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MMQ promotes Emily Weary and Amy Weinschenk Brady

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; When Cameron Gaunce joined the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in training camp, he looked for ways to become active with the community.</p><p>Soon, Gaunce became aware of a long-standing program, Robo&#8217;s Readers which encourages elementary students to read. Gaunce liked the idea and decided to take it in another direction by rewarding those who are teaching the students to read.</p><p>&#8220;I figured if kids are getting tickets, maybe the teachers helping them should as well,&#8221; Gaunce said. &#8220;Teachers play such a big role in kids&#8217; lives. During school year they might be with teachers more than their parents. A good teacher goes a long way so I thought it was important to give back to them.&#8221;</p><p>Dubbed Tickets for Teachers, Gaunce&#8217;s program rewards local teachers with tickets to Penguins games. Students, parents or anyone else who knows a hard-working teacher who has made an impact on a child can go to the Penguins website (wbspenguins.com) and nominate that person. Team staff and Gaunce will sit down and go over the nominations and select a teacher for tickets, which will be awarded numerous times during the season.</p><p>Gaunce said he&#8217;d like to go to the schools to present tickets directly to the winning teachers.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m very excited to do that,&#8221; he said. &#8220;A lot of the time the best teachers are just enthusiastic, nice people. I like meeting people like that.&#8221;</p><p>Gaunce said he&#8217;s benefited from good teachers throughout his life, and he appreciated them all thanks to a lesson he was taught at home.</p><p>&#8220;May parents really emphasized education, so I took my own education very seriously,&#8221; Gaunce said. &#8220;A good teacher can really encourage kids and help students see the best in themselves.&#8221;</p><p>While this will be the first year for Tickets for Teachers, Gaunce hopes the program sticks around like Robo&#8217;s Readers - which is now in its 10th year.</p><p>&#8220;Even if I&#8217;m not back next year because the AHL does have lots of turnover, hopefully another guy sees what&#8217;s being done here and they&#8217;re inspired to continue to help,&#8221; Gaunce said.</p><p><strong>The grind continues</strong></p><p>The Penguins just wrapped up a grueling stint of six games in nine days on Saturday, and on Wednesday, they&#8217;ll begin another run with three games over the next four days before receiving a break next week.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a mental grind,&#8221; head coach Clark Donatelli said. &#8220;We have a good leadership group and the young guys have to go through the process. It&#8217;s part of development to go on the road and maybe you don&#8217;t feel 100 percent, but you have to find a way to figure it out.&#8221;</p><p>Donatelli said he&#8217;s been using the team&#8217;s depth and rotating his players over the last two weeks that fatigue shouldn&#8217;t be an issue.</p><p>The Penguins travel to Hershey on Wednesday and then face Bridgeport on the road Friday and at home Saturday - marking the third time in the last five games they&#8217;ll have faced the Sound Tigers.</p><p>&#8220;I like it. It builds animosity,&#8221; Gaunce said. &#8220;It gets you up easily for these games. A lot of times you hit the dog days of a season and it&#8217;s tough to get up for games initially. But when you&#8217;re going into an arena in Hershey or facing a team like Bridgeport, it keeps you on your toes.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Pouliot back</strong></p><p>Pittsburgh assigned D Derrick Pouliot to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Tuesday for a conditioning stint. Pouliot has appeared in just one game - Oct. 20, while missing time with an injury. He&#8217;s expected to play in the next three games before heading back to Pittsburgh.</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>VIDEO</strong></p><p>To see video of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton&#8217;s Cameron Gaunce talking about his Tickets for Teachers program, visit the online version of this story at timesleader.com</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Tom Venesky at 570-991-6395 or on Twitter @TLTomVenesky</p></shirttailMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><videoMeta><p><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%;">VyRlmPnmXpc</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=VyRlmPnmXpc</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%;">Cameron Gaunce talks about his Tickets for Teachers program.</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%;">Tom Venesky | Times Leader</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></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; font-size: 70%; color: #555;">(use the &#8220;for files&#8230;&#8221; link above to associate attached files with this source)</p></videoMeta></div>

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins’ defenseman Cameron Gaunce creates program to reward local teachers