BREAKAWAY - Issue 14 - Game 28 - May 5, 2021 by Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins

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: COVER STORY: Kasper Bjorkqvist PAGE 10: Opponents Roster PAGE TOC 11: Penguins Roster PAGE 13: This Day In Penguins History PAGES 16-17: Declassified - Chase Berger

BREAKAWAY: Issue 14 / May 5, 2021

ON THE COVER Hey, that guy looks vaguley familiar.... Kasper Björkqvist itroduced himself to Penguins fans at the start of the 2019-20 season, but was ushered to the sidelines due to injury. Now, after startig the 202021 season in his native Finland, Kasper is back in NEPA and looking to help the Pens down the stretch. Read more in our COVER STORY.

Today is where champions are made.

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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

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Björkqvist is Back

By Nick Hart

Given the current state of world affairs, you can imagine the undertaking of a transatlantic flight is a royal pain. Kasper Björkqvist was recently knighted into the chaotic court of international travel and can attest to its rigors. Quarantine requirements, work visa bureaucracy, connecting flights, making sure you pack enough underwear; those stressors and more stood in his path, but the Finnish forward was able to overcome them all in order to step foot on American soil for the first time in over a year. “It’s exciting times for sure,” Björkqvist said. “I’ve spent a lot of time here in the past five years, so it feels like a second home. It was good to cross the border and get into the country, to drive I-95 again.” Björkqvist is returning to the United States and rejoining the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins after a successful season in his native Finland. When the landscape of hockey in the U.S. was still cloudy in the fall, Pittsburgh and Björkqvist decided that he would start the season playing in the top men’s league in Finland, and he was reassigned by the Penguins to a team called Kouvolan Kiekko-65 (better known as “KooKoo”). With KooKoo, Björkqvist played in a top-six role, received time on the No. 1 power play, and ultimately posted 11 goals and 15 assists for 26 points. Those 26 points led all league rookies. His strong season was the culmination of a tremendous amount of work the 23-year-old put in during a long offseason. And before you say, “Well, there’s a pandemic. Everyone had a long offseason,” recognize that Björkqvist’s was even longer. Just six games into his first AHL season, the Providence College product suffered a devastating injury in WilkesBarre/Scranton practice. It was an ACL tear, and it knocked him out for the year before Thanksgiving.

Page 6 - BREAKAWAY 2020-21

Faced ADS with a long road to recovery, Björkqvist opted to stay in Wilkes-Barre for his rehab. When he wasn’t going through rigorous physical therapy at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center or with Penguins’ strength and conditioning coach Mike Joyce, he was working on his skill. The injury have kept him off the ice, but Björkqvist stayed occupied by doing as many puckhandling and passing drills as he could on dry land. “That’s a tough injury to come back from. An ACL is no joke, but it’s also something where if you’re committed you can come back strong,” said Penguins head coach J.D. Forrest. “There’s no doubting his commitment to becoming a player and being a professional… So there was nothing surprising there for us in terms of how he handled the process.” Just as it seemed he was at a point in his recovery where he could reacclimate himself to the ice, the pandemic hit and whisked him back to Finland for an uncertain summer. When the Finnish Liiga decided to drop the puck in October, Björkqvist was ready to go. And he hit the ground running. If there were any concerns as to how Björkqvist would handle his return to game action after such a serious ailment, he assuaged them almost instantly. He produced

