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Hanover Township man arrested after heroin, club drug found in residence

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<p>A day after going through what head coach Mike Sullivan said is the most difficult part of his job, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins went through their first practice with the opening night roster.</p><p>On Monday, Sullivan trimmed 21 players from the training camp roster, sending the bulk of them to Wheeling.</p><p>It wasn&#8217;t easy.</p><p>&#8220;You have to tell someone they can&#8217;t make your team. It&#8217;s a hard part of what we do,&#8221; Sullivan said. &#8220;I never want to have to tell a player that he can&#8217;t play for the team he aspires to play for, but that&#8217;s the nature of the business.&#8221;</p><p>On the flip side, Tuesday&#8217;s practice was filled with players perfectly happy to be in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, although a few are hoping for a quick call-up to Pittsburgh.</p><p>One of those is defenseman Derrick Pouliot, who was sent down by the parent club after a disappointing preseason.</p><p>Pittsburgh&#8217;s 1st round pick - and the 8th overall, in the 2012 draft, came into the NHL camp projected to claim one of the top six defense spots. He appeared in 34 games with Pittsburgh last season and availed himself well, and Pouliot hoped to be a full-time regular with the parent club this season.</p><p>Instead, he&#8217;s back in Wilkes-Barre after Pittsburgh decided their top prospect has some improving to do.</p><p>&#8220;I was a little disappointed at first, but I didn&#8217;t have a very good camp up there,&#8221; Pouliot said after Tuesday&#8217;s practice at the Toyota Sportsplex. &#8220;I thought maybe I squandered a little bit of an opportunity, but I&#8217;m here. Nothing I can do to change that. My head&#8217;s here.&#8221;</p><p>The 21-year-old isn&#8217;t bitter about not making Pittsburgh&#8217;s roster. He said he understands the decision and being sent down to a place that&#8217;s familiar - Pouliot played 31 games for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton last season, helps make the transition easier.</p><p>&#8220;I took a couple of days to think it over. It&#8217;s going to be good,&#8221; Pouliot said. &#8220;It&#8217;s a great organization down here and with the new coaching staff they have a good system. Things are going to go well.&#8221;</p><p>Pouliot is well aware of one area that he needs to improve - his defense, and he&#8217;s hoping for a ton of ice time with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton so he can work on his game.</p><p>Sullivan assured that Pouliot will get plenty of work with a focus on the areas he needs to improve in order to get better and get back to the NHL.</p><p>&#8220;I talked with Derrick and he&#8217;s obviously a talented guy. This is part of the process,&#8221; Sullivan said. &#8220;We&#8217;ve identified a couple areas of his game we all think he needs to be better at in order to be an impact player at the next level, so we&#8217;re going to push him in practice and in games to continue to work on those areas.&#8221;</p><p>Pittsburgh head coach Mike Johnston and general manager Jim Rutherford have both indicated Pouliot will be back up once he improves. Pouliot is happy the door back to the NHL has been left wide open for his return.</p><p>&#8220;It certainly is a light at the end of the tunnel, but it&#8217;s not going to be handed to me,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I have to put in the work and continue to develop and progress in the things I need to in order to get back up there.&#8221;</p><p>NOTES</p><p>- F Tyler Biggs left Tuesday&#8217;s practice early in discomfort. He was able to leave the ice without assistance and Sullivan will have an update on his condition after speaking with trainer Kyle Moore.</p><p>- After wearing a 9 on his jersey during training camp, captain Tom Kostopoulos was back to his customary 29 during Tuesday&#8217;s practice. The reason why Kostopoulos wore 9 early on? &#8220;I was telling the younger guys that every year I drop a piece of equipment to be lighter, so I decided to drop the 2 through the preseason,&#8221; he joked. &#8220;I felt a little lighter out there.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Tom Venesky</p><p>tvenesky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Tom Venesky at 570-991-6395 or on Twitter @TLTomVenesky</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Derrick Pouliot ready to work his way back up to Pittsburgh