Chirps from Center Ice

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

Eight Point Presentation

Comments Off on Eight Point Presentation Posted by on December 27, 2010

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a frequent commenter over at Jonathan Bombulie’s blog, Penguins Insider. After last nights win vs. Albany (a 5-4 shootout win) I made a the following comment (abridged for content purposes):

This week should be a tell-tale sign of the season, in my opinion. If we go 4-0 we are locks to win the Cup. We are already 1-0. We’ll see.

By my own admission a four-game winning streak isn’t going to automatically win you a Calder Cup, but let’s see who the Pens have the rest of this week:

  • Wednesday: A Syracuse Crunch team we have yet to beat this year which has beaten us in aggregate 7-4 in two games. Neither game really in my opinion decisive enough to, at any point in the game make you turn to your buddy watching the game with you and say, “this game is in the bag.”
  • Thursday: A Hershey Bears team in Pittsburgh at CONSOL Energy Center which is your parent teams brand spanking new arena in a marquee matchup in buildup to the Winter Classic game between the two teams parent clubs. WBS has defeated Hershey three times this year, 12-8 in aggregate, all one goal games. Hershey, by their own standards, is having an off-year. However things are looking up for the two-time defending Calder Cup Champions. They recently received Keith Aucoin back from injury and have now knocked out both Charlotte and Norfolk in successive games, scoring a total of nine goals over the two game span. What would appear to be a tune-up game for them tomorrow vs. the Binghamton Senators home at GIANT Center, a place the B-Sens have not had much success in at all, then the Bears probably bus to Pittsburgh Wednesday and wait for the Pens to arrive. Don’t think their players will be jacked to knock around the leagues best team in their parents living room? Guess again.
  • Saturday: A Norfolk team we have not beat. The bur in the saddle so to speak so far this campaign. The Admirals are the AHL’s highest scoring team. Neither of the three prior contests have been close, a total 15-9 on aggregate.

Right now, at the present, the Pens have a 6 point cushion on the second place Norfolk Admirals and 11 points on Hershey. So if we go, say 2-2 this week we’d still be fine, but what I was getting at in my comment is that if we go 4-0 this week we could very well separate ourselves for good this year. We would be at 35 games played for the year and likely (depending on results) have a 10+ point cushion on the rest of the division. Just look at Hershey last year, they took hold of the East Division and ran away with it. Granted, that Bears team was an uber team, one you see maybe every 10-15 years or so, but still my point about having a 10+ point cushion on a division this stacked would be huge in the long run.

We shall see.

WBS

Pens shoot out Devils – 5-4 (SO)

Comments Off on Pens shoot out Devils – 5-4 (SO) Posted by on December 26, 2010

Thought the Devils would be pushovers today. Boy was I wrong. Good, competitive hockey game this afternoon in Wilkes-Barre Township seeing the Pens win in a shootout 5-4.

Brad Thiessen v. Jeff Frazee. My first look at Patrick Killeen in warmups. Kid is humongous. 6’4. We had some fun in the warmup tweeting with different observers indicating that Killer got “killed” in warmups by getting sniped on. Here is my tribute to Allen Iverson.

Keven Veilleux was in the lineup as was Tim Wallace. Andrew Hutchinson is still out. Geoff Walker was the scratch.

Chris Cozzan was in the orange arm-bands. As a result, there were two penalties all game.

First period: Eric Tangradi got his AHL Player of the Week Award from a few weeks ago. Albany came out buzzing. Nick Palmieri would open up the scoring at 5:27. At this point, I tweeted that Albany had three or four scatterbrained shifts and got lucky and scored. Very late, Joe Vitale would chip a puck off of the side wall to the stick of Tangradi in the slot and the Big Dog would tie the game at one. That would come at 12:45. Then, Rob Davison would get his first goal of the year with a bomb from the blue line Thiessen would never see at 15:47. Then the fourth line would come out and Bryan Lerg would score at 17:06 to tie the game again.

