The 2012-13 AHL Schedule Announced

The wait is over! The American Hockey League has announced its schedule for the 2012-13 season. The Penguins schedule here. A quick look at this year's schedule with notable games:

• Opening night is on the road against the Binghamton Senators on Saturday, October 13th, at 7:05 p.m. EST. Their first home game of the regular season is the following Saturday against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

• This year's Outdoor Classic features the Penguins in Hershey against the Bears on Sunday, January 20th, at 5:00 p.m. EST. 

• Two other "special" games on the schedule include a trip to Atlantic City to play the Albany Devils (4:00 p.m. EST. Sunday, November 25th) and a trip to Philadelphia to play the Adirondack Phantoms at the Wells Fargo Center (7:00 p.m. EST Friday, February 22nd)

• The biggest home stretch comes in early November when the Penguins play five games at the Mohegan Sun Arena from November 7th-16th. The biggest road trip is a seven game tour of New England, stretching from March 8th-20th.

A breakdown of who the Pens play and how many times:

EAST DIVISION
Hershey Bears (Washington) (12 games - 6H/6A)
Binghamton Senators (Ottawa) (10 games - 5H/5A)
Norfolk Admirals (Tampa Bay) (8 games - 4H/4A)
Syracuse Crunch (Anaheim) (8 games - 4H/4A)
TOTAL (38 games - 19H/19A)

NORTHEAST DIVISION
Albany Devils (New Jersey) (4 games - 2H/2A)
Bridgeport Sound Tigers (New York Islanders) (4 games - 2H/2A)
Connecticut Whale (New York Rangers) (2 games - 1H/1A)
Springfield Falcons (Columbus Blue Jackets) (2 games - 1H/1A)
Adirondack Phantoms (Philadelphia) (4 games - 2H/2A)
TOTAL (16 games - 8H/8A)

ATLANTIC DIVISION
Manchester Monarchs (Los Angeles Kings) (4 games - 2H/2A)
Portland Pirates (Phoenix Coyotes) (4 games - 2H/2A)
St. John’s (Winnipeg Jets) (4 games - 2H/2A)
Providence Bruins (Boston Bruins) (2 games - 1H/1A)
Worcester Sharks (San Jose Sharks) (4 games - 2H/2A)
TOTAL (18 games - 9H/9A)

NORTH DIVISION
Rochester Americans (Buffalo Sabres) (2 games - 1H/1A)
Toronto Marlies (Toronto Maple Leafs) (2 games - 1H/1A)
TOTAL (4 games - 2H/2A)
 

Monday Afternoon's Lunch Links 8/13

Paul Thompson was one of the AHL guys at prospect camp

As mid-August approaches, the dog days of summer seem to come to an end - especially for AHL teams, writers and diehard hockey fans.

The league decided against releasing a schedule matrix and plans to release the schedule of the AHL's 2012-13 season this week. That will most likely be the next major update! I also get to plan out my road trips to attempt to keep Highland Park Hockey covering live AHL Penguins hockey as much as possible.

For those who are curious about who the Penguins might play, take a look at who they played last season here (or scroll down the page!). I don't expect many changes as to who the WBS Penguins will play as much as maybe the amount of times they will play out of division opponents.

Now to catch everyone up as to where the Penguins stand currently:

• The WBS Penguins signed forwards Cody Chupp, Denver Manderson and Scott Zurevinski to AHL-only contracts.* Chupp split time between the AHL and ECHL with the Wheeling Nailers last season, while Manderson was an ECHL mainstay. Zurevinski played eight games at the end of the AHL regular season with the St. John's IceCaps. Had this on the blog's Twitter feed upon official announcement.

• Former NHL Penguins forward Richard Park has signed a two-year deal overseas with HC Ambri Piotta of the NLA, a league in Switzerland. Some thought Park might sneak into the AHL last season but that did not happen.

To end, a look at the current WBS Penguins roster.
 
Goalies (3): Patrick Killeen, Brad Thiessen and Jeff Zatkoff

Goalies are pretty set. Killeen should be in Wheeling (ECHL) to start the season.

