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GAMEDAY: @ Albany 12/1

Comments Off Posted by nafsnep on December 1, 2010

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Away Game 12

AHL Game: 335

Who: Albany Devils

Where: Times Union Center

When: 7:00 p.m. EST

Last Game: For WBS: Sunday in Springfield the Pens came back late from a 2-1 deficit to win 4-2. Keven Veilleux had a big game. Dustin Jeffrey continued piling points on registering a goal and an assist. For ALB: This past Saturday the host Devils defeated Binghamton 4-3. Goaltender Dave Caruso stopped 31 of 34 shots and was named first star of the game.

Record: For WBS, 17-4-0-0 (34 pts., 1st place East Division) — For ALB, 9-11-0-0 (18 pts., 6th place East Division)

Why you should care: The Penguins have never lost to the Devils AHL team. They want this trend to continue tonight and into the remainder of the year. Albany is slowed by injuries and call-ups to som key guys, so look for Wilkes-barre to pounce and take two points out of the Capital District this evening.

Referee(s): Chris Brown

Linesmen: Steeve Lemay / Frank Murphy

Twitter: @wbspenguins / @AlbanyDevils / @nafsnep

Beat writers: @CVBombulie / @Bill_Cain_

Radio: For WBS: 102.3 The Mountain. For Albany: You can’t get their home games over the internet. Blame Lou Lamoriello.

Television: AHL Live

Next Five Games: BNG 12/3, ADK 12/4, TOR 12/8, @ NOR 12/10, NOR 12/11

Gameday

Class Still in Session – Grading the East Division

2 Comments Posted by nafsnep on November 30, 2010

I figured since we passed out individual first quarter grades yesterday for the players on the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins, we’d pass out first quarter grades for the entire East Division. Here goes nothing:

Adirondack Phantoms: (3-18-2-0, 8 points, 8th place) Team in mass turmoil. Best player on team thrown off team. Head Coach Greg Gilbert fired already. John Paddock replaced him. Band-aid on a bullet wound. Denis Hamel signed on with the team, netted the GWG in overtime versus Norfolk November 12 but the Phantoms haven’t won a game since. Now goaltender Johan Backlund is hurt and expected to miss a month, maybe more. You really have to feel sorry for what the players, coaches, front office and fans are going through in Glens Falls. Grade: F

Albany Devils: (9-11-0-0, 18 points, 6th place) Are 7-2 in one goal games, but 2-9 in two goal or more games. Most nights are not the best team on the ice and results show. Six game losing skid where they lost by an aggregate 30-13. Will most likely get left in the dust in the next 25 games by the rest of the East. Grade: C-

Binghamton Senators: (10-10-2-1, 23 points, 5th place) A Jekyll and Hyde team if there ever was one. Goaltender Barry Brust is 8-8 but is 2-0-1 vs. Wilkes-Barre, and just downright not fun to play against from a Penguins fan perspective because he has been so good. Will continue to play darkhorse and if they make it, may not be fun to play against come playoff time. Grade: B+

Charlotte Checkers: (13-8-1-2, 29 points, 2nd place) Started off 3-6-1-0 in their first ten games, then turned it around to 10-2-0-2 since, good for second in the division. Core starting to come together. Whether or not they are an elite team still remains to be seen. Grade A-

Hershey Bears: (12-9-0-1, 25 points, 4th place) Back to back defending champs slowed by offseason losses, call ups and injuries to top line guys. Rest of division seems to have caught and passed the Bears but they still remain a dangerous team. Have lost six games on home ice this year. Only lost six home ice games all last year. Still an extremely scary team to play, but need to start playing that way. Grade B

Norfolk Admirals: (12-6-3-1, 28 points, 3rd place) Own convincing wins over WBS, Bingo and Charlotte. Shootout and overtime losses to one of the Atlantic’s best in Portland hurt as does a shutout loss in Bridgeport, a game where the Sound Tigers dressed nine guys on PTOs. Scoring doesn’t appear to be an issue, they are the highest scoring team in the league. Grade: A

Syracuse Crunch: (7-10-1-3, 18 points, 7th place) Handed WBS it’s first loss but probably the biggest disappointment in the East right now. Anaheim affiliates are usually better than this. You can’t score if you don’t shoot, and the Crunch rank last in shots for with only 25 a game. If you let the other team shoot a lot, the law of averages will bite you, and Syracuse ranks last in shots against, letting opponents fire 34.86 shots per game at it’s netminders. Is also the 29th lowest scoring team in the league, only scoring 2.24 goals a game. Grade: D

Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins: (17-4-0-0, 34 points, 1st place) Penalty kill is an issue right now, ranking 20th overall in the league. But overall exceeding expectations at this point. We all knew this team was going to be good. But this good? $60,000 question is can this be sustained? Time will tell. Grade: A+

Feel free to agree or disagree with me in the comments section as always.

