Merrimack's Tim Schaller, once a Bruin, is hoping for a callup to Pittsburgh after the AHL season in Scranton ends in another week. (Telegraph file photo by TOM KING)

Here’s a few tids and bits to munch on for your Mother’s Day Weekend brunch:

• In case you’ve been wondering, old friend Tim Schaller of Merrimack is back on the ice. Schaller, who had a good two-year stint with the Bruins a few years ago, is back in the American Hockey League, playing with the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Penguins. He’s played in 27 games – remember, the AHL got off to a late start due to the pandemic – and is tied for the team lead in goals with nine, and is second in points with 16 (seven assists).

Those 27 games also are a team high (tied). It’s obvious Schaller is a featured player and has long since mastered the AHL level. Let’s see if there’s a chance he could join the parent club, the Pittsburgh Penguins, at some point during the playoffs if needed, although his contract is reportedly with Wilkes-Barre.

It’s good to see this, as Schaller left the Bruins in July 2018 for a free agent, two-year deal with Vancouver. However, he was traded to the Kings in February 2020. They weren’t a playoff team, so when the pandemic paused the season, Schaller’s year ended.

He went to Scranton’s training camp this past winter on a tryout basis, and obviously was good enough to earn a one-year deal.

Telegraph Sports Reporter Tom KIng.

“The past couple of years really weren’t ideal for me,” Schaller told DKPittsburgh Sports.com back in February. “I didn’t have the numbers I wanted to get, the games I wanted to get.”

“This year, I kind of stepped back, and I’m using this as a refresher, get my name back out there, get some games, get my confidence back. When I heard they had an opening here for me, it was a no-brainer,” Schaller added.

“I have a lot of buddies in the organization, I’ve never heard a bad thing about it. It was a no-brainer to step in here for me on a PTO and earn my way into a contract.”

Which he eventually got. Schaller could get called up by the Penguins – he’s certainly played well enough – and that would be ideal, because the AHL announced recently it won’t be holding the Calder Cup Playoffs. The regular season ends in another week.

• Good to see that Merrimack’s Mickey Gasper got a spot on the Yankees High A team, the Hudson Valley Renegades. It also looks like the Yankees aren’t really looking at him much as a catcher anymore, listing him as an infielder on the Renegades roster. It would be nice to see if Gasper can get called up to Double A Somerset at some point.

Yes, the same Somerset Patriots that were a huge rival with the Nashua Pride of the Atlantic League. Somerset became an affiliated club this year in the revamped minor leagues.

Sadly, however, Patriots founder and owner Steve Kalafer passed away from cancer late last month before he could see his goal for the franchise come true.

It was Kalafer who hired former Sox and Yankees ace reliever Sparky Lyle to be the Patriots first manager. Oh, to see Lyle and the Pride’s Butch Hobson have their chess matches from the dugout. We were really lucky, Nashua.

• The Futures Collegiate League certainly played its cards right in grabbing two communities that were left in the cold by the cruel MLB-ordered minor league contraction. The FCBL swooped in and grabbed Vermont (