Defensemen (11): Robert Bortuzzo, Simon Despres, Brian Dumoulin, Alex Grant, Phillip, Reid McNeill, Joey Mormina, Joe Morrow, Dylan Reese, Philip Samuelsson, Carl Sneep, and Brian Strait

The blue line will be interesting. Robert Bortuzzo, Brian Strait, Dylan Reese and Simon Despres will battle for a spot with Pittsburgh, but the Penguins can't be satisfied with a Deryk Engelland-Ben Lovejoy third pairing. Despres does not need to clear waivers so you would think he will be sent to the AHL. Moves can be made to clear space for Despres. Bortuzzo, Strait and Reese would need to clear waivers to play in the AHL with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
 
Forwards (19): Beau Bennett, Cody Chupp, Phillipe Dupuis, Benn Ferriero, Brian Gibbons, Riley Holzapfel, Tom Kuhnhackl, Steve MacIntyre, Denver Manderson, Adam Payerl, Warren Peters, Nick Petersen, Zach Sill, Trevor Smith, Paul Thompson, Dominik Uher, Keven Veilleux, Scott Zurevinski 

Pittsburgh seems set at forward, with only the status of RFA forward Eric Tangradi uncertain. Phillipe Dupuis (not Pascal), Ferreriero, Peters, and Smith can challenge for a spot in the NHL, and all of those guys would need to clear waivers to play in the AHL.

Penguins 2012-13 Preseason Schedule

I'll be posting some pictures from last month's Development Camp Scrimmage soon!

The Rochester Americans announced this afternoon that they are playing a home-and-home series against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, marking the beginning of hockey for the Penguins in 2012-13. From the team's release:

The home-and-home series between the teams will start on Wednesday, Oct. 3 when the Amerks host the Penguins at The Sports Centre at MCC in Rochester at 7:05 p.m.  Ticket information will be announced at a later date.

On Friday, Oct. 5, the Amerks will travel to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to face the Penguins at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza. Game time is 7:05 p.m.

The Wilkes-Barre Penguins also released information on two other preseason games against the Hershey Bears. From the Pens press release:

The exhibition schedule is as follows:

Date	Opponent	Venue	Time
Wednesday, Oct. 3	at Rochester	The Sports Centre at MCC	7:05pm
Friday, Oct. 5	vs. Rochester	Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza	7:05pm
Saturday, Oct. 6	vs. Hershey	Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza	7:05pm
Sunday, Oct. 7	at Hershey	GIANT Center	5:00pm

Highland Park Hockey will be making the trip to Rochester. We'll have all the coverage right here all pre-season and regular season long!

Penguins Sign Forward Jayson Megna

A picture of Megna I took at Pens Development Camp.

If you follow us on Twitter, then you knew this move was coming. On Sunday, Mike Colligian, NHL analyst at Forbes.com and Penguins correspondent at the Hockey Writers, talked about how Jayson Megna was in talks with Pittsburgh and finalizing a contract.

Well, four days later it becomes official. Megna has agreed to a two-year, two-way contract worth $925,000 per season at the NHL level.

Megna centered Paul Thompson and Dominik Uher for Team Black at the Penguins Development Camp Scrimmage that I attended back on July 14th. He has impressed many others who were at the camp all week. This next excerpt on Megna is from our piece on the forwards from camp:

#11 Jayson Megna - An unrestricted free agent invited to camp. To be honest I hadn't heard of him before the scrimmage. Put together a decent year at Nebraska-Omaha (WCHA) last season, registering 31 points (13G-18A) in 38 games.

If you aren't following us on Twitter or don't use it, Mike Colligan also hinted at rumblings that restricted free agent forward Eric Tangradi is holding out, seeking a one-way deal for 2012-13.  Tangradi has basically zero leverage in this "holdout" if that is what's really going on here. I don't see GM Ray Shero budging on Tangradi, who has yet to really prove that he is a full-time NHL player.