The AHL

First Quarter Grades

9 Comments Posted by nafsnep on November 29, 2010

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins passed the quarter pole with Saturday’s win vs. the Rochester Americans. With that, 20 games out of 80 are in the books. The first quarter complete, it’s time to pass out some grades.

Please note that I have never played hockey before in my life. That said, this blogging a minor league hockey team is sort of a passion of sorts, something to kill the spare time in a day. So these grades should by no means really mean anything, other than what a fan with a blog with 300 or so followers on Twitter has to think about them.

All stats are from the American Hockey League’s Daily Report and are good thru 5:15 a.m. November 28. No stats from yesterday’s win in Springfield are included below. That said let’s get started!

Dustin Jeffrey: Without a doubt, the next Pittsburgh call-up to stay up. His numbers are phenomenal at this point, (8-15-23) leads the team in points with 23, and is tops in the league in short-handed goals, which means he is one of the best penalty killers in the league. Every day he is in Wilkes-Barre is a bonus for us. Grade: A+

Brett Sterling: Has only played 14 games due to being injured for a spell, but is (7-6-13) and has been as good or better than advertised. Every time he is on the ice he is a threat to score. A leader in the locker room also. Would be an A+ with Jeffrey but missed some games so we’ll give him a, Grade: A

Tim Wallace: No other active player has played more games in a WBS uniform than Wallace. His (7-8-15) shows that he gets the systems in place by Hynes / Nasreddine and knows how to execute. Is a leader in the locker room. Grade: A

Andrew Hutchinson: Spent some time in Pittsburgh when they were dealing with injuries. Is (3-10-13) which means he is unselfish from the blueline on defense or his rockets get tipped en route to the goal. Was one of the big signings in the offseason and is a rock defensively. Has lived up to expectations so far. Grade A-

Joe Vitale: His game is all meat and potatoes. No one works harder than Vitale on the ice and it shows sometimes. Is a huge role player on this team. Is (5-6-11) and is +10. Would not surprise me one bit if he was called up to Pittsburgh once this year. Grade: A+

Chris Collins: Quietly a +9 on the team, is (4-5-9) and you barely notice him sometimes, yet he is on the ice when the goal is scored. Adds depth to this team. Grade: B+

Nick Johnson: Has been injured but has returned, and has taken some inopportune penalties of recent. His (3-6-9) is a bit disappointing, but with all the depth on the team he can easily get lost in the shuffle, but remains a lethal threat. Grade B+

Ryan Craig: The Captain. Missed a few games at the beginning of the year, and is (4-2-6). They say the Captain should be an extension of the coaching. Craig is that, and the early success shows. Grade B+

Robert Bortuzzo: Second year defenseman who is a joy watching develop into a bona fide NHL talent. Game isn’t supposed to be points (1-6-7) but production on the ice. Is a +10. Is everything you want your developing second year defenseman to be. Grade: A

Jesse Boulerice: The veteran NHL heavyweight is a voice in the locker room. Is a surprising (3-3-6) thru 20 games. Will stand up to any one any time. Grade: B

Steve Wagner: (2-3-5) Frankly a disappointment this year. Has been pointless in forever. If the other team scores, it’s usually due to Wagner’s spotty defensive play. He will need to tighten this up soon before I start calling for Joey Mormina in the lineup over him full-time. Grade: D

Brian Strait: Paired with Bortuzzo for the most part on the Pens blue line this year. Is (1-4-5) but like Bortuzzo, is by no means asked to chip in offensively. Is +9 and is another home-grown, budding NHL defenseman. Grade: A

Geoff Walker: Finally found the score sheet Saturday vs. Rochester, is (1-6-7) but was brought in as a role player and is filling that role quite nicely so far. Grade: B

Eric Tangradi: Started the year in Pittsburgh. Many in the 412 area code think that he is the answer to their woes whenever something goes wrong at that level. Is in his second professional year. Is only (4-1-5) and an argument can be made that with all the offensive juggernauts in front of him, he isn’t asked to score. Is a power forward with good hands. I will give him some leniency having only played 14 games, but he’ll need to start putting up Dustin Jeffrey-esque type numbers if he is to ever be given consideration to get the call to play and stay in Pittsburgh. Grade: B-

