It seems with all the free time the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins have had as after mauling the Hershey Bears in the first round of the AHL playoffs, a few of their top players got kind of bored. Writes Jonathan Bombulie of the Wilkes-Barre Citizens Voice:
A prank gone awry has landed the captain of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in some hot water.
Nathan Smith, a 26-year-old Alberta native, was charged with public drunkenness, disorderly conduct, open lewdness and indecent exposure for his role in a streaking incident early Sunday morning.
According to police documents, Smith said he was acting on a bet when he ran naked into the street on the 100 block of Adams Avenue in Scranton at 2:29 a.m. Sunday.
Police said Smith apologized and put his clothes on before being handcuffed and taken into custody.
"I would like to apologize to the people of Northeastern Pennsylvania, to my teammates and to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Pittsburgh Penguins organizations," Smith said in a prepared statement. "I made an embarrassing and regrettable decision this weekend and understand I will face disciplinary action. My conduct was unacceptable and totally out of character -- it will not happen again. I promise (to) do my best to win back your trust and support."
Smith declined further comment.
The Penguins also released a statement, apologizing to fans, vowing cooperation with authorities and promising "private disciplinary action of our own."
Speaking after practice Monday morning at The Ice Box in Jenkins Township, Penguins coach Todd Richards did not give any further details on potential punishment.
"I'm not going to comment on the situation yet and ... make any decisions, until I get more information on everything," he said.
According to the police documents, officers asked a group of Smith's friends several times to disperse. When they did not, police also took Penguins winger Ryan Stone into custody for public drunkenness.
Stone, a 23-year-old from Calgary, was also charged with public drunkenness in Scranton on Oct. 15, but those charges were subsequently dropped.
Richards said the team's "private disciplinary action" could be applied to Stone as well.
The Penguins finished their first-round playoff series with a 7-3 victory over the Hershey Bears at the Wachovia Arena on Friday night. Their second-round series, against either the Philadelphia Phantoms or Albany River Rats, will begin Thursday at the arena.
Smith, a center, is in his first season with the Penguins organization. He set career highs with 22 goals and 50 points in 68 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and also played 13 NHL games with Pittsburgh. Smith had two goals and two assists in four playoff games against Hershey.
EN-Now both of these guys spent considerable time with the NHL Penguins during the season when the team was ravaged by injuries. They got to spend time on the road in some the NHL's more more metropolitan locales such Montreal, New York and uh... Newark. So when we say this, we're not trying to put down the fine towns of Wilkes-Barre or Scranton. Some of our more loyal and sharper readers hail from that part of the world. We simply are going to say, you might not have as many option with your free time in Scranton as you would in New York.
Obviously what these two did was pretty stupid. The fact that this is Stone's second alcohol-related arrest is a bit of a concern, but it's not like they were convicted of drunk driving or suspected of inciting riot in a strip club.
That said, it's somewhat embarrassing for the organization. Penguins general manager Ray Shero said as much. Smith and Stone deserve punishment, but nothing too serious. 20-year-olds tend to do stupid, harmless things like this when they have free time and access to alcohol.
Besides, this might help them claim the Federal League.
UPDATE: Smith will serve a one-game suspension. Stone's punishment will be handled internally.
(Kudos to EN reader Lowell Murray for alerting us to the story.)
CATCHING UP
We've received a few photos from the first two games of the Penguins-Rangers series and we've been a little slow to get them posted. Better late than never:
Game 1 from Lauren Balot:
Game 2 from Lisa Bohm:
EMPTY NETTER ASSISTS
Eastern Conference
Penguins-Rangers
-Dave Molinari's recap from last night's game.
-Gary Roberts actually sat as a healthy scratch.
-Gene Collier pointed out Evgeni Malkin played well in Madison Square Garden for the once.
-Will the Penguins sweep the Rangers? Vote on it here.
-Remember that Darryl Sydor guy?
-The Confluence of the Three Rivers wonders what the Rangers' excuse is this time.
-Because it's probably a really popular reference in New York, Jaromir Jagr cited the 2004 Boston Red Sox as inspiration for a comeback. He really believes his team can come back.
-Jagr said it was the Penguins' night.
-He also said Game 4 might be his last game in the NHL.
-The Staals are brothers:
-Georges Laraque is fond of Dan Potash:
-The Rangers might have to play without Chris Drury in Game 4.
-The Rangers are on thin ice.
-When Sidney Crosby touched the puck last night, Rangers fans booed. When Evgeni Malkin touched it, they groaned.
-Malkin showed why he's an MVP candidate.
-Michel Therrien is tough.
-Ever the ultimate authority on hockey, Michael K. Ozanian of Forbes called Crosby a diver.
-Now you might be a little mad about that but take one thing into consideration. This dummy mispelled "Gretzky" in the initial version of this piece (it was later corrected). That's like being a political writer and misspelling "Bush." (Kudos to EN reader Brian Coccaro for spotting this.)
-As hard as it might be to believe, Sean Avery used to get beat up by his teammates in junior hockey. (Kudos to EN reader Barry Willig for the find.)
Canadiens-Flyers
-Expect the Habs to start Carey Price in net for Game 3.
-They're wearing their tin-foil hats in Philadelphia.
-Everyone hates the Flyers.
-Former Habs goaltender Steve Penney knows how Carey Price feels.
-Flyers goaltender Martin Biron cares not for the Canadiens.
-Expect Mike Knuble to be back in the lineup for the Flyers tonight.
Western Conference
Red Wings-Avalanche
-Pavel Datsyuk had two goals and an assist for the Red Wings in a 4-3 win at Colorado. Detroit owns a 3-0 lead in the series.
-The officiating in Game 3 wasn't good according to Adrian Dater of the Denver Post.
-The Avalanche is getting beat up by a bunch of Swedes.
-It's over for Colorado.
-Peter Forsberg had other things in mind when he came back to Colorado.
-The Red Wings don't waste time.
-Colorado forward Ryan Smyth sat out Game 3 with a foot injury while forward Paul Stastny suffered a knee injury during the game.
-Avalanche forward T.J. Hensick made his playoff debut.
-Summer is coming in Denver.
-Colorado is beat up.
-This series has been a mismatch.
-Red Wings coach Mike Babcock has some interesting math.
-Detroit goaltender Chris Osgood came up big.
-Red Wings forward and former Penguin Mikael Samuelsson will need to see a dentist sometime soon.
-Check out this goal Henrik Zetterberg scored last night.
Sharks-Stars
-Mattias Norstrom's overtime goal gave the Stars a 2-1 win against the Sharks. Dallas leads the series, 3-0.
-The Stars are thinking about a sweep. And some folks in Dallas are already thinking about Detroit.
-Brenden Morrow has been a catalyst for Dallas.
-For the Stars, their best offense is two defensemen.
-It's the same old Sharks.
-San Jose almost played a perfect game.
-The Sharks aren't getting anything to bounce their way.
-San Jose defenseman Craig Rivet got a little dinged up.
-The Sharks can't ever close the deal.
AHL
-The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins will get the rival Philadelphia Phantoms in the next round of the AHL playoffs.
-EN contributor Eric Politowski compiled two tribute videos for Penguins tough guys Dennis Bonvie and Paul Bissonnette:
Non-Playoff Stuff
Penguins
-Evgeni Malkin was named a finalist for Alexander Ovechkin's Hart Trophy. Washington's Ovechkin and Calgary's Jarome Iginla were the other finalists.
-Opinions on the new arena vary.
-Time Magazine is doing what is essentially a popularity contest again. Last year, Sidney Crosby finished fifth in the contest. You can vote for Crosby here. (Kudos to The Sidney Crosby Show for spotting that.)
Central Division
-Defenseman Jan Hejda re-signed with the Blue Jackets.
Pacific Division
-Dallas re-signed forward Steve Ott to a two-year extension.
-The Ducks re-signed forward Ryan Carter to a three-year contract.
Patrick Division
-Hurricanes general manager and former Penguins goaltender Jim Rutherford was named to a group that will study goaltending equipment for the NHL.
First Published: April 30, 2008, 10:30 a.m.
