(left) DU Alum Adam Berkhoelfrom: WBSpenguins Website
WILKES-BARRE, PA – Adam Berkhoel is only nine games into his Penguins career, but has already written himself into the AHL's Wilkes-Barre/Scranton record books.
Berkheol became the first Penguins netminder to record three consecutive shutouts as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton posted a 3-0 win against the Syracuse Crunch on Wednesday night at the Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza. The victory upped the Pens record to 9-6-0-1 on the season, while Syracuse suffered just its fourth loss of the year, dropping to 12-4-0-1.
"I’ve been pretty fortunate. I’ve never had this happen before," said Berkhoel, who entered the season with just one AHL shutout to his credit. "Guys are keeping pucks to the outside and I’m seeing everything. Everything’s hitting me. So it’s just fortunate we’re getting wins and shutting them out when we’re doing it. It feels good.
"Right now I’ve got luck on my side. I don’t know what I did to deserve it. But first and foremost, get the win, and it’s a luxury to get a shutout along with it."
The shutout was also the fourth in Berkhoel’s last five starts, during which time he has stopped 155 of 158 shots (.981 save percentage), and posted a 0.60 goals against average.
“I played four years with him in college, so I kind of knew what kind of goalie he was,” said Connor James, who suited up alongside Berkhoel at the University of Denver, winning an NCAA title in 2004. “When he signed here, I was really happy, because I knew that he could win us games. He’s been playing great the last couple of games, I think people are really starting to notice how good he is.”
James hasn’t been playing too poorly, either. About 21 minutes after Ryan Stone opened the scoring at the start of the second period, James jumped on a loose puck in the neutral zone, then skated in alone against Dan LaCosta for his league-leading third shorthanded tally of the season.
“It hit my skate and bounced forward. I was going in and I kind of changed my mind at the very last second,” said James. “Maybe that messed with the goalie, because I didn’t know where I was going, so hopefully he didn’t either. It squeezed in and I was definitely happy to get it."
“That was a full team effort. Every player in the lineup did a lot of good things, and Adam was there to back them up when they did have quality scoring chances,” said Bylsma. “Right now he’s a big part of why we’re winning. When you keep it at zero, it’s pretty easy to win.”
Berkheol became the first Penguins netminder to record three consecutive shutouts as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton posted a 3-0 win against the Syracuse Crunch on Wednesday night at the Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza. The victory upped the Pens record to 9-6-0-1 on the season, while Syracuse suffered just its fourth loss of the year, dropping to 12-4-0-1.
"I’ve been pretty fortunate. I’ve never had this happen before," said Berkhoel, who entered the season with just one AHL shutout to his credit. "Guys are keeping pucks to the outside and I’m seeing everything. Everything’s hitting me. So it’s just fortunate we’re getting wins and shutting them out when we’re doing it. It feels good.
"Right now I’ve got luck on my side. I don’t know what I did to deserve it. But first and foremost, get the win, and it’s a luxury to get a shutout along with it."
The shutout was also the fourth in Berkhoel’s last five starts, during which time he has stopped 155 of 158 shots (.981 save percentage), and posted a 0.60 goals against average.
“I played four years with him in college, so I kind of knew what kind of goalie he was,” said Connor James, who suited up alongside Berkhoel at the University of Denver, winning an NCAA title in 2004. “When he signed here, I was really happy, because I knew that he could win us games. He’s been playing great the last couple of games, I think people are really starting to notice how good he is.”
James hasn’t been playing too poorly, either. About 21 minutes after Ryan Stone opened the scoring at the start of the second period, James jumped on a loose puck in the neutral zone, then skated in alone against Dan LaCosta for his league-leading third shorthanded tally of the season.
“It hit my skate and bounced forward. I was going in and I kind of changed my mind at the very last second,” said James. “Maybe that messed with the goalie, because I didn’t know where I was going, so hopefully he didn’t either. It squeezed in and I was definitely happy to get it."
“That was a full team effort. Every player in the lineup did a lot of good things, and Adam was there to back them up when they did have quality scoring chances,” said Bylsma. “Right now he’s a big part of why we’re winning. When you keep it at zero, it’s pretty easy to win.”
4 comments:
It's good to see people I've had a beer with doing well in the pro ranks.
Screw the Goofers!!
Players from the 2004 Championship team show their colors!
Gas the Gophers!
Whatever happened to my favorite captain R. Caldwell? Did he end up making to the big stage?
He fell just a little bit short. He now playes in Germany for Dusseldorf (DEG Metro Stars).
He has 2 goals & 6 assists in 22 games.
The DEG Metro Stars is the ice hockey team of the German city of Düsseldorf. It was the most successful ice hockey team in Germany for a long time has had many international players.
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