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WILKES-BARRE — When Cameron Gaunce joined the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in training camp, he looked for ways to become active with the community.

Soon, Gaunce became aware of a long-standing program, Robo’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.

“I figured if kids are getting tickets, maybe the teachers helping them should as well,” Gaunce said. “Teachers play such a big role in kids’ 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.”

Dubbed Tickets for Teachers, Gaunce’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.

Gaunce said he’d like to go to the schools to present tickets directly to the winning teachers.

“I’m very excited to do that,” he said. “A lot of the time the best teachers are just enthusiastic, nice people. I like meeting people like that.”

Gaunce said he’s benefited from good teachers throughout his life, and he appreciated them all thanks to a lesson he was taught at home.

“May parents really emphasized education, so I took my own education very seriously,” Gaunce said. “A good teacher can really encourage kids and help students see the best in themselves.”

While this will be the first year for Tickets for Teachers, Gaunce hopes the program sticks around like Robo’s Readers – which is now in its 10th year.

“Even if I’m not back next year because the AHL does have lots of turnover, hopefully another guy sees what’s being done here and they’re inspired to continue to help,” Gaunce said.

The grind continues

The Penguins just wrapped up a grueling stint of six games in nine days on Saturday, and on Wednesday, they’ll begin another run with three games over the next four days before receiving a break next week.

“It’s a mental grind,” head coach Clark Donatelli said. “We have a good leadership group and the young guys have to go through the process. It’s part of development to go on the road and maybe you don’t feel 100 percent, but you have to find a way to figure it out.”

Donatelli said he’s been using the team’s depth and rotating his players over the last two weeks that fatigue shouldn’t be an issue.

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’ll have faced the Sound Tigers.

“I like it. It builds animosity,” Gaunce said. “It gets you up easily for these games. A lot of times you hit the dog days of a season and it’s tough to get up for games initially. But when you’re going into an arena in Hershey or facing a team like Bridgeport, it keeps you on your toes.”

Pouliot back

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’s expected to play in the next three games before heading back to Pittsburgh.

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By Tom Venesky

[email protected]

VIDEO

To see video of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s Cameron Gaunce talking about his Tickets for Teachers program, visit the online version of this story at timesleader.com

Reach Tom Venesky at 570-991-6395 or on Twitter @TLTomVenesky

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Video Caption: Cameron Gaunce talks about his Tickets for Teachers program.
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