Continued ON Page 8 BREAKAWAY 2020-21 - Page 7

Continued From Page 7 eight points in his first eight games with KooKoo, quickly reestablishing his ads confidence. “‘Hey I still know how to play this game’,” he remembers thinking upon that point-per-game start. “A hot start is always nice, but in a lot of ways, those first few games brought back a lot of the joy that hockey gives me. The things that were taken away because of the injury.” All the hard work Björkqvist put in during his year-long absence was paying dividends. Now, he wants to see those signs of progress translate here to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. With only five games left in the season, Björkqvist recognizes that he has to be a quick study to get up to speed and make an impact. He admits that he will have to adjust to the pace of play and the smaller ice surface in North America, but based on what he’s shown in practice, he looks to be doing just fine. He looks faster. He looks agile. Those skills drills have reflected with some quick dishes. All of this has caught the eye of his coach. “He’s just getting everything going again and getting familiar with how we play. It’s a little bit different than what he’s been used to doing in Finland, but he’s a fast learner.” Forrest said. “He’s looked good out there. He’s fast, he’s added skill, and he’ll help us on the left side, for sure.” It took a long time – time filled with physical therapy, taxing workouts, a pandemic and some challenging travel for good measure – but Kasper Björkqvist is back.

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Binghamton RECORD 6-15-5-2 HEAD COACH Mark Dennehy ASST. COACHES Sergei Brylin, Ryan Parent NHL Affiliate New Jersey Devils

# 1 31 35

Pos. G G G

Player Mareks Mitens Gilles Senn Jeremy Brodeur

GP MP GA GAA W-L-OT SO 4 213:13 10 2.81 1-3-0 0 15 826:10 52 3.78 2-9-2 0 2 123:38 6 2.91 0-1-1 0

# Pos. Player GP G A PTS PIM +/2 D Michael Vukojevic 21 1 8 9 23 E 6 D Colton White 21 0 7 7 4 -10 9 F Alexander Holtz 5 1 0 1 0 -2 11 C Brett Seney 24 4 4 8 16 -6 13 C Cam Darcy 14 0 2 2 4 -32 14 RW Tyler Irvine 22 1 2 3 14 -1 15 F Tyce Thompson 7 0 1 1 9 -6 16 C Nate Schnarr 27 7 7 14 8 1 17 LW A.J. Greer 20 4 7 11 16 -14 19 C Travis St. Denis 25 4 4 8 36 -18 20 C Fabia Zetterlund 28 5 12 17 6 -17 21 RW Miles Koules 12 0 2 2 2 1 22 D Reilly Walsh 27 4 9 13 12 -5 23 C Mason Jobst 13 4 4 8 6 -1 25 LW Nolan Foote 22 6 10 16 6 1 26 C Ryan Schmelzer 9 2 2 4 4 1 27 RW Marian Studenic 22 3 4 7 14 -13 38 D Jeremy Groleau 17 0 0 0 6 -7 43 LW Ben Thomson 26 6 1 7 34 -6 55 D Matthew Hellickson 1 0 0 0 4 2 62 LW Danick Martel 23 6 8 14 34 -8 77 F Aarne Talvitie 13 1 2 3 0 1 82 D Nikita Okhotiuk 22 2 3 5 13 -5 92 RW Graeme Clarke 25 6 9 15 12 -5