Second period: Albany neutral zone turnover would see Chris Collins skate in and score at 5:18. Bortuzzo would sit for interference at 7:58 and Michael Swift would score on the ensuing PP. Albany set up shop in their zone, looked like they wanted to score, and did. Fourth line again, Bryan Lerg after a Sill point shot.

Second intermission. Ran into @TheDeathmaster who drove in all the way in from Altoona to see the Pens play tonight in a virtual blizzard here in Northeastern Pennsylvania. His travels will only improve as he goes past Williamsport, but man. Dedication.

Third period: Michael Swift slashing penalty and the ensuing Pens PP would come and go. Dan Kelly would fight a puck past the Pens and go five hole on Thiessen. Really a bad goal from what I saw but others saw Sneep tip it before it went in. Albany would turn on the jets and looked like the better team and had plenty of chances. Regulation would end a 4-4 deadlock.

Overtime: All Penguins. Plenty of chances. Dustin Jeffrey had two chances to end it. Brett Sterling, who has scored 100+ goals at this level, passes to Ryan Craig late who swings and misses at the puck. Blame the bad ice? I don’t know. But if I am Brett, I pick my spot and put it home. Neither team would score and we’d go to a shootout.

Shootout: Nick Johnson, Keven Veilleux and Brett Sterling would score. Thiessen turned away three of four. Pens would pick up the extra point. With Hershey beating the Norfolk Admirals in regulation, a huge boost to separate the Pens from the rest of the division.

Thoughts: Fourth line came to work again tonight. Zach Sill and Bryan Lerg were third and fourth stars (Sterling was the first star) and every time the Devils would punch, the fourth line would counter punch. The defensive pairing of Steve Wagner and Corey Potter are officially in suck mode right now. They will play on, because both were a +2. I have no idea how that could be. None. Bortuzzo was a -1. I can’t explain it.

Around the Division: Thanks Hershey. They beat the offensive juggernaut Norfolk Admirals 3-1. I don’t know how to feel about that. Hershey is down, but heating up. They have beat now Charlotte and Norfolk, two of arguably the best teams in the division, both in a row. I suppose, for now, I will take it. Binghamton beat Adirondack 7-1. Yikes. Rochester beat Syracuse 5-2. I am confused about this one. We beat Rochester three times this year, but they beat Syracuse whom we have not beaten yet.

Standings: With the Norfolk regulation loss, The Pens have 6 points now on the Admirals, 48-42 respectively. Idle Charlotte sits in third with 38 points. Hershey with the win draws a point behind the Checkers in fourth with 37 points. Bingo has 34 points good for fifth. Syracuse has 26 points for sixth, Albany 25 points for seventh and Adirondack has 14 points in eighth.

Pens practice Monday and Tuesday. I will prod Bombulie for updates on Hutchinson. I am taking off from work all week this week. I may see if I can fit a practice in sometime this week. No promises.

Let’s Go Pens!

Postgamer

GAMEDAY: vs. Albany 12/26

2 Comments Posted by on December 26, 2010

vs.

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Home Game 17

AHL Game: 483

Who: Albany Devils

Where: Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza

When: 5:05 p.m. EST

Media Kit

Last Game: For WBS: On December 18, the Pens lost to the Syracuse Crunch 3-1. Ryan Craig had the lone goal for the Pens in the loss. For ALB: On 12/18 the Devils lost in Norfolk, 5-1. Michael Swift had the lone goal for the Devils.

Record: For WBS, 23-7-0-0 (46 pts., 1st place East Division) — For ALB, 12-17-0-0 (24 pts., 6th place East Division)

Last Meeting: Was supposed to be December 12 in Atlantic City but due to unplayable ice conditions was postponed. Prior to that it was a 5-1 Wilkes-Barre win in Albany on December 1 where Dustin Jeffrey had 2 goals and an assist.

Why you should care: Wilkes-Barre had a bad game last Saturday at Syracuse and I think they know it. Look for Wilkes-Barre to come out on a mission and take control of this game early.

