WBS Pens weekly report - 10/15

[eastonpensfan]

Wow! What a team! After watching an up-and-down weekend last week, this weekend's games would make you think that this team is one of the most talented to ever play in Wilkes-Barre. 2 games this weekend and a combined score of 10-2 in Wilkes-Barre's favor.

GOOD:

G J. Deslauriers - First star in both games and for good reason. 52 saves on 54 shots. His side-to-side motion is outstanding. Plays an extreme butterfly style. Catches with his right-hand (reverse of a normal goalie). If you put yellow pads on this guy and switched the glove hand, you would swear you were watching MAF. His highlight reel save of the game on Saturday was on a cross-crease pass where he went to his right in a full split and caught it in his glove as the shooter tried to place it just above his pads. The Bridgeport player who made the pass already had his arms in the air! Too bad he's an Edmonton prospect.

C Rob Schremp - Last week, I wasn't too fond of him in the Hershey game, but I apologize to Rob and I have to say he was outstanding this weekend. His skating ability is head and shoulders above anyone that Bridgeport put against him. Again, it's too bad he's an Edmonton prospect. Based on Saturday's game, if Edmonton doesn't call him up soon, he will have a monster year, especially with the line he's on, which brings me to....

RW Jonathan Filewich - WOW! Friday night, he had 2 assists. Saturday, he wasn't on the scoreboard, but was definitely noticeable. Excellent skater, does the small things right, and is most outstanding on the forecheck pressuring the opposing breakout. I'll repeat it from last week... If something happens to a top-2 line winger in Pittsburgh, expect him to fill that spot. I could see him filling the Ekman role very well. Saturday was the first game in the 4 this season where he didn't have MULTIPLE points!

C Erik Christensen - He centers Schremp and Filewich on the top line and it is one of the best lines that WBS has thrown on the ice. Just like last year, he is off to a torrid start. Looks like he took it personally that he didn't stick in Pitt this year. Not the best faceoff man, though.

C Max Talbot - Came back from an injury last week (infected knee) to score 2 goals this weekend and have a +4. Very reckless on the ice in the sense that he flies at full speed everywhere. My friend that I took to the game said he's like the "Allen Iverson" of the AHL. That's a good comparison. He gets bumped and knocked around but doesn't slow down. Beat out 2 icing plays on Sat. Did take a dumb penalty by punching a guy who tripped him. That negated a possible PP but they were already up 4-1 so you can't complain much about that. By the way, he is now wearing the 'A' on his jersey.

D Alain Nasreddine - Granted, he probably won't see the NHL again anytime soon, but controls a game very well from the point. He was paired with Carkner and you could see him communicating very well with his mate to avoid those breakaways that troubled this team last week. Was voted as the captain by his team, now wearing it for the 3rd year in WBS. Went 1+1=2 and now is on pace for a 40 goal season after not scoring a goal in all of 2006. That won't last long but it's fun to see.

C Stephen Dixon - 3rd star on Friday night and played his normal solid 2-way dependable game. Kind of like a smaller Dominic Moore. Won't light up the scoresheet, but his coaches and teammates love his hard work.

UNDECIDED/INCOMPLETE:

G Andrew Penner, LW Daniel Carcillo: Neither played this weekend. Penner was the result of J.D.'s strong play in goal and I'm not quite sure why Carcillo was out for 2 games since they had been rotating the scratches each game. He seemed to play well last weekend.

D Noah Welch: Played only on Saturday but was very solid. No odd-man rushes against him. He covered for his linemate who was beat and was the lone man back on a 2-on-1, where Bridgeport did not score. He took his man to the outside. He plays the body now more than I remember last year and made some loud checks against the boards. Raced his man back on a flip out of the zone from a Bridgeport PK and ended up causing a 2-line offside since the opponent had to skate too hard while Noah was there and beat the puck into the zone.

BAD:


C Marc-Antoine Pouliot: Was a -1 in a 6-1 win on Friday (that's hard to do) while only taking 1 shot and then took his turn in the press box on Sat as a scratch.

D Ryan Lannon - -1 in a 6-1 win (how do you do that?) with 1 shot and then sat next to Pouliot, Carcillo and Bonvie as they shared nachos in the press box on Sat. Definitely not the player some of us hoped he would be when he was in camp this year in Pitt.

New Pens warmup jerseys - They debuted them at home on Sat. Good thing I had a beer in my hand or I would have jumped up and said "WHAT THE %$#@ are those?" They are like the Atlanta jerseys in the NHL. Numbers on right sleeve, name running down the left sleeve, except that the Thrashers say 'Atlanta' down the sleeve and these have the players' names. Only black and white with the sponsor (Dodge) name on the back above the number where the players name should be. Guys like Christensen and Deslauriers had the last letters of their name on their sleeve go under their gloves. Worst ones since the tie-dyed monstrosities of their first year.

Tux's new squeaker - They installed a squeaker in his costume so he can "talk". Even some of the kids were looking at him like "What is that noise?" If I was Tux, that would get annoying after 2 1/2 hours, but he's still a great mascot, even with a new guy in the suit this year.

EX-PENS SIGHTING OF THE WEEK:

Peter Ferraro who now plays for Bridgeport scored the lone goal in their loss on Sat. Drew Fata was stripped on the puck on Dixon's odd-man goal Sat.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Great team! They were a much different team now that they had the week to practice together that they didn't have last week. The D-men worked together well, the line of Christensen between Schremp and Filewich will own most teams, and Deslauriers is outstanding. Penner still wears a Columbus BJ's mask from last year when he played for the Crunch. Someone needs to buy him a new one. Talbot, Dixon, Welch, and Nasreddine are all hard workers who are contributing well in ways not always shown on the scoresheet (although Naz now has 2 goals in 4 games!).

My gut feeling tells me that a lot of these players won't spend full years in Wilkes-Barre but if they stay together for a while, we may see a long playoff run this year.

If you have the opportunity to be in the NE PA area, please see a game. It is one of the best fan experiences in the AHL and better than some NHL games as far as atmosphere. Most fans are friendly and we love meeting new people in the restaurants/bars around the arena and at the game. You hear some great fan stories about the players interaction with the fans too. Parking is always free at the arena and you can sit lower level for $22/game. Tough to beat that!

As always, LET'S GO PENS!

[eastonpensfan]

By the way, I took my digital camera this game and took a bunch of pics. If you want any of them, I'd be happy to send some along. Just PM me.

Most of the pics are from warmups or at faceoffs, scraps in front of the goal, etc. The best shot I took was of a Deslauriers stick save just as he made the save. That will be my new background.

[Ron`]

Thanks for the update Easton, Mom wanted to stay home last night. Do you think the organization has told Noah to step up his physical game if he want's to play?

[eastonpensfan]

It does seem that way. There was a report during Pitt camp that said Welch had a talk with Therrien/Shero about his role with Pitt to play there. His game is markedly different than last year, where he was almost as offensively involved as Whitney.

I did notice that on the PP, Welch liked to go as far as the hash marks, but overall, he was playing more of a positionally sound, physical defensive game.