Chirps from Center Ice

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

GAMEDAY: @ Worcester 11/13

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Away Game 7

AHL Game: 227

Who: Worcester Sharks

Where: DCU Center

When: 7:00 p.m. EST

Last Game: For WBS: Last night v. Bingo, the Pens lost 5-1. Chris Collins had the lone goal for Wilkes-Barre. For Worcester: Last night @ Manchester, the Sharks won 3-1. Benn Ferriero had two goals for the Sharks.

Record: For WBS, 10-2-0-0 (20 pts., 1st place East Division) — For WOR, 6-3-1-2 (15 pts., 3rd place Atlantic Division)

Why you should care: Wilkes-Barre travels for the first time this year to the Atlantic Division and is visiting the Atlantic Division’s Divisional Champions tonght. The Sharks played us tough last year. Worcester would love to keep the losing streak going as they host us in Central Massachusetts this evening.

Referee(s): Chris Cozzan

Linesmen: Todd Whittemore / Ed Boyle

Twitter: @wbspenguins / @WorcesterSharks / @nafsnep

Beat writers: @CVBombulie

Radio: For WBS: 102.3 The Mountain. For Worcester: WTAG (AM 580 / FM 94.9)

Television: AHL Live

Next Five Games: @ ALB 11/16, NOR 11/19, @ HER 11/20, BNG 11/21, ALB 11/24

Flat Soda – Pens lose 5-1 to Binghamton

Nothing can be said about this game, a 5-1 loss to the Binghamton Senators. Reminded me of flat soda. No pop. No fizz. Just flat. Like week old soda that sat out.

John Curry v. Barry Brust tonight. Joey Mormina was a scratch tonight and he really shouldn’t have been because Steve Wagner had a forgettable game.

Two power play goals by Binghamton in the first period tonight set the stage for a disastrous night for Wilkes-Barre. A Bortuzzo trip led to a Corey Locke goal then a Johnson hook led to a Bobby Butler goal. Butler is on a tear his rookie season.

Shots wise, WBS had the lead all night but if you just looked at who played better that last shift or block of time from whistle to whistle, Binghamton outplayed us. Strange too, because yesterday, Sens beat writer Joy Lindsay reported on her Twitter feed that practice was cancelled due to ice issues at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena yesterday. Perhaps the day off was just what the doctor ordered after getting smacked around by Rochester 6-3 on Wednesday.

Referee Ryan Fraser gave Wilkes-Barre every opportunity to make a game out of it. 0 for 6 on the power play and there is nothing to see here.

Eric Tangradi had a forgettable game. Andrew Hutchinson as well. Both played iffy games. Tangradi whiffed on a one-time on a power play in the 2nd and Andrew Hutchinson tip-tapped in the pussy willows in the same power play, in his own zone and it led to a Binghamton scoring chance. If anyone in Pittsburgh who reads this blog wonders why Eric and Andrew are here in Wilkes-Barre, look no further than this game.

I can’t make much more of a story tonight. Perhaps Jonathan Bombulie can in his postgame wrap. Bobby Butler scored two goals. He’s among the AHL rookie leaders. It’s never any good when Francis Lessard lights up the score sheet instead of the penalty sheet. He score late in the third to make it 5-1 and rub it in Wilkes-Barre’s faces.

Chris Collins got the lone Penguin goal late in the third. Roman Wick had the other Binghamton goal in the second at 35 seconds on a daft 2 on 1 with Jim O’Brien.

Brust, Locke and Butler were your three stars.

Around the division: Denis Hamel snipes for two goals and the Adirondack Phantoms cooled off the Norfolk Admirals. Hammer had the game tying and game winning goal (in overtime) as the Phantoms won 4-3. Hershey lost 3-2 to Toronto. Charlotte beat Bridgeport 6-5 and Syracuse shut out Albany 3-0. Standings wise: We are still in first with 20 points, Charlotte has 19 points, Norfolk and Binghamton have 16, Hershey and Syracuse have 15 points, Albany 12 and Binghamton 7. Not a bad night for Wilkes-Barre in the long run.

Off to Worcester tomorrow. I will be there. Booster club trip. They beat ManchVegas 3-1.

Yuck.

GAMEDAY: v. Binghamton 11/12

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Home Game 6

AHL Game: 215

Who: Binghamton Senators

Where: Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza

When: 7:05 p.m. EST

Last Game: This past Sunday in Rochester the Pens won 2-1. Ryan Craig had a goal and Brad Thiessen stopped 19 of 20 shots to improve to 6-0-0-0. For Bingo, this past Wednesday the Sens lost at home to Rochester 6-4.  Bobby Butler scored his 10th goal of the season, tops among AHL rookies.

Record: For WBS, 10-1-0-0 (20 pts., 1st place East Division) For BNG, 6-5-1-1 (14 pts., 5th place East Division)

Last Meeting: October 23 in Wilkes-Barre, the Pens won in a shootout 2-1. Defenseman Steve Wagner had the regulation goal. Corey Locke scored with 10.6 seconds left in regulation to tie the game and Chris Conner deftly stickhandled around a diving Barry Brust in the shootout to seal the Pens win.