Referee(s): Chris Cozzan

Linesmen: Judson Ritter / Scott Pomento

Twitter: @wbspenguins / @AlbanyDevils / @nafsnep

Beat writers: @CVBombulie / @Bill_Cain_

Radio: For WBS: 102.3 The Mountain. For Albany: 104.5 The Team ESPN Radio

Television: AHL Live

Promotion(s): None

Next Five Games: SYR 12/29, HER 12/30*, NOR 1/1, @ CHA 1/4, @ CHA 1/5

*- game played in Pittsburgh, PA at CONSOL Energy Center

Gameday

Jeffrey and Curry Up

Comments Off on Jeffrey and Curry Up Posted by on December 23, 2010

With Pittsburgh having to turn around and play a game tonight in Washington, DC and with injuries to both goaltender Brent Johnson and forward Arron Asham, the Pittsburgh Penguins recalled Dustin Jeffrey and John Curry from Wilkes-Barre / Scranton. (Pittsburgh Release / Wilkes-Barre Release)

There hasn’t been any updates to the conditions of both Asham and Johnson from last night. With Christmas approaching, there probably may not be anything until after.

Nothing from Bombulie, but with no one in town to talk to why bother.

Wilkes-Barre plays its next game Sunday home v. Albany.

Pittsburgh, WBS

Good News / Bad News

Comments Off on Good News / Bad News Posted by on December 22, 2010

The Good News:

  • Ben Lovejoy finally got his first NHL goal in a 5-2 win over the Florida Panthers. Lovejoy scored at 6:19 of the second period on Scott Clemmensen.
  • Lovejoy also got in his first NHL fight, scrapping with Florida’s Shawn Mattias in the first period.
  • Ben was the game’s first star.
  • Sidney Crosby also continued his points streak.

For any of you who don’t know me, Lovejoy was my favorite player in WBS.

The Bad News:

  • Brent Johnson got the nod in net for tonight’s game, with Pittsburgh playing Washington tomorrow night. Very late in the second period, Brent went down to make a save and tweaked something. I don’t know what it could be, official from the Pens twitter is a lower body injury. Could be a hip, could be a groin, could be nothing. He was not on the bench for the third period. He did finish playing the second period though.
  • Brad Thiessen is in British Columbia and John Curry is in Minnesota (I think) off on Christmas vacation. I will be watching the morning news tomorrow watching for a call-up. Logistically you call-up Thiessen, because he’s next on the depth chart, according to Pens’ GM Ray Shero and this screen grab from last week’s 24/7 Pens / Caps HBO episode.* But, if Curry has less ground to cover, you have to call up John. Who knows.
  • Also, Arron Asham was MIA on the Pens bench. We’ll see if Dustin Jeffrey or Eric Tangradi gets a call.
  • Lovejoy left the game late, getting hit with a puck shot from Bryan McCabe. He wears a visor and skated off on his own power. He may need stitches. Deryk Engelland was a healthy scratch tonight.

So we will see. If there is a call up I’ll have reaction on the blog tomorrow.

Go Pens.

* – credit Mike Colligan’s tweet – follow him here

EDIT: Late update on the status’ of Johnson and Asham from Mike Colligan here. Johnson: likely out – Asham: questionable. We’ll see who gets the call tomorrow.

Pittsburgh

Linking you through…

Comments Off on Linking you through… Posted by on December 21, 2010

Slow week here at CFCI as the Pens are off on Christmas break.

I got nothing. But Eric P over at the Wilkes-Blog has his Awards through 30 games.

Have a see. Hard to argue with his choices.

May start a podcast. Would you listen?

Go Pens.

WBS

Talking Puck with the Factor

1 Comment Posted by on December 20, 2010

Zach Boslett and the fine folks over at Faceoff Factor had yours truly on for their “Lacing Up” feature recently. We chatted up the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

Click here for the link.

For people clicking over from my link from the article, I chat the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins full-time. I live tweet all the games as well on Twitter at @nafsnep and I do “Gameday” posts pre-game, live tweet the action and provide “Postgamer” coverage, if you want to call it that, right here on the blog. If this is your first time, welcome.

Let’s Go Pens!

WBS

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