BREAKAWAY - Issue 13 - Game 26 - April 30, 2021

Page 1

COVER


Meet the team behind your team. Michael Moreland, DO Hans Olsen, MD Mark Pallis, DO David Ross, MD Geisinger is the official sports medicine and orthopaedics team that helps keep the Penguins on their skates. Because big dreams need all the support they can get. Learn more at geisinger.org/BigDreams.


TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGES 6-8: PAGE 10: PAGE TOC 11: PAGE 13: PAGES 16-17:

COVER STORY: Alex D’Orio Opponents Roster Penguins Roster This Day In Penguins History Declassified - Josh Maniscalco

BREAKAWAY: Issue 13 / April 30, 2021

Editor/Layout: Brian Coe | Writer: Nick Hart Photos: KDP Photography © 2021 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins wbspenguins.com | 570-208-7367

ON THE COVER Alex D’Orio’s path to WilkesBarre/Scranton has been anything but a straight line. After starting the season in Pittsburgh on the NHL club’s taxi squad, the goaltending prospect made his way to Wheeling, before eventually earning a recall to the AHL Pens. Read up on D’Orio and how he’s been able to carve out his niche in NEPA this season in our COVER STORY.


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2020-2021 SEASON

Dear Fans, It is my pleasure to welcome you to the 2020-21 American Hockey League season, the latest chapter in a tradition of excellence that can be traced back more than eight decades.

SCOTT HOWSON PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

The last several months have been difficult in so many ways, and this season is going to look and feel different than what we are all used to. But we are looking forward to being back on the ice and continuing our role as the top development league for nearly all of the players, coaches, executives, trainers, broadcasters and officials in the National Hockey League today. Since we first dropped the puck in 1936, generations of our great fans have been able to cheer on future superstars and Stanley Cup champions, as well as more than 100 eventual members of the Hockey Hall of Fame. On behalf of all of our clubs across North America, thank you all for your continuing support of the AHL. Sincerely,

SCOTT HOWSON PRESIDENT & CEO | AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE

TheAHL.com



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D’ORIO DEVELOPING INTO SOLID PRESENCE IN PENS NET

By Nick Hart

After the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins’ 6-3 win over the Hershey Bears on Sunday, head coach J.D. Forrest and team captain Josh Currie both used the same word in their postgame press conferences. “Fantastic.”

But when using that word, they weren’t referencing the team’s effort or the catharsis of beating their in-state rival. Independently of one another, both Forrest and Currie used that adjective to describe the play of their goaltender, Alex D’Orio. D’Orio turned aside 26 shots in the Penguins’ victory, a triumph that was in part emblematic of his development this season. The rookie netminder has earned the trust of his teammates in his short stay with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton so far this season, but this opportunity didn’t arrive by happenstance for D’Orio. He’s had to earn it. “Our conversations have remained constant, with a growth mindset at the forefront,” said the Penguins goaltending development coach, Andy Chiodo. “We’ve been reiterating that we have to earn everything through practice, through our performance in games. If there’s an opportunity to be had, we’re constantly reiterating that you have to earn it.” D’Orio started this season as the second goaltender on the Pittsburgh Penguins’ taxi squad. He remembers that segment of the season fondly, referencing the positive impact of being able to observe the NHLers work habits first-hand, but the reality is those first two months kept him idle while everyone else was playing. Then, after close to a year without seeing game action, D’Orio was suddenly thrown into the fire as the Wheeling Nailers’ starter in the ECHL. The inactivity had D’Orio’s puck-stopping ability in a virtual power outage. For the first few games in Wheeling, he was routinely giving up four or more goals a game. His stats took a nosedive, and a lesser athlete may have let his confidence follow in that downward trajectory. “That’s when ‘Earn It’ was born,” Chiodo said. “His first few

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games were ADSfar from his standard, and we had a conversation. You can’t come to Wilkes-Barre until you earn your way from Wheeling. You can’t get to the NHL until you earn your way out of the American Hockey League. “I think with that thought in mind, Alex really shifted his focus. He got in the present, he started stopping pucks, one thing leads to another, and it snowballs.” In his next five games with the Nailers, D’Orio posted a 1.80 goals against average and .931 save percentage, including his first professional shutout. That earned his a call-up to WilkesBarre/Scranton, where he has since procured a 2.59 goals against average and his first AHL win. Unfortunately, that win-loss record doesn’t reflect just how solid D’Orio has been in his first extended look at the AHL level. D’Orio’s agility and athleticism has kept the Penguins in a lot of games, bringing them to down-to-the-wire finishes only not to be rewarded in the end. If you think the lack of victories would discourage the youngster, you’d be dead wrong. It hasn’t fazed him at all. In fact, he’s been embracing that adversity as part of his development. “I’ve been working on letting go, mentally,” D’Orio said. “Things are going to happen, that’s hockey. I have to keep building and keep going for the rest of the game. A couple goals or a bad bounce can’t shake me. That’s a lot of my focus this season.” Which brings us back to Sunday’s game. Played at a dizzying