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# 30 33 38

WBS RECORD HEAD COACH Assistant Coach NHL Affiliate Pos. G G G

10-11-4-2 J.D. Forrest Kevin Porter Pittsburgh Penguins

Player Brett Brochu Alex D’Orio Tommy Nappier

GP MP GA GAA W-L-OT SO 0 0:00 0 0.00 0-0-0 0 9 538:54 20 2.23 4-3-1 0 1 57:28 5 5.22 0-1-0 0

# Pos. Player GP G A PTS PIM +/2 D Dylan MacPherson 10 0 1 1 6 3 4 D Zach Trotman 8 0 2 2 4 -3 6 D Billy Sweezey 17 0 3 3 15 -1 7 D Kevin Czuczman 23 0 3 3 4 -5 8 D Will Reilly 22 3 3 6 21 -7 10 LW Drew O’Connor 15 6 8 14 10 -3 12 D Jesper Lindgren 0 0 0 0 0 E 13 RW Jan Drozg 25 5 2 7 6 -2 14 LW Justin Almeida 8 2 0 2 0 -4 15 C Jordy Bellerive 24 9 5 14 38 -6 17 LW Anthony Angello 7 3 2 5 9 -1 18 C Josh Currie 19 7 11 18 17 -10 20 RW Kasper Bjorkqvist 0 0 0 0 0 E 21 LW Luke Stevens 12 0 0 0 4 -4 24 D Josh Maniscalco 7 0 0 0 4 2 26 RW Zach Nastasiuk 20 1 2 3 2 -8 28 D Cam Lee 26 1 9 10 8 -2 34 C Chase Berger 26 4 3 6 12 -14 36 C Felix Robert 23 5 6 11 10 2 37 LW Sam Miletic 18 2 3 5 2 -4 39 RW Kyle Olson 23 2 4 6 15 -2 44 C Jonathan Gruden 27 4 6 10 4 4 47 RW Nick Schilkey 27 5 12 17 4 -14 55 D Jon Lizotte 27 3 6 9 16 -5 57 D Pierre-Olivier Joseph 17 1 10 11 22 -12 59 C Tim Schaller 27 9 7 16 14 -10

BREAKAWAY 2020-21 - Page 11

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THIS DATE IN PENGUINS HISTORY MAY 5, 2001 - Chris Kelleher (pictured) forced overtime with a third period power play goal, and then set up Billy Tibbetts’ marker on the man advantage 4:04 into the extra frame to give the Penguins a 2-1 winn over the Hershey Bears in Game One of the Western Conference Final series. Rich Parent stopped 18 shots for the Pens.

MAY 5, 2004 - The Penguins overcame a 4-1 deficit early in the second period to pull out a 5-4 victory against the Philadelphia Phantoms inn Game One of the East Division Final. Colby Armstrong posted a pair of goals, while Kris Beech recorded two points (1+1), including the gamewinning goal in the third period. Sebastien Caron stopped all 11 shots he faced after coming on in relief to post the victory. MAY 5, 2008 - Alain Nasreddine and Connor James scored 12 seconds apart, and Alex Goligoski added a first period tally, as the Penguins jumped out to a 3-0 lead and then hung on to post a 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phantoms in Game Three of the East Division Final. John Curry stopped 22 shots in the win, as the Penguins took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

BREAKAWAY 2020-21 - Page 13

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NAME: Chase Berger Hometown: St. Louis, MO

(brothers)

Family: Cindy and Dan (mom and dad); Jack, Jimmy, Scotty, Christian

Pet: Two Yellow Labs - Riley and Scout What Age Did You Start Skating: 2 years old Favorite NHL Team Growing Up: St. Louis Blues Favorite NHL Player Growing Up: Alexander Steen Your Greatest Hockey Accomplishment: Being named the captain at Penn State Social Media Handles: Instagram - c_berger8 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? One of my brothers to hangout with and a TV Did you pick up a new hobby during quarantine? Pickleball If you had a choice between two superpowers, being invisible or flying, which would you choose and why? Flying. Get anywhere you want without going through airport security. World looks cool from up above Have you ever walked out of a movie because it was so bad? If yes, which movie? Yes. The Mask 2

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Crunchy or Creamy Peanut Butter? I want it all If you could visit any place in the world for a day, where would you go? Switzerland Do you believe in ghosts? Not really. But have an open minded about their existence What would be the coolest animal to scale up to the size of a horse? A butterfly 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? What Is Love by Haddaway How do you feel about putting pineapple on pizza?

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You just bought a brand new boat. What do you name it? The Sin Bin If You Could Eat Only One Food For The Rest Of Your Life What Food Would You Choose? Sweet potato. Delicious and nutritious What would your autobiography be called? The Boring Life of Chase Berger What household chore do you hate doing the most? Picking up gumballs in my backyard What is the best Disney or Pixar movie? The Lion King (obvious answer) but my #2 is Mulan Which actor wouldyou choose to play you in a movie? You tell me What movie can you watch over and over without ever getting tired of ? Semi-Pro What food have you never eaten but would really like to try? A traditional viatnamese meal Which charity or charitable cause is most deserving of money? Chartities for troops/veterans

BREAKAWAY 2020-21 - Page 17

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