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Taxpayers face expense to reduce Susquehanna River pollutants

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WB Area investigates use of Dumpster at GAR Memorial High School

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; The last time Garrett Wilson was on a team that went deep into the postseason was 2011 in juniors.</p><p>He&#8217;s hoping to break the drought this year.</p><p>In 2011, Wilson&#8217;s Owen Sound Attack won the Ontario Hockey League championship. He played in 22 games and registered 21 points, but since then, Wilson&#8217;s playoff experience has been sporadic.</p><p>He appeared in 15 postseason games with Cincinnati in the East Coast Hockey League in 2013, three games with San Antonio in the AHL in 2015 and six NHL playoff games with the Florida Panthers last season.</p><p>&#8220;I had that long run in junior and I know how intense it gets,&#8221; Wilson said.</p><p>Wilson&#8217;s experience in the NHL postseason taught him a lot, as he learned from veterans such as Roberto Luongo and Jaromir Jagr. Players like that have been around a while, but were still as hungry as ever to win in the postseason, Wilson said.</p><p>&#8220;To win a championship, it&#8217;s really special. It was too bad we couldn&#8217;t go a little further (with Florida),&#8221; Wilson said. &#8220;But I learned how much every shift counts. Everything is really magnified.&#8221;</p><p>With San Antonio in 2015, the Rampage went into the playoffs as the higher seed but were swept in three games in the first round by Oklahoma City. The first two losses were on the road, Wilson said, and that&#8217;s exactly how this year&#8217;s Penguins will begin their postseason, traveling to Providence.</p><p>The early exit still stings, Wilson said.</p><p>&#8220;We had a really good team (in San Antonio). I&#8217;m looking to redeem myself this year,&#8221; he said.</p><p><strong>Gill returns just in time</strong></p><p>Last year, Sahir Gill missed most of the postseason due to injury.</p><p>He wasn&#8217;t going to let the same thing happen again this year.</p><p>While Gill missed the last week of the regular season with an upper body injury, he returned to practice on Wednesday and declared himself ready to go for the first round of the playoffs, which begins on Friday in Providence.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s playoffs. There&#8217;s nothing left to save it for,&#8221; Gill said. &#8220;You don&#8217;t want to be a liability for the team, but the goal was to be as close to 100 percent for the playoffs as we could.&#8221;</p><p>Gill said Wednesday&#8217;s practice went well and he was able to test himself with physical play. Considering he wasn&#8217;t able to play during the final week of the regular season, practices have become crucial for Gill to prepare for the postseason.</p><p>&#8220;Just to get used to the physical play, the battling and getting your legs going,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I&#8217;m excited to get going.&#8221;</p><p><strong>New goalie in town</strong></p><p>Wilkes-Barre/Scranton signed goaltender Kevin Carr to a professional tryout contract on Wednesday. Carr spent the regular season with the Alaska Aces in the ECHL, posting an 18-23-3 record with a 2.97 goals against average and a .903 save percentage. The three-year pro has spent his entire career in the ECHL. Carr joins Sen Maguire and Casey DeSmith as the Penguins netminders for the playoffs.</p><p><ins>For other sports stories, <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/category/sports" target="_blank">click here</a>.</ins></p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Wilson </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_GarrettWilson.jpg</photo0><caption0>Wilson </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<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 @TomVenesky</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Garrett Wilson hoping for a long postseason with WBS Penguins