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Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
City	Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
League	American Hockey League
Conference	Eastern Conference
Division	East Division
Founded	1999
Home arena	Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza
Colors	Black, gold, red, white
Owner(s)	Ron Burkle; Mario Lemieux
General manager	Ray Shero
Head coach	Todd Reirden
Media	Wilkes-Barre Times Leader; Scranton Times-Tribune; 102.3 The Mountain WDMT-FM
Affiliates	Pittsburgh Penguins (NHL); Wheeling Nailers (ECHL)
Franchise history
1981 to 1988	Fredericton Express
1988 to 1993	Halifax Citadels
1993 to 1996	Cornwall Aces
1999 to present	Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
Championships
Division Championships	2 (2005–06, 2007–08)
Conference Championships	3 (2000–01, 2003–04, 2007–08)

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins are the American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins. They play in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania at the Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza.

[edit] History

The Pittsburgh Penguins' top minor league affiliate throughout the 1990s was the Cleveland Lumberjacks of the IHL. However, in the mid 1990s, the IHL began moving away from being a developmental league and more towards being a top independent minor league. For this reason, the Penguins wanted their top minor league affiliate in the AHL. The Penguins purchased the dormant Cornwall Aces AHL franchise from the Colorado Avalanche in 1996, but left the team inactive until the 1999–2000 season when it was placed in Wilkes-Barre. The team is affectionately referred to as "The Baby Penguins" by fans. The WBS Pens have gone to the Calder Cup Final three times in their ten year existence, most recently in 2008 by way of beating the Portland Pirates in a thrilling seven game series in the Eastern Conference finals; the Penguins took game seven by a score of 3-2 after being down in the series three games to two. They went on to play the Chicago Wolves in the final, but lost the series 4-2.

Their mascot is Tux the penguin, who wears number #99 in reference to the team's first season in 1999. The team celebrated their 10th Anniversary Season in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in 2008/2009 with the catch phrase of "Making Memories". The team qualified for the Calder Cup Playoffs in 2009 for the seventh year in a row and attempted to make the Calder Cup Final for the third time in six years to try and win the franchise's first Cup. The Pens fourth drive to the Calder Cup Final came to end against the Hershey Bears in the conference semifinals. The series went to seven games with Hershey taking the final two at home by identical scores of 3-0 after the Pens won three in a row in Wilkes-Barre.

They began their 11th season of play on October 3, 2009 with a home win against the Syracuse Crunch. Their slogan for this season is "Where Champions are Born", a reference to their parent Pittsburgh Penguins, who won the 2009 Stanley Cup.

[edit] Season-by-season results

[edit] Regular Season

Season	Games	Won	Lost	Tied	OTL	SOL	Points	Goals for	Goals against	Standing
1999–00	80	23	43	9	5	—	60	236	306	5th, Empire State
2000–01	80	36	33	9	2	—	83	252	248	2nd, Mid-Atlantic
2001–02	80	20	44	13	3	—	56	201	274	4th, South
2002–03	80	36	32	7	5	—	84	245	248	3rd, South
2003–04	80	34	28	10	8	—	86	197	197	3rd, East
2004–05	80	39	27	—	7	7	92	227	219	4th, East
2005–06	80	51	18	—	5	6	113	249	178	1st, East
2006–07	80	51	23	—	2	4	108	276	221	2nd, East
2007–08	80	47	26	—	3	4	101	223	187	1st, East
2008–09	80	49	25	—	3	3	104	274	212	3rd, East

[edit] Playoffs

Season	Prelim	1st round	2nd round	3rd round	Finals
1999–00	Out of Playoffs
2000–01	—	W, 3–2, SYR	W, 4–2, PHIL	W, 4–0, HER	L, 2–4,SJNB
2001–02	Out of Playoffs
2002–03	W, 2–0, UT	L, 1–3, GR	—	—	—
2003–04	—	W, 4–3, BRI	W, 4–2, PHIL	W, 4–3, HART	L, 0–4,MIL
2004–05	—	W, 4–2, BING	L, 1–4, PHIL	—	—
2005–06	—	W, 4–3, BRI	L, 0–4, HER	—	—
2006–07	—	W, 4–2, NOR	L, 1–4, HER	—	—
2007–08	—	W, 4–1, HER	W, 4–1, PHIL	W, 4-3 PORT	L, 2-4, CHI
2008–09	—	W, 4–1, BRI	L,3-4 HER	—	—

