WBS to play at Consol on New Year's
*Update:
"They received a letter from Penguins CEO Jeff Barrett asking the board to allow the Penguins to play one home game this season at the Consol Energy Center – the new home arena for the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins. The game would be on Jan. 1 as part of the NHL’s Winter Classic. By contract, the AHL Penguins are supposed to play all their home games at Mohegan Sun Arena, but Bonnevier said allowing the team to play a home game elsewhere would not be unprecedented.
“Of course, I expressed concern over not having the game here, and (Barrett) promised in writing that in exchange for this, they would bring a Black & Gold game here next September,” Bonnevier said.
A previous Black & Gold game, which featured NHL Penguins players, was “one of the most successful events we’ve ever had here,” Bonnevier said.
The board unanimously approved the request.
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins have a deal in place to play a regular season game at the Consol Energy Center on New Year's Day.
Obviously, the NHL Pens will be over at Heinz Field for the Winter Classic.
This will be a huge publicity gathering for the AHL and even more so, for the top minor-league affiliate of the Penguins.
Their team has the caliber to contend for the Calder Cup right now, so management already knows that they won't make fools out of themselves on national television (or on such a grand stage).
Imagine Dustin Jeffrey in perfect HD feeding Chris Conner for a breakaway goal in the new building. Chills.
The official AHL broadcast only puts out a standard quality stream online, so that alone would make great strides for the league.
Last year, the AHL held their first ever outdoor game between the Binghamton Senators and the Syracuse Crunch.
It wasn't on or near the day of the WC. They played at the Syracuse fairgrounds on Feburary 20th.
It gave jobbers/career AHL'ers like Jon Mirasty and Jeremy Yablonski their possible one chance to shine in the spotlight.
They did.
The attendance numbers were insane for this event. 21,508 in the seats.
Unheard of for a minor league hockey game.
There's no way that their opponent is anyone else but the Hershey Bears, their most hated rivals.
The fans in WBS were hoping for another Black and Gold game up there this year.
This is 100x better.
Let's go.
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