The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins announced today that they have signed forward Dominik Uher and defenseman Reid McNeill to amateur try-out agreements.

Uher, a 19-year old center from Frydek-Mistek, Czech Republic, posted 68 points (33g-35a) in 63 games for the Spokane Chiefs of the Western Hockey League.  He led the team in goal scoring and ranked second on the team in both assists and points.  Uher also compiled five goals and four assists in 15 postseason games this year as Spokane was eliminated from the Western Conference Semifinals in seven games by the Tri-City Americans.

A fifth-round draft pick (#144 overall) by Pittsburgh in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft, Uher has registered 58 goals, 86 assists and 165 penalty minutes in 181 contests with Spokane.

A native of London, Ontario, McNeill recorded 12 points (3g-9a) and 60 PIM in 51 games with the Ontario Hockey League’s Barrie Colts.  He spent the previous two seasons with the London Knights, totaling four goals and seven assists over 115 games.

Drafted by the Penguins in 2010 during the sixth round (#170), McNeill will celebrate his 20^th birthday on Apr. 29.

It was the Penguins all the way tonight as they jumped out to an early lead capitalizing on a Hershey flubbed clearing bid and holding and building on that lead. Colin McDonald would be the guy who pounced on a Hershey clearing bid gloved down the puck netting the Penguins first goal only 79 seconds into tonight’s game giving his team a glorious one goal lead and getting things started on the right track.

Zach Sill would get the Penguins second of the game on a rebound about nine minutes later making it two to nothing Penguins and igniting the Penguin fans. Then a minute twenty one second later Cody Wild would score giving the WBS Penguins a three goal cushion, but we all know with a team like Hershey know lead is good enough they are always dangerous.

Geoff Walker would net the Pens fourth of the period and fourth of the game with just three minutes left in the first as he redirected a shot from Jason Williams the boys would head for the dressing room leading the hershey bears 4-0 but keeping in the back of their minds there is still a lot of hockey to play.

Hershey came out looking to get back some goals they had let in in the first Patrick McNeill would get one past Brad Thiessen nearing the 2:30 mark of the second making it 4-1 Penguins but giving Hershey that glimmer of hope. But the Bears hopes were brought back to earth as  Matt Rust would give the Penguins a four goal lead again just 7 minutes later going top shelf on Dany Sabourin.

Hershey would pull within three again as Garrett Mitchell would deflect one in behind Thiessen with less than seven minutes left in the second period. That’s where the score would sit heading off the ice for the second intermission, and the Bears looking a t a carry over power play to start the third period.

The rest of the game tonight was all Penguins Ben Street came in on a shorthanded breakaway and was handed a penalty shot thought it should have been a power play but the officials saw it different, but all in all it was good as Street juked and bobbed and faked out Sabourin putting it behind him for the first ever converted penalty shot for the Penguins in the playoff’s

Last but not least Colin McDonald would get his second of the night on a Penguins power play late in the third period making it a 7-2 game and that’s where it would sit to the end the WBS Penguins taking the first two of the series on home ice.

Thiessen made 14 saves to earn his second win of the postseason.  Sabourin stopped 20-of-27 for Hershey.

The Eastern Conference Quarterfinal between the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Bears heads to Hershey for Game 3 on Wednesday, April 25 at 7:00 PM.

On a side note I hope the league is going to address the multiple two handed slashes handed out by Hershey D-Man Patrick Wellar this was an intentional attempt to injure the WBS players it was well after the play and should have drawn not only the roughing, major – slashing, game misconduct – slashing that it did but should have drawn a match penalty in our eyes. With any luck the league will review it and see things as they were and hand out a suspension for this misconduct.

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It was a sparse crowd tonight at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza, not something you would think to see for a WBS Penguins playoff game but none the less they made their presence known.

Both teams got off to a good start playing some fast paced hockey end to end but it would be WBS who came out on top netting the first goal for the Penguins was Colin McDonald putting it past Dany Sabourin on Penguins power play.

The first period would end looking at a WBS lead of 1-0 but this wouldn’t be a good time to take the ever dangerous Bears for granted not enough goals between and still way to much hockey to go.

The second frame saw some more Bears opportunities but the WBS defense and goal tending shut them down, Cal O’Reilly would get the Pens second of the night on yes another WBS Penguins power play, not going to say what I am thinking just going to think it.

The Penguins would hold the 2-0 lead through the second period into the intermission giving the home crowd a nice lift, and adding to the momentum was the fact that the Pitt Penguins were leading the Flyers 3-2 also making the home crowd cheer.

Colin McDonald would stuff in another one for the Penguins just over half way through the third period making it 3-0 Penguins but the Bears weren’t going to go away just yet. Making their presence known was Mike Carman getting his team on the boards and taking away Thiessen’s shutout.

That would do it for the scoring tonight the Penguins taking game one of the best of seven series against the Bears the two teams will meet again tomorrow night at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza for game two of the series. The WBS Penguins looking to go up two to one before heading to Chocolate town and the Giant Center for games 3 and 4. get your tickets and get to the game playoff hockey is something you just have to experience.