Why you should care: Despite the 5th place standings in the East Division at the present, the Sens are better than this. They have been dealing with a turnstile of call-ups to parent Ottawa and from ECHL affiliate Elmira. For Wilkes-Barre it is a chance to seperate itself even further from foes in the East Division.

Referee(s): Ryan Fraser

Linesmen: John Everett / Jameel Chaudry

Twitter: @wbspenguins / @BSens_Hockey / @nafsnep

Beat writers: @CVBombulie / @PSBJoyLindsay

Radio: For WBS: 102.3 The Mountain. For Binghamton: The Team 1430

Television: AHL Live

Promotion(s): It’s Dollar Beer / Dollar Hot Dog Night. First 1,500 hot dogs are just a buck, and select draft beers are $1 until 7:30.

Next Five Games: @ WOR 11/13, @ ALB 11/16, NOR 11/19, @ HER 11/20, BNG 11/21

Oh Captain, My Captain

Initially it was supposed to be announced by Game 20 this year, but the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins announced it today.

Ryan Craig has been named Penguins’ team captain. The 16th of such kind in the history of the team.

This should come as no surprise to anyone. Ever since the Craig signing back in the summer, he was the obvious choice to have the “C” sewn on his sweater.

Andrew Hutchinson and Tim Wallace will be alternate captains. In the event of injury or recall Nick Johnson and Brett Sterling will wear the letters.

Congrats to Ryan Craig!

Go Pens.

Call to (Trans)action…

Few things today:

  • Chris Conner recalled to Pittsburgh. Depth move only as the flu bug is going around. May play tonight but multiple reports I have seen on Twitter today list him as the extra forward. Very possbily may be up only for insurance purposes and then sent down tomorrow, as Pittsburgh doesn’t play again until Friday.
  • Semyon Varlamov was sent to Hershey today. The blog On Frozen Blog tells me it’s for conditioning purposes. Varlamov will probably see action this weekend in net for Hershey.
  • Mike McKenna (@MikeMcKenna56) deleted his Twitter sometime today. The bigger news for him was that he was recalled from Albany today to parent New Jersey. In the wake of the Dan Ellis fiasco, it’s probably a smart move.

You’ll find analysis on the Conner promotion from Jonathan Bombulie here. You will find Tim Leone’s blog entry here. If you have no idea what I was talking about regarding Dan Ellis, here is the story.

My take on Conner: WBS is deep. We don’t have a single player in the top anything in anything. Keven Veilleux, Geoff Walker and Bryan Lerg are all adequate replacements. Let Pittsburgh have him. Maybe he shakes things up like Bombulie said in his blog entry. He will be back. It’s just a matter of when.

Blog Fodder 11/9

If you missed it yesterday, details for the December 30 game in Pittsburgh were announced by the Penguins yesterday and I have it covered one post down.

Other news to get to: Zach Boslett and the guys who run the Faceoff Factor featured yours truly and Eric P at the Wilkes-Blog for a round-table, if you will, regarding the October Three Stars of the Month for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins. Have a see.

We have our first AHL coaching casualty. Adirondack’s Greg Gilbert was relived of his duties and John Paddock will take over. You’ll remember Paddock’s name with the Phantoms as their head coach in 2008-2009. He was promoted to Assistant GM of the Flyers, a position he’ll keep. Links: AHL / Phantoms / Tim McManus, beat writer

AHL watchdog Patrick Williams (who used to cover the Phantoms when they still resided in Philadelphia) provided some thoughts on his Twitter feed last evening. If Twitter only allowed me to follow one person, Patrick Williams would be it.

That’s about it for today. Alain Nasreddine was supposed to be the booster club guest. He was having Blackberry issues and forgot.* Next time I see him I will tell him to invest in an iPhone.

While at the booster club meeting, president Vicki Silva was nice enough to let me use the microphone and give away my blog. So if you are here for the first time, welcome! Tell your friends. If you are into Twitter, there is a button on the right to follow me there. There isn’t a Facebook button, I don’t do Facebook. Sorry.

* – Stick tap to other booster club members who informed me of this on Twitter.

What’s the (Pass) Word?

What you have been waiting for is finally here. Today on the WBS Twitter feed, the Pens finally announced details for the Dec 30 game in Pittsburgh at the new CONSOL Energy Center against the Hershey Bears. You need to look no further than at Chirps from Center Ice for all the details as follows:

  • If you are a WBS season ticket holder (STH), a Pittsburgh STH or a Bears STH, you already have a section reserved for you by your team. WBS will be in Section 103 at CONSOL. Hershey and Pittsburgh will have their own separate sections. Call your respective team ticket rep starting tomorrow to get a ticket in your designated section.
  • Prices are $30 lower bowl and $15 upper bowl.
  • Everyone else can go on Ticketmaster starting Tuesday, November 9 to buy tickets in other sections. The password is, TUX . The presale runs thru Thursday, after which you do not need the code to buy tickets.

There you have it. I will be there by hook or by crook. Stay tuned to the blog and my twitter feed as we get closer.

Go Pens.