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Continued From Page 7 pace, the two I-81 rivals traded goals throughout the first 40 minutes. D’Orio surrendered a power-play goal, a shorthanded goal, and a goal that fooled him when a shot went wide but took ads a volcanic bounce off the boards to an open player at the unprotected side of the net. Right in line with his mental objective, D’Orio shook off those three goals against held firm when he was under fire in the third period. Hershey took 16 shots in the final frame in an attempt to mount a comeback. Many of those bids came during a pair of Bears power plays. Two of those shots were breakaways. D’Orio steered away all 16 to keep his team in the lead and lock down the win. After so many close calls that didn’t go D’Orio’s way, Chiodo is hoping to see that successful third period performance springboard the 22-year-old to another stratosphere of promising play. “For Alex to be able to take a step in the third period like that and rise and elevate his game, I think it’s a testament to his character and his ability to be a gamer,” Chiodo said. “A period like that, it’s a marker that you’re working on the right things, that your game is in a good place, that you’ve got some gamer in you. This was the marker telling you that you’re capable.” Where D’Orio goes from here in his development is yet to be seen, but whatever come next, he knows that he’ll have to earn it. And that’s a mentality he’s fully embraced.

D’ORIO CELEBRATES BIRTHDAY IN STYLE D’Orio blew out the candles on the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Wednesday night, stopping a career-best 40 shots to lead the Penguins to a 2-1 overtime victory. “It was the first time for me when I was playing on my birthday, so it was pretty special.” The victory was the second in a row for D’Orio after an impressive win over the Hershey Bears earlier in the week. “We’ve been playing well for the last two to three weeks, and even if the result wasn’t there, all of the guys stayed focused and we know what we were capable of. For the last two games we got the rsult that we wanted.”


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Binghamton RECORD 5-14-5-2 HEAD COACH Mark Dennehy ASST. COACHES Sergei Brylin, Ryan Parent NHL Affiliate New Jersey Devils

# Pos. Player 31 G Gilles Senn 34 G Evan Cormier

# 2 6 8 9 11 13 14 15 16 17 19 20 21 22 23 26 27 38 43 55 62 77 82 88 92

GP MP GA GAA W-L-OT SO 14 766:10 50 3.92 2-8-2 0 7 430:58 25 3.48 2-2-3 0

Pos. Player GP D Michael Vukojevic 20 D Colton White 19 D Josh Jacobs 16 F Alexander Holtz 3 C Brett Seney 22 C Cam Darcy 14 RW Tyler Irvine 22 F Tyce Thompson 5 C Nate Schnarr 25 LW A.J. Greer 18 C Travis St. Denis 23 C Fabia Zetterlund 26 RW Miles Koules 11 D Reilly Walsh 25 C Mason Jobst 11 C Ryan Schmelzer 9 RW Marian Studenic 20 D Jeremy Groleau 15 LW Ben Thomson 24 D Matthew Hellickson 1 LW Danick Martel 23 F Aarne Talvitie 11 D Nikita Okhotiuk 20 D Kevin Bahl 26 RW Graeme Clarke 23

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G 1 0 0 1 3 0 1 0 6 3 4 5 0 4 2 2 3 0 6 0 6 1 2 1 6

A PTS PIM +/8 9 23 -2 5 5 4 -11 3 3 4 -3 0 1 0 E 3 6 16 -6 2 2 4 -32 2 3 14 -1 1 1 9 -3 7 13 8 E 6 9 14 -16 4 8 32 -16 9 14 6 -10 2 2 0 E 9 13 12 -3 2 4 6 -4 2 4 4 1 4 7 14 -11 0 0 6 -6 1 7 30 -5 0 0 4 2 8 14 34 -8 2 3 0 1 2 4 13 -3 4 5 12 -6 9 15 12 -2


