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Tickets for Pennsylvania Blues Festival set for September at Split Rock Resort go on sale Monday

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Kennedy Elementary selects super student for November

<p>Dominik Simon couldn&#8217;t quite make out the names when head coach Clark Donatelli told the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins locker room which players had made the AHL All-Star team on Thursday.</p><p>When Simon confirmed that his name was one of those mentioned - along with defenseman Derrick Pouliot and goaltender Matt Murray, the 21-year-old rookie winger couldn&#8217;t quite take all the credit for the honor.</p><p>&#8220;A lot of it is my linemates too. They make great opportunities to score,&#8221; Simon said. &#8220;It&#8217;s more about the team, never the guy who goes there.&#8221;</p><p>The selection of Simon, Pouliot and Murray gives the Penguins representation at the all-star event from all three areas of the ice. Pouliot, who made his first trip to the AHL All-Star Classic last season, said it&#8217;s a reflection of how the team has been successful in all aspects of the game this season.</p><p>&#8220;Our goaltending has been rock solid all year, one of our biggest strengths is our defense and our forwards do a lot of scoring for us,&#8221; Pouliot said. &#8220;It shows how well-rounded our team is.&#8221;</p><p>Murray leads all AHL goalies with a .942 save percentage, is tied for the league lead with four shutouts, and his 1.74 goals against average sits at second overall. The second-year pro is 14-4-0-0 this season.</p><p>Pouliot has earned 18 points this season (5G-13A), the most of any Penguins defenseman.</p><p>Simon&#8217;s 29 points (12G-17A) tops all AHL rookies and leads Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Simon joined the Penguins organization this season after playing the last three years in the Czech Extraliga.</p><p>The trio joins associate coach Jay Leach, who was named head coach of the Atlantic Division squad by the AHL on Jan. 2. The 2016 Toyota AHL All-Star Classic will take place Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 in Syracuse, N.Y.</p><p>The format for this year&#8217;s all-star game has changed from the traditional 60-minute contest that divided players by conference. Instead, all-stars will be divided into four teams - each representing the league&#8217;s divisions. The teams will play a round-robin tournament featuring six games of nine minutes each; the first half of each game will be played at 4-on-4, and the second half at 3-on-3. The two teams with the best records at the end of the round-robin tournament will face off for the championship, a six-minute game played at 3-on-3.</p><p>The format, especially when games are reduced to three-on-three, might make for a long night for goaltenders.</p><p>&#8220;I think it will be pretty wide open out there. One of the goals will be not to get hurt out there trying to make a crazy, back-door save,&#8221; Murray said. &#8220;It should be a lot of fun.&#8221;</p><p>As the only Penguins making a return trip to the event, Pouliot said he&#8217;s looking forward to the skills competition and sharing the experience with Simon and Murray, who is his roommate.</p><p>&#8220;The skills competition was a lot of fun last year. It&#8217;s a good experience to play with the best players in this league and have a little fun,&#8221; Pouliot said. &#8220;It&#8217;s good that there&#8217;s two other guys going with me to hang out with.&#8221;</p><p>Donatelli was happy for the trio and said that as well as the team has played this year, Murray, Simon and Pouliot have put together exceptional seasons.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re really proud of them,&#8221; he said. &#8220;You couldn&#8217;t have three better guys representing the organization.&#8221;</p><p><strong>NOTES</strong></p><p><strong>- </strong>Pittsburgh sent down forwards Conor Sheary and Scott Wilson on Thursday and called up Tom Kuhnhackl and Bryan Rust. Kuhnhackl has 15 points (8 goals, 7 assists) on the year and Rust has two goals in his last three games. Sheary is second on Wilkes-Barre/Scranton with 25 points in 24 games, and Wilson leads the team with 15 goals.</p><p>- C Kael Mouillierat, D Tom Sestito and G Tristan Jarry all practiced with the team on Thursday. Donatelli said all three are considered day-to-day, including Mouillierat who didn&#8217;t need surgery for his upper body injury. Sestito and Jarry could play in one of the next two games this weekend.</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"><factboxMeta><p><strong>Up next&#8230;</strong></p><p>Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (24-8-0-1) at Lehigh Valley Phantoms (17-16-2-1)</p><p>Friday, 7:05 p.m. at the PPL Center in Allentown</p><p>Listen live on 103.1FM-WILK</p><p>Players to watch:</p><p>Lehigh Valley - Nick Cousins leads the Phantoms with 29 points in 28 games.</p><p>Penguins - Sahir Gill has three goals in his last four games.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Tom Venesky at 570-991-6395 or on Twitter @TLTomVenesky</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Dominik Simon, Matt Murray, Derrick Pouliot heading to the 2016 AHL All-Star game