Zach Sill: Centers a fourth line on most nights. Is a grinder. His (2-2-4) just shows how deep this team really is. Will fight anyone. Grade: B+

Keven Veilleux: (1-3-4) Once he learns how to play the pro game, that is not look lost out there sometimes, BeastMode will be an absolute scoring terror. He’ll need at least two, maybe three years here in Wilkes-Barre. But again, once he catches on, get your popcorn ready. Grade: B-

Carl Sneep: Victim of a scratch here and there for Joey Mormina, Carl is a pure rookie learning on the fly. Is (1-1-2) and is just being a sponge out there with how to play, act and look like a pro. Grade: B

Bryan Lerg: (0-2-2) Has only played 11 games, but when he is in is not a liability out on the ice. Grade would be higher if only he played more games. Grade C

Corey Potter: Was injured a few games early in the year. Only (0-2-2) but as a defenseman is not asked to score. His -1 could be a victim of being paired with Steve Wagner. Was a depth signing from New York Rangers organization last year. Grade C+

Joey Mormina: Has played only 9 games, but really should have played more. Is here on a try out, which is a shame in my opinion as he was tops in +/- two years ago. If Steve Wagner continues his downward spiral, John Hynes would be silly not putting Mormina in the lineup over Wagner. Has not recorded a point, but is a +4 in the nine games he has played. Grade: (adjusted on a curve) B+

Chris Conner, Jason DeSantis, Drew Fata, Nick Petersen, Joey Haddad: But for Conner’s (3-6-9) the rest of these guys are either no longer here, in Wheeling or healthy scratches. Conner is currently serving time in Pittsburgh, something well deserved. I can’t really give grades here. Grade: Incomplete

Brad Thiessen: Has played more games than John Curry. His numbers (2.08 GAA, 0.927 SV% 9-2 record) are slightly better than Curry’s but it’s really an alternating 1a-1b tandem which can take the team very far this year. Curry has been around longer, and it only helps his own development having a younger guy coming in and push him. Will get a higher grade slightly due to numbers only. Grade: A

John Curry: Left for dead last year, has re-invigorated and found his game from when he was a rookie and took Wilkes-Barre to six games to the Calder Cup Finals in 2008. Getting pushed by the younger Thiessen, but instead of playing mad and having poor results, he is playing mad and not letting many pucks by him. At (2.43 GAA, 0.909 SV% 7-2 record) he shared goaltender of the month of October with Thiessen. Gets a lower grade than Brad simply because of the numbers game. Grade A-

So there you have it. Feel free to agree or disagree with me in the comments section. If you want to you can also e-mail me your thoughts.

Let’s Go Pens!

WBS

Lunch Pail Win – Pens defeat Falcons 4-2

Comments Off Posted by nafsnep on November 28, 2010

AHL Live had technical difficulties so I did not see one second of live action today. The problem was not just me, but anyone who wanted to see the game.

Regardless, a gritty, hard fought 4-2 Penguins win this afternoon in Springfield.

Brad Thiessen vs. Gustav Wesslau. Bryan Lerg made his return to the lineup over Joey Haddad.

First thing I will say is that Tom Grace on radio this afternoon really gave high marks to the play of Keven Veilleux. In the first, Keven worked a puck to Ryan Craig and Craig cashed in to give the Pens a 1-0 lead. Later, Jesse Boulerice took a cross checking penalty and Tomas Kubalik scored for the 22nd ranked Springfield power play. The Pens penalty kill unit used to be tops in the league, I will have to check this week to see where they fall in now.

Second period: Pens have all the momentum in the world, overwhelming the Falcons at times, when all of a sudden out of the blue Tomas Kubalik scores again to give the Falcons a 2-1 lead. Again, I didn’t get to see a second of the game, but from what Tom Grace was telling us, it looked like you were just waiting for the Pens to explode on the Falcons and run away with it.

Well, with about five minutes left in the game, the bomb went off. Nick Johnson scored after he crashed the net. Tie game. The ensuing faceoff saw Steve Wagner fire a dart to the tape of Dustin Jeffrey who fired a wrister past Wesslau to put the Pens up 3-2. More praises for Veilleux, calling the game his most complete to date. Bryan Lerg then potted an empty netter to seal the deal for the Penguin and send the Falcons home disappointed in defeat.