WBS RECORD HEAD COACH Assistant Coach NHL Affiliate

9-11-3-2 J.D. Forrest Kevin Porter Pittsburgh Penguins

# 30 33 38

Pos. G G G

Player Brett Brochu Alex D’Orio Tommy Nappier

GP MP GA GAA W-L-OT SO 0 -- -- -- --- -8 478:54 19 2.38 3-3-1 0 1 57:28 5 5.22 0-1-0 0

# 2 4 6 7 8 10 12 13 14 15 17 18 21 24 26 28 34 36 37 39 44 47 55 57 59

Pos. Player GP D Dylan MacPherson 9 D Zach Trotman 8 D Billy Sweezey 16 D Kevin Czuczman 21 D Will Reilly 20 LW Drew O’Connor 13 D Jesper Lindgren 0 RW Jan Drozg 23 LW Justin Almeida 8 C Jordy Bellerive 22 LW Anthony Angello 5 C Josh Currie 17 LW Luke Stevens 11 D Josh Maniscalco 7 RW Zach Nastasiuk 20 D Cam Lee 24 C Chase Berger 24 C Felix Robert 21 LW Sam Miletic 16 RW Kyle Olson 22 C Jonathan Gruden 25 RW Nick Schilkey 25 D Jon Lizotte 25 D Pierre-Olivier Joseph 15 C Tim Schaller 25

G 0 0 0 0 2 5 0 5 2 8 3 7 0 0 1 1 4 4 1 2 3 5 3 1 9

A PTS PIM +/1 1 6 2 2 2 4 -3 2 2 15 -2 3 3 4 -5 3 5 19 -8 8 13 10 -4 0 0 0 E 2 7 4 -2 0 2 0 -4 4 12 38 -8 2 5 9 1 11 18 15 -9 0 0 4 -4 0 0 4 2 2 3 2 -8 8 9 8 -4 3 6 12 -13 6 10 10 E 2 3 2 -3 4 6 15 -3 6 9 4 2 10 15 4 -15 6 9 14 -4 9 10 20 -12 6 14 12 -9

BREAKAWAY 2020-21 - Page 11


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THIS DATE IN PENGUINS HISTORY APRIL 30, 2011 - Brad Thiessen stopped all 34 shots thrown his way, as the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins defeated the Charlotte Checkers, 3-0, in Game Two of the East Division Final. Brett Sterling scored what proved to be the game-winning goal with 4:43 left in the second period, before Chris Collins and Ryan Craig tacked on third period scores for the home team. ARPIL 30, 2014 - Chuck Kobasew (pictured) scored 7:32 into overtime to give the Penguins a 3-2 win over the Binghamton Senators, and a three games to none lead in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series (all three games won in OT). Nick Drazenovic and Adam Payerl scored in regulation for the Pens, and Peter Mannino stopped 20 shots in net. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU: Defenseman John Awe (4/30/80) suited up in two games for the Penguins during the 2006-07 season, going scoreless in his short stay with the team. He also played for the Portland Pirates, Providence Bruins, Chicago Wolves and Houston Aeros during his three-year AHL career….Right Wing Tyler Biggs (4/30/93) appeared in 11 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton during the 2015-16 season, posting two points (1+1) and 11 penalty minutes. The former first round draft pick spent his first three seasons suiting up for the Toronto Marlies (2012-15).

BREAKAWAY 2020-21 - Page 13


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NAME: Josh Maniscalco Hometown: Perkiomenville, PA Family: Brother- John | SisterJessica | Mom- Lisa | Dad- John Pet: Dog- Stella What Age Did You Start Skating: 2 years old Favorite NHL Team Growing Up: Philadelphia Flyers Favorite NHL Player Growing Up: Chris Pronger Your Greatest Hockey Accomplishment: Winning the U14 national championship Social Media Handles: Instagram - josh__mani (2 under scores) If you were shipwrecked on a deserted island, but all your human needs (food, water, etc) were taken care of, what two items would you want to have with you? Fishing pole and a radio If you had a choice between two superpowers, being invisible or flying, which would you choose and why? Flying- get where I’m going faster If you could visit any place in the world for a day, where would you go? Greece Crunchy or Creamy Peanut Butter? Creamy

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Do you believe in ghosts? Yes, because I don’t want them to mess with me What would be the coolest animal to scale up to the size of a horse? A chicken If you could only choose one song to play every time you walked into a room for the rest of your life, what would it be? Knockin‘ Boots How do you feel about putting pineapple on pizza? Awful. Absolutely cruel! You just bought a brand new boat. What do you name it? Floatcation If You Could Eat Only One Food For The Rest Of Your Life What Food Would You Choose ? Steak and mashed potatoes Do you eat food that’s past its expiration date if it still smells and looks fine? Depends on the food What household chore do you hate doing the most? Taking out the trash What is the best Disney or Pixar movie? Cars, not even close. Which actor wouldyou choose to play you in a movie? Bradley Cooper What movie can you watch over and over without ever getting tired of ? Miracle What food have you never eaten but would really like to try? Shark Which charity or charitable cause is most deserving of money? Children with cancer

BREAKAWAY 2020-21 - Page 17


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