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Eastern Conference Quarterfinal begins Friday at Mohegan Sun Arena

LAST WEEK’S RESULTS

FRIDAY, APRIL 13: PENGUINS 1, Senators 3…

Robin Lehner was stellar in net for the Senators as the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins fell to Binghamton, 3-1, at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza.

Ryan Craig opened the scoring with a power play goal at 7:11 of the first period, but the Senators would go on to score the next three markers for just their third win in ten games against the Penguins.

Pat Cannone (1g-1a), David Dziurzynski (1g-1a) and Andre Petersson (2a) all had multi-point games despite being limited to 17 shots by the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton defense.

SATURDAY, APRIL 14: PENGUINS 3, Sound Tigers 2…

Mark Halmo scored 22 seconds into the game for Bridgeport, but Wilkes-Barre/Scranton went on to tally the next three as the Penguins pulled out a 3-2 win in their regular season home finale.

Steve MacIntyre knotted the contest at 2:53 of the first with his first goal of season and Colin McDonald put the Penguins ahead with a power play tally –his 14th overall this year – late in the frame. Jason Williams notched the game-winner 66 seconds into the third period.

Brad Thiessen stopped 22 shots for his 23rd win of the season.

SUNDAY, APRIL 15: Penguins 2, SOUND TIGERS 3…

For the third game in a row, the team that registered the game’s first goal did not come away with the victory as Bridgeport rallied for a 3-2 win against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the regular season finale for both teams.

The Penguins went ahead three minutes into the second period on Brandon DeFazio’s 11th of season. Bryan Lerg would tie things up at 4:45 of the third after Bridgeport had taken a 2-1 edge.

Rhett Rakhshani’s goal on the man-advantage with 6:25 left was the deciding goal in the win for the Sound Tigers. Scott Munroe took the loss against his former team, having made 25 saves on 28 shots.

PENGUINS TEAM LEADERS as of 4/16/12…

PLAYER GP G A PTS

Ben Street 71 27 30 57

Bryan Lerg 70 27 26 53

Colin McDonald 68 14 35 49

Geoff Walker 68 18 26 44

Jason Williams 59 13 29 42

GP REC SO GAA SV%

Brad Thiessen 41 23-15-2 2 2.82 .887

Scott Munroe 38 19-10-3 5 2.52 .907

ICE CHIPS…

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins were fifth in the entire AHL with a record of 44-25-2-5…Wilkes-Barre/Scranton finished with the fifth-best winning percentage when scoring first at .782 (29-7-1-2)…The Penguins were 24-8-1-3 against non-division opponents this season…W-B/Scranton led the league in shots allowed at 26.1 per game….The Penguins had the second-highest win total (26) and winning percentage (.724) on the road this season…Joey Mormina was tied for first among defensemen with two shorthanded goals…Simon Despres was tied for the lead among blueliners with four game-winning goals.

FINAL EAST DIVISION STANDINGS as of 4/16/12…

TEAM GP W L OTL SOL PTS

1. y Norfolk Admirals 76 55 18 1 2 113

2. x PENGUINS 76 44 25 2 5 95

3. x Hershey Bears 76 38 26 4 8 88

4. x Syracuse Crunch 76 37 29 5 5 84

5. Binghamton Senators 76 29 40 5 2 65

x = clinched playoff berth

y = clinched division title

PENGUINS RECENT TRANSACTIONS…

04/12/2012 Andrew Hotham D ADD Recalled from loan to Wheeling (ECHL)

04/12/2012 Chris Barton LW ADD Recalled from loan to Wheeling (ECHL)

04/12/2012 Cody Chupp C ADD Recalled from loan to Wheeling (ECHL)

04/12/2012 Patrick Killeen G ADD Reassigned by Pittsburgh (NHL) from Wheeling (ECHL)

04/12/2012 Peter Merth D ADD Signed to PTO

04/12/2012 Ryan Schnell LW ADD Recalled from loan to Wheeling (ECHL)

04/10/2012 Adam Payerl C ADD Signed to ATO

04/09/2012 Steve MacIntyre LW ADD Returned on loan from Pittsburgh (NHL)

UPCOMING GAMES

GAME 1 – FRIDAY, APRIL 20, 7:05 PM: PENGUINS vs. Bears

GAME 2 – SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 7:05 PM: PENGUINS vs. Bears…

The Penguins and Bears renew their rivalry in the best-of-five Eastern Conference Quarterfinal. This will be the sixth postseason meeting between the two teams with Hershey holding the 3-2 series edge all-time.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton was 7-3-0-2 this season versus Hershey and 3-2-0-1 at Mohegan Sun Arena. Bryan Lerg and Ben Street paced the Penguins offence against the Bears as both players recorded three goals and eight assists for 11 points. Ryan Potulny (6g-6a) and Chris Bourque (2g-10a) were the high scorers in the season series with 12 points each.

The Penguins are now 66-55-4-6-5 (W-L-T-OTL-SOL) in the all-time series against the Bears.