Ryan Craig was the third star, Tomas Kubarlik the second for Springfield and Nick Johnson was the first. Really should have been Dustin Jeffrey the first star but it doesn’t matter. Wilkes-Barre is 17-4 and 5-0 vs. non-divisional opponents.

Around the East: Norfolk was shut out by Bridgeport, 3-0. Syracuse beat the Hamilton Bulldogs 3-2. The ~~Hartford WolfPack~~ er, Connecticut Whale, defeated the Adirondack Phantoms 3-0 and the Charlotte Checkers stormed back from a 2-1 deficit to beat Hershey 5-2.

Standings look like this: Wilkes-Barre leads the division with 34 points. Charlotte jumps over Norfolk and has 29 points to the Admirals 28. Hershey stays put in fourth with 25 points. The idle Senators remain in fifth with 23 points. Albany has 18 points in sixth, Syracuse in seventh with 18 points and Adirondack stays at 8 points in the East Division basement.

Pens get the day off Monday. I’ll have my First Quarter Grades ready for you tomorrow at 10 a.m. sharp. Please note they do not take into account the stats in this game, they only take into account the first 20 games. Should be fun for you all to read.

Go Pens.

Postgamer

GAMEDAY: @ Springfield 11/28

Comments Off Posted by nafsnep on November 28, 2010

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Away Game 11

AHL Game: 330

Who: Springfield Falcons

Where: MassMutual Center

When: 3:00 p.m. EST

Last Game: For WBS: Last night at home vs. Rochester, the Pens won 4-3. Geoff Walker finally found the goal column and had an assist. For Springfield: Last night vs. Norfolk the Falcons lost 5-2. Tomas Kubalik and Nick Tarnasky had goals for the Falcons.

Record: For WBS, 16-4-0-0 (32 pts., 1st place East Division) — For SPR, 11-10-0-1 (23 pts., 4th place Atlantic Division)

Why you should care: Springfield has been kicking around the bottom of the Atlantic Division this season, while WBS is one of the elite AHL teams. This is an afternoon game and usually in these contests, it’s who ever scores first usually wins. Odds are high that WBS scores first and cruises to victory.

Referee(s): Jeff Smith

Linesmen: Jim Briggs / Frank Murphy

Twitter: @wbspenguins / @DMarkiewicz / @nafsnep

Beat writers: @CVBombulie

Radio: For WBS: 102.3 The Mountain. For Springfield: WHYN NEwsTalk 560

Television: AHL Live

Next Five Games: @ ALB 12/1, BNG 12/3, ADK 12/4, TOR 12/8, @ NOR 12/10

Gameday

All Grit – Pens defeat Amerks 4-3

Comments Off Posted by nafsnep on November 27, 2010

Before we get going, let me know what you think of the new digs here at Chirps from Center Ice. We have a menu feature above and a cool e-mail subscription below. Good times.

Anyway the unstoppable Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins met an immovable force in Amerks goaltender Jacob Markstrom tonight. The more I sit and think about it I am comparing it to a playoff game for the Penguins. That kind of atmosphere too. Large crowd and a tight game. This one was a 4-3 Wilkes-Barre win.

John Curry vs. the aforementioned Jacob Markstrom. Joey Haddad was in for the injured Chris Collins. Apparently it’s bumps and or bruises, per the Bombulie blog recap.

First period: Referee Jamie Koharski gets Joe Vitale on a bush league slash call :56 seconds in. Evgeny Dadonov for Rochester nearly scores but misses a wide open net. Pens kill it. Later, Dustin Jeffrey scores a garbage goal in a scrum to put the Pens up 1-0. Soon after that, the fourth line again puts in work and Jesse Boulerice scored a goal. 2-0 Wilkes-Barre. At that moment, Boulerice and Eric Tangradi were tied in goals with three. Until, a Robert Bortuzzo blast from the point gets deflected in by the Big Dog. 3-0. At this point, I think it’s going to be a Wilkes-barre romp. It was certainly setting up to be that. The game is 10:52 old and it’s 3-0 Wilkes-Barre. Hold up though. Joey Haddad boards an Amerk and Clay Wilson scored to make it 3-1 going into the first intermission.

Second period: If you didn’t think Jesse Boulerice and Eric Selleck were going to fight tonight you were dead wrong. My YouTube skills leave much to be desired. Maybe you can help me out in the comments section on how to make this look better:

Anyway, that’s the best I can do for now. Kenndal McArdle was spotted holding Joe Vitale. As the Amerks killed it, he scored to make it 3-2. I tweeted that it wasn’t for a lack of effort, but WBS hadn’t found the killshot yet to bury the Amerks. After a Carl Sneep hook, Mike Kostka tied the game at three. During a penalty which saw Eric Selleck in the box for a roughing penalty, Jacob Markstrom made a glove save on a Steve Wagner wrister while he was being screened by Eric Tangradi. I suppose a goaltender can only do so much but imagine if Markstrom is on a good team? The second period would end tied at three.

