Luzerne County has received six applications for manager job to date

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WVC underclassmen highlight field for regionals

Dustin Jeffrey admitted he felt a lot of emotions while driving from Pittsburgh to Wilkes-Barre on Wednesday.Excitement was one of them.Jeffrey, who was acquired by Pittsburgh from Arizona on Monday, participated in his first practice with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Thursday, marking the return to the team where his pro career began in 2008.&#8220;It&#8217;s crazy. I started my career here as a pretty young guy. Now, I&#8217;m married and in a totally different situation in my life,&#8221; Jeffrey said. &#8220;It&#8217;s amazing how small the hockey world is to come back to a place you never thought you&#8217;d have a chance to come back to.&#8221;Jeffrey, 28, is the AHL&#8217;s 10th leading scorer with 46 points. He brings a welcome boost to a Penguins offense that hasn&#8217;t scored more than two goals in the last eight games.During Thursday&#8217;s practice, head coach Clark Donatelli put Jeffrey on a line with Kael Mouillierat and Dominik Simon as his wingers. Having the franchise&#8217;s fifth leading scorer on the roster with the player who put up the most points as a Penguin, Tom Kostopoulos, has Donatelli excited.&#8220;Yeah, he&#8217;s pretty good,&#8221; Donatelli said of Jeffrey. &#8220;He&#8217;s really going to help, especially on the power play. We&#8217;re fortunate to have him.&#8221;But Jeffrey said he isn&#8217;t entirely the same player as the one who played with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton a few years ago. He spent parts of four seasons with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton from 2008 to 2012 and his best year came in 2009-10 when he scored 24 goals and 71 points in 77 games.While Jeffrey was on a point-per-game pace with Springfield this season, he said his game has changed simply as a result of playing for eight years.&#8220;When I was here before you had the young legs and you run around a little bit more. Your decision-making is based more on instincts,&#8221; Jeffrey said. &#8220;Now, you think the game a little bit more. It&#8217;s similar, but more refined than when I was here before.&#8221;Jeffrey learned about the trade while he was with Arizona getting ready for a game in Pittsburgh. The move was made so Arizona could move some contracts to have the resources to sign players out of college, but Jeffrey is excited to land back in familiar territory.He&#8217;s also thankful to play with a team bound for the postseason as Springfield was in last place in the Atlantic Division.&#8220;You never want to be on the outside looking in. Last year I was on a first place team and got traded to a last place team,&#8221; Jeffrey said. &#8220;I&#8217;m looking forward to getting back in the playoffs.&#8221;While no one on the Penguins roster was a teammate of Jeffrey&#8217;s when he was with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton before, he said this weekend&#8217;s three-in-three against division rivals Lehigh Valley and Hershey provides the perfect opportunity to introduce himself to the team.And on Sunday at home, he&#8217;ll get a chance to re-introduce himself to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton fans.&#8220;They treated me well when I was here the first time. I really enjoyed my time here before and I hope the fans are excited for me to be back,&#8221; Jeffrey said.NOTES&#8226; Conor Sheary&#8217;s status for Friday&#8217;s game against Lehigh Valley is unknown. He practiced with the red &#8220;no contact&#8221; jersey on Thursday. Donatelli said Sheary is day-to-day with an upper body injury.&#8226; Goaltender Tristan Jarry will play two games this weekend and Brian Foster will get one, Donatelli said. He didn&#8217;t know which two games Jarry will play, but he said the rookie netminder will be relied on heavily down the stretch.&#8220;He&#8217;s going to carry a lot of the mail. We don&#8217;t have any problem playing him back-to-back,&#8221; Donatelli said.<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Tom Veneskytvenesky@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta>UP NEXT&#8226; Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (33-18-4-1, .634, 2nd place in the Atlantic Division) at Lehigh Valley Phantoms (27-26-2-3, .509, 7th place in the Atlantic Division)&#8226; 7:05 p.m. Friday at the PPL Center in Allentown&#8226; Listen live on 103.1FM-WILKPlayers to watchLehigh Valley: Former Penguin Chris Conner leads the Phantoms with 41 points.Penguins: Dustin Jeffrey looks to make his mark right away in his first game back with his old team.</factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Tom Venesky at 570-991-6395 or on Twitter @TLTomVenesky</shirttailMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><videoMeta><table style="border:none;width:98%;" class="mceItemTable"><tbody><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoID:</td><td id="videoid" style="width:50em;font-size:90%;"> VjcHEyr-8yw</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoType:</td><td id="videotype" style="font-size:90%;"> YOUTUBE</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">URL:</td><td id="url" style="font-size:90%;"> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjcHEyr-8yw</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Embed String:</td><td id="videoembedstring" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Caption:</td><td id="videocaption" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Credit:</td><td id="videocredit" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Position:</td><td id="videoposition" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr></tbody></table>(use the &#8220;for files&#8230;&#8221; link above to associate attached files with this source)</videoMeta></div>

Jeffrey excited to be back with Penguins