[edit] Current roster

As of October 6, 2009^[1]^[2]

Goaltenders
#	Player	Catches	Place of birth
35	Adam Berkhoel	L	Woodbury, Minnesota
36	John Curry	L	Shorewood, Minnesota
39	Brad Thiessen	L	Aldergrove, British Columbia

Defensemen
#	Player	Shoots	Place of birth
2	Nate Guenin	R	Sewickley, Pennsylvania
3	Lane Caffaro	L	Slave Lake, Alberta
4	Jon D'Aversa	L	Richmond Hill, Ontario
5	Deryk Engelland - A	R	Chetwynd, British Columbia
7	Brian Strait	L	Boston, Massachusetts
8	Robert Bortuzzo	R	Thunder Bay, Ontario
14	Chris Lee	L	MacTier, Ontario

Forwards
#	Player	Position	Shoots	Place of birth
9	Konstantin Pushkarev	RW	L	Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan
11	Zach Sill	F	L	Truro, Nova Scotia
15	Wade Brookbank	LW	L	Lanigan, Saskatchewan
17	Luca Caputi	LW	R	Toronto, Ontario
18	Jesse Boulerice	RW	R	Plattsburgh, New York
19	Wyatt Smith - A	C	L	Thief River Falls, Minnesota
21	Dustin Jeffrey	C	L	Sarnia, Ontario
23	Chris Conner - A	RW	L	Westland, Michigan
24	Tim Wallace	LW	R	Anchorage, Alaska
25	Eric Tangradi	LW	L	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
26	Joe Vitale	C	R	St. Louis, Missouri
28	Nick Johnson	RW	L	Calgary, Alberta
34	Aaron Boogaard	RW	R	Regina, Saskatchewan
37	Ryan Bayda	LW	L	Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
44	Keven Veilleux	RW	R	Saint-Georges, Quebec

[edit] Team records

[edit] Single season

Goals: 34 Chris Minard (2008–09)

Assists: 50 Jeff Taffe (2008–09) and Janne Pesonen (2008–09)

Points: 82 Janne Pesonen (2008–09)

Penalty minutes: 431 Dennis Bonvie (2005–06)

Goaltending wins: 33 John Curry (2008–09)

GAA: 2.26 Dany Sabourin (2005–06)

SV%: .922 Rich Parent (2000–01) and Dany Sabourin (2005–06)

[edit] Career

Career goals: 97 Tom Kostopoulos

Career assists: 149 Tom Kostopoulos

Career points: 246 Tom Kostopoulos

Career penalty minutes: 1081 Dennis Bonvie

Career goaltending wins: 64 John Curry

Career shutouts: 10 Sebastien Caron

Career games: 318 Tom Kostopoulos

[edit] AHL records

As of the 2007–08 AHL Season. Data from the AHL Hall of Fame Website. [1]

[edit] Team

Longest Road Winning Streak (one season): 13 games (October 9 – December 3, 2005) (tied)

[edit] Player

Most points by a defenceman, career: 486 John Slaney (Baltimore, Portland, Cornwall, W.B./Scr., Phila.)

Most goals by a defenceman, career: John Slaney, 157 (Baltimore, Portland, Cornwall, W.B./Scr., Phila.)

Most goals by a Defenceman, season: John Slaney, 30 (1999–2000)

Most PIM, career: 4,104 Dennis Bonvie (Cape Breton, Hamilton, Portland, Phila., W.B./Scr., Providence, Binghamton, Hershey)

Most PIM, game: Steve Parsons, 64 (March 17, 2002 vs. Syracuse)

[edit] AHL awards and trophies

As of the 2007–08 AHL Season. Data from the AHL Hall of Fame Website. [2]

[edit] Notable Penguins

[edit] References

[edit] External links

[0] ttp://o8o9.wbspenguins.com/team/roster.asp

[1] ttp://205.238.201.27/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=22&Itemid=8

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