Third period: I tweeted again that how the Penguins respond to the second period debacle in the first five minutes of the third period would dictate how the game would go for them. Well, welcome to the goal column Geoff Walker. The goal was assisted by Dustin Jeffrey and Tim Wallace. Radio said that we have an NHL player in Jeffrey playing on our AHL team. I cannot disagree with that statement one bit. The rest of the period was basically lockdown hockey. The shots on goal would end up favoring Wilkes-Barre 40-22. Rochester only took 4 shots on goal the entire third period (and also the second) so whatever was said in the locker room was well received by the defense.

The win puts us at 32 points. Tops in the league and still tops in the East, as it is really gearing up now.

Around the East: Braden Hotlby’s return to Hershey saw him shut out the Phantoms 4-0. Andrew Gordon scored another goal for the Bears. Hershey at 100% and Wilkes-Barre / Scranton at 100% will be a barnburner for sure when, yes I said when, these two teams meet in the playoffs. Meanwhile the Norfolk Admirals are tapping Bears fans and Penguins fans on the shoulder saying, “remember us?” as they cruised to a 5-2 victory over tomorrows opponent the Springfield Falcons. Watch out for Norfolk. Charlotte beat Worcester 4-2. Albany beat Binghamton 4-3. Please try to figure that one out if you can. Bingo gives us fits and Albany can’t run with us yet the Devils somehow manage to beat the Senators tonight. I will be scratching my head at that one all night for sure. Toronto beat Syracuse 2-1 in Joffrey Lupul’s debut conditioning stint for the Crunch. This next score isn’t the East but it’s some bit of history, Grand Rapids beat Chicago tonight by the score of 10-8. The League tweeted that the last time anything of this sort happened was in 1996 when Baltimore beat Binghamton by the same score.

Standings wise: WBS in first with 32 points. Norfolk in sole possession of second with 28. Charlotte in third with 27. Hershey has 25 points good for fourth. Bingo has 23 points in fifth. It drops way off after that. Albany in sixth with 18, Syracuse seventh with 16 and Adirondack still in last with a mere 8 points.

Report cards are done. They will debut on the blog here Monday at 10 a.m. They are based off of the last 20 games. Tonight was Game 20. It’ll be fun for you to read.

Again, let me know what you think of the new format here. E-mail me or leave me a comment in comments section. I am always looking for input to make things better.

Go Pens.

Postgamer

GAMEDAY: vs. Rochester 11/27

1 Comment Posted by nafsnep on November 27, 2010

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Home Game 10

AHL Game: 322

Who: Rochester Americans

Where: Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza

When: 7:05 p.m. EST

Last Game: For WBS: On Thanksgiving, the Pens lost 5-2. Brett Sterling had a goal and an assist. For Rochester: last night vs. Toronto, the Amerks lost 3-2. A.J. Jenks had a goal and an assist in the loss for Rochester.

Record: For WBS, 15-4-0-0 (30 pts., 1st place East Division) — For RCH, 9-11-1-0 (19 pts., 7th place North Division)

Last Meeting: November 7 in Rochester, the Pens won 2-1. Rochester’s Eric Selleck threw a bunch of big hits and will be a marked man in tonight’s contest.

Why you should care: Wilkes-Barre / Scranton has yet to lose two games in a row. Rochester has only won two of it’s last seven so they are down a bit. Tonight is supposed to be a packed house and a televised game locally. How the Penguins respond to the loss Thursday in Binghamton should be very interesting to see within the first 10 minutes of the game to a downtrodden opponent.

Referee(s): Jamie Koharski

Linesmen: Bob Goodman / Jameel Chaudry

Twitter: @wbspenguins / @AmerksHockey / @LetsGoAmerks / @nafsnep

Beat writers: @CVBombulie / @KevinODandC

Radio: For WBS: 102.3 The Mountain. For Rochester: WHTK on Demand

Television: AHL Live / myFOXnepa (in WBS)

Promotion(s): Game Worn Jersey Card Night #1 (first 5,000 fans)

Next Five Games: @ SPR 11/28, @ ALB 12/1, BNG 12/3, ADK 12/4, TOR 12/8

Gameday

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