Wilkes-Barre versus Rochester at 5 p.m. I will likely have a retweet of a final score on the Twitter side.

Pens will be off tomorrow, bus to Norfolk Monday for the game vs. the Admirals Tuesday at 7:15.

If I have material to run between now and then check the blog or stay with me on the Twitter side.

Let’s Go Pens!

Postgamer

GAMEDAY: vs. Syracuse 1/7

Comments Off on GAMEDAY: vs. Syracuse 1/7 Posted by on January 7, 2012

vs. 

–

–

Home Game: 18

AHL Game: 408

Who: Syracuse Crunch

Where: Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza

When: 7:05 p.m.

Media Kit

Last Game: Last night vs. the Rochester Americans, the Pens won in a shootout 4-3. Eric Tangradi had a power play goal in the third period and scored the game winning shootout goal. For Syracuse, last night in Hamilton the Crunch lost 5-2. Patrick Maroon had a goal and was named third star of the game.

Last Meeting: December 16 in Syracuse, the Pens won 3-2. Brandon DeFazio had two goals and was named first star of the game.

Record: For WBS: 19-11-1-4 (43 pts., 3rd place East Division) For SYR: 14-15-3-1 (32 pts., 5th place East Division)

Why you should care: Eric Tangradi gave Pens beat writer Jonathan Bombulie a quote yesterday I found interesting enough to mention here. It goes as follows: “Tonight was the easy one. Tomorrow’s the true test,” he said. “We’ve been pretty good coming back when we lay an egg. It will be the real test to see when we come out and put a good effort in if we can put another 60 minutes in.”

Referee(s): Francis Charron

Linesmen: Jud Ritter / Bob Fyrer

Twitter: @WBSPenguins / @SyracuseCrunch

Beat Writers: @CVBombulie / @PSCrunchHockey

Broadcasters: WBS: Tom Grace @TGracePens and Mike O’Brien @MikeOBrienWBS / SYR: Jason Lockhart @JLCrunch

Fan Bloggers: @nafsnep / @Allovimo

Radio: For WBS: 102.3 The Mountain / For Syracuse: The Score 1260

Television: AHL Live / MyNetwork TV (WQMY) in Wilkes-Barre.

Promotion(s): Breast Cancer Awareness Night – Pink Ribbon Magnet (first 5,000 fans) – Pink Jersey Silent Auction

Other Game to Watch: Manchester and St. John’s face off on “The Rock” tonight in a battle between two very good Eastern Conference teams.

Next Five Games: @ NOR 1/10, @ StJ 1/14, @ StJ 1/15, MCH 1/20, SYR 1/21

Gameday

A (big) Dog’s Life – Pens WIN 4-3 in Shootout

Comments Off on A (big) Dog’s Life – Pens WIN 4-3 in Shootout Posted by on January 6, 2012

Pens do not come out of the inflatable igloo during intro’s tonight and win the game.

Goodnight everyone and we’ll tweet and blog at you tomorrow!

You expect more out of me, so click here to read the rest of the recap. Fooled you!

Postgamer

GAMEDAY: vs. Rochester 1/6

Comments Off on GAMEDAY: vs. Rochester 1/6 Posted by on January 6, 2012

vs. 

–

–

Home Game: 17

AHL Game: 517

Who: Rochester Americans

Where: Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza

When: 7:05 p.m. EST

Media Kit

Last Game: Wednesday at home vs. Norfolk, the Pens lost 5-1. Nick Petersen scored the only game for the Pens. For Rochester, they hosted Hamilton last Friday night at home and lost 5-4. Derek Whitmore and Paul Szczechura both had a goal and assist each in the loss.

Last Meeting: October 13 in Rochester, the Pens won 5-1. Bryan Lerg and Brian Strait both scored goals for the Pens in the win.

Record: For WBS: 18-11-1-4 (41 pts., 3rd place East Division) — For RCH: 15-13-4-1 (35 pts., 2nd place North Division)

Why you should care: The Pens are bad at home. But the Pens are a good team, so look for a better result than what went down on Wednesday. Brad Thiessen has been slipping. But look for Thiessen to bounce back and put in a good showing tonight if he gets the nod in net.

Referee(s): Ryan Hersey

Linesmen: Tom George / Scott Adams

Twitter: @wbspenguins / @AmerksHockey

Beat Writers: @CVBombulie / @KevinODandC

Broadcasters: For WBS: Tom Grace @TGracePens and Mike O’Brien @MikeOBrienWBS / For RCH: Don Stevens

Fan Bloggers: @nafsnep / @LetsGoAmerks

Radio: For WBS: 102.3 The Mountain / For Rochester: 1280 AM WHTK

Television: AHL Live

Promotion(s): Dollar Dogs and Drafts

Other Game to Watch: Hershey and Adirondack are going to set an AHL attendance record tonight skating on the same ice as the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers did at Citizens Bank Park.

Next Five Games: SYR 1/7, @ NOR 1/10, @ StJ 1/14, @ StJ 1/15, MCH 1/20

Gameday

One Handed Mining of Starry Duck Hogs

Comments Off on One Handed Mining of Starry Duck Hogs Posted by on January 5, 2012

Couple of things worth getting to on a Thursday evening…

–> Bombulie’s practice update didn’t have a ton of great news in it. Alex Picard is out “for a while” with an upper body injury after blocking a shot late in the third period when Norfolk was on a power play.

–> Jonathan also made mention of these stats he mined which he put out on Twitter early this morning:

–> Elsewhere in the AHL East Division, a familiar face to Penguin fans is on waivers. Click this link, but if you don’t want to, his name rhymes with Mancrew Dorjon. Still clueless? Just click the link. If no one claims him, he’ll be in town Saturday.

–> Vote here for the starters for the AHL All-Star Classic later this month. If you want a guide as to who to vote for, look no further:

East West
Colin McDonald, WBS Krys Kolanos, ABB
Simon Despres, WBS Ryan Ellis, MIL
Jeff Zatkoff, MCH Cedrick Desjardins, HAM

–> Finally, for you Dan Henningson fans out there, he is on the way back up to the AHL again. This time with the Rockford IceHogs.

Gameday for tomorrows tilt with the Rochester Americans will be up at its normal 3 pm slot on the blog tomorrow afternoon.

Let’s Go Pens!

The AHL, WBS

Fun While Losing

Comments Off on Fun While Losing Posted by on January 5, 2012

So after last night’s 5-1 thumping put on us by the Norfolk Admirals, I decided to put this tweet out:

There wasn’t a winner last night, as “Igloosers” was the headline chosen instead. I was looking for something that mixed the loss with the disdain for the Pens coming out of the inflatable igloo. There were, however, some doozys that deserve recognition regardless. So, on this early morning Thursday, I offer these tweets to sort of make you laugh the loss away…

https://twitter.com/jetpack/status/154759853938708480 https://twitter.com/jetpack/status/154762117239676928
https://twitter.com/jetpack/status/154767258915323905
https://twitter.com/jetpack/status/154772359117684737

Gold stars to you all.

I do plan on bringing this contest out again after a game next time. The “Igloosers” idea came to me as I was driving home from the game last night. My other choice would have been #blametheigloo.

I’ll probably have more serious news later on the WBS side of things later this afternoon, after practice wraps up. But for now, have a laugh at these and Let’s Go Pens!

Deliberately Uncategorized

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