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WBA moves high school project forward, limits tax hike, renews Bear Creek charter

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Wilkes-Barre Law & Library Association inducts Panella, ex-champ Holmes

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; For a team that makes its living on a sheet of ice, it&#8217;s rare for a snowstorm to stop a Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins game.</p><p>And players will hit the ice this weekend, even as a winter storm that&#8217;s expected to dump up to 12 inches of snow approaches.</p><p>But there has been one concession to the weather.</p><p>Saturday&#8217;s home game against the Hershey Bears has been moved up to 3:05 p.m. instead of the customary 7:05.</p><p>Wilkes-Barre/Scranton CEO Jeff Barrett hopes the earlier start time will allow the game to be wrapped up so fans, arena workers and the Hershey Bears can all get back home before the weather gets really bad.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re monitoring the forecasts and we&#8217;ve talked to meteorologists about it, and we feel comfortable that, to play the game in the afternoon, the weather&#8217;s going to be better than it would be at night,&#8221; Barrett said. &#8220;We moved the game to 3 p.m. because we think we can get ahead of the storm.&#8221;</p><p>So if Saturday&#8217;s storm isn&#8217;t enough to cancel a Penguins game, what is?</p><p>Barrett said the decision to postpone a game is a last-case scenario because the 76-game slate is already tight, with few opportunities to reschedule. Essentially, if the visiting team and game officials can make it to the arena, the puck will be dropped. The opposing team and officials typically arrive two to three hours before the start of a game.</p><p>In regards to Saturday, it also helps that the Bears are off Friday night and the trip from Hershey isn&#8217;t too far. As for the Penguins, they&#8217;re playing at home on Friday night so they&#8217;ll already be in town.</p><p>As for the fans, Barrett recommended they use their own judgment Saturday and if anyone isn&#8217;t comfortable traveling, the team will accommodate them for a future game.</p><p>&#8220;If there are fans that can&#8217;t make it to the game, call our ticket office and we&#8217;ll take care of them to find them another opportunity,&#8221; Barrett said.</p><p>&#8220;If there&#8217;s a state of emergency issued or something critical, we obviously wouldn&#8217;t play the game. But if the teams are here and the referees are here, it&#8217;s probably safe enough to play.&#8221;</p><p>Only twice in the franchise&#8217;s 20-year history has a winter storm canceled a game at Mohegan Sun Arena.</p><p>On Feb. 14, 2007, a storm that dumped more than 15 inches on the region forced the Penguins to postpone its skate against the Syracuse Crunch.</p><p>And on Dec. 11, 2002, an ice storm prompted the Penguins to reschedule a game against the Binghamton Senators.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Barrett </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/web1_wilkeshockey03CMYK.jpg</photo0><caption0>Barrett </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Tom Venesky</p><p>tvenesky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div>

WBS Pens will drop puck Saturday but earlier due to pending storm