Three Years Running, Thanksgiving Thursday A Travel Day For Penguins

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HERSHEY, Pa. - Perhaps the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins should consider sending a gift basket of some proportion to the American Hockey League (AHL) office, specifically those in charge of the schedule making.

Penguins head coach JD Forrest is in his fourth season at the helm, and he hasn't been able to spend Thanksgiving Day with his family since the AHL came out of the pandemic season in 2020.

"This is a third year in a row we've been on a plane or traveling of some sort to Charlotte on Thanksgiving Day," Forrest said after Wednesday night's loss in Hershey. "So I don't know how [it] always works [out that way]."

Following the Penguins' 2-1 loss in Hershey Wednesday night, instead of heading back north up Interstate 81 to Wilkes-Barre the team bussed overnight to Baltimore, Maryland to catch a Thanksgiving Day flight to Charlotte in advance of Friday's game.

"Our game Friday is at four o'clock, so there's no time for that," Forrest said of the Penguins spending time with family for the holiday with the quick turnaround in Charlotte on Friday, before adding, "We'll have a little team Thanksgiving, for sure."

The previous two years, the Penguins had just finished up a two-game set in Charlotte on Thanksgiving Eve and were traveling back to Pennsylvania on Thanksgiving Day.

This time around, it's traveling on Thanksgiving Day in advance of a Black Friday afternoon game in Charlotte to begin a two-game set against the Checkers that concludes Saturday and also wraps up the team's five-game road trip.

Hopefully, the Penguins can avoid having to travel on Thanksgiving Day to Charlotte for a fourth straight year in 2024.