Freddie Tiffels' road to professional hockey was one-of-a-kind.
Tiffels, Pittsburgh's sixth-round draft pick in 2015, moved to America at 17 to play junior hockey for two seasons in the USHL, and then moved on to college hockey at Western Michigan University for three years. The winger is now in his first professional season in the Penguins organization.
It wasn't the typical path for German hockey players to take. It hadn't been done before. Tiffels, though, thinks that it was the right path for him.
"I'm really the first guy from Germany doing this, and now some other guys followed," he told me. "School and playing hockey at the same time gave me a little more time to develop. I also just liked going to school just because everyone talks about how great of an atmosphere it is, and now I can agree with all the people who told me how great it is."
After struggling to earn regular playing time in Wilkes-Barre to start the season, Tiffels was reassigned to Wheeling on Nov. 9. He was recalled two weeks later, and again reassigned to Wheeling at the start of December. He's been back in Wilkes-Barre since Dec. 20, and he thinks that back-and-forth experience helped build his confidence.
"I really didn't know what to expect," he said. "I kinda went in there not knowing much about it. I was set up with amazing teammates, I think we have a really good team down there in Wheeling. Really good forwards, defensemen and goalies. It was easy for me to feel good about myself. Luckily, I got off to a good start."
His "good start" might be an understatement. Tiffels, who signed an entry-level contract with the Penguins in June, put up four goals and eight assists in his 15 games there, all while showing off his impressive speed, something he calls his "greatest strength":
Tiffels said the biggest adjustment for him in the beginning was the frequency of games in professional hockey compared to college. But he welcomed the change.
"In college you only play Friday and Saturday, then you have a bye weekend," he said. "But right now we play every second day and that's definitely something new. It's something I really enjoy, because obviously I enjoy playing hockey."
Tiffels wants to work on his entire game, becoming more of a goal-scoring threat, winning battles along the boards, and being responsible defensively, but he said the switch to professional hockey also made him realize the importance of his decision-making.
"You can see how the decisions you make have a huge impact on everything," he said. "If you make a bad decision here, in your own zone, that hurt the team."
If Tiffels spends more time developing the defensive side of his game to complement his size, speed, and ability to score, he could turn into a solid addition to the third line down the road.
Tiffels, like most other Penguins prospects, has taken notice of the organization's ability to develop players like him.
"You see a lot of guys getting called up and playing a big role on the team, and college guys have done that," he said. "It's something cool to look at, you have role models doing it before you, and you know you can maybe accomplish the same thing."
One of those role models is another German who worked his way through the Penguins' minor-league system: Tom Kuhnhackl. Kuhnhackl didn't play college hockey, but he did spend time in both Wheeling and Wilkes-Barre.
Tiffels met Kuhnhackl for the first time at training camp, and Tiffels made sure to ask for advice.
"I asked him a bunch of things, just because I knew he went through the same things," he said. "He was helpful with that. Just to know what to expect from training camp, how things work, also about the AHL. I mean, I had a ton of questions. But he was nice answering them all."
"I had a really good impression of him. He's amazing, a real nice person."
MORE FROM WILKES-BARRE
• Dec. 22: vs. Binghamton, 4-3 overtime win
• Dec. 23: vs. Lehigh Valley, 3-2 loss
• Dec. 27: vs. Lehigh Valley, 5-4 loss
• Dec. 29: vs. Hartford, 5-1 win
• Dec. 30: at Hershey, 2-1 overtime win
• Goaltenders Adam Morrison and Anthony Peters were signed to professional tryout agreements after Casey DeSmith was recalled to Pittsburgh and Michael Leighton suffered a lower-body injury. Leighton's status is day-to-day. Morrison posted a 3.04 goals against average and .900 save percentage in his nine games with Wheeling. Peters returns from the ECHL's Cincinnati Cyclones after playing three games with Wilkes-Barre earlier this season, with a 5.01 goals against average and .857 save percentage.
• Thomas Di Pauli returned to Wilkes-Barre's lineup on Saturday after missing four games with an upper-body injury.
• Daniel Sprong's recall to Pittsburgh came after a hat trick against Hartford. The hat trick was Sprong's second of the season:
• Wilkes-Barre's Media Relations Manager Nick Hart wrote an interesting feature on team chef Steve Schappert. Definitely give it a read.
• Lines and defense pairings from Saturday:
Zach Aston-Reese - Jean-Sebastien Dea - Ryan Haggerty
Thomas Di Pauli - Greg McKegg - Dominik Simon
Adam Johnson - Teddy Blueger - Colin Smith
Cody Wydo - Jarrett Burton - Freddie Tiffels
Jarred Tinordi - Ethan Prow
Kevin Czuczman - Zach Trotman
Kevin Spinozzi - Chris Summers
• Cody Wydo and Reid Gardiner were reassigned to Wheeling on Sunday.
• The Penguins' record of 18-10-2-1 drops them to fourth in the Atlantic Division. They are 5-4-1 in their last 10 games.
"We're still in it," Clark Donatelli said Friday of the team's rough stretch. "We didn't get into it in a day, and we're not going to get out of it (in one). It's good to see the guys work really hard and get rewarded for it ... As long as we're playing the right way, good things are going to happen for these guys."
• Wilkes-Barre will kick off 2018 with a home game against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (16-12-2-1) on Wednesday. They'll host the Springfield Thunderbirds (14-19-1-1) on Friday, and the Belleville Senators (13-18-0-3) on Saturday.
GOALS OF THE WEEK(S)
Jarrett Burton couldn't do this again if he tried. Binghamton's Jan Mandat had the puck on his stick against the boards. Burton hit Mandat's stick, the puck flipped into the air, and came down on the goaltender's back and bounced into the net. Just crazy:
Zach Aston-Reese scored his fifth goal of the season on Saturday. He has an impressive shot:
Dominik Simon scored the game-winner in overtime, blowing past everyone on the ice:
SAVE OF THE WEEK(S)
In Peters' two starts since being recalled, he's made a combined 47 saves on 49 shots, including this one against Hartford:
TOP PICK TRACKER
• Defenseman Zachary Lauzon (second round, 2017) remains out indefinitely with a neck injury. Rouyn-
• Forward Kasper Bjorkqvist (second round, 2016) was in Pittsburgh this week with Providence College for the Three Rivers Classic tournament. Bjorkqvist scored the game-winning goal in the championship game. Lance wrote a great feature on him that you can read here.
• Goaltender Filip Gustavsson (second round, 2016) has made two starts for Team Sweden in the World Junior Championships. He leads all goaltenders with a .941 save percentage and a 1.00 goals against average.
• Defenseman Connor Hall (third round, 2016) returned to action with the Kitchener Rangers after being out of the lineup since Nov. 29 with a shoulder injury. It didn't take him long to get hurt again, although the latest injury wasn't as serious. He's still able to play, he just sports a full face shield now. He has a good sense of humor about his luck:
Kitchener D Connor Hall with a lisp after taking a high stick to his mouth. Last time in Owen Sound, he hurt his shoulder and missed 7 games. Hall: "I gotta stay away from this place."
— Josh Brown (@BrownRecord) December 29, 2017
WHEELING WATCH
This week I'll take a look at Troy Josephs, the Penguins' seventh-round pick in 2013.
PROSPECT FUN THING
Christian Thomas was away this week representing Team Canada in the Spengler Cup, a tournament being used as evaluation for the Olympic team. He had one assist in four games. He previously made an appearance for Team Canada in the Karjala Cup, another tournament used for Olympic team evaluation.
On Sunday, Thomas and Team Canada won the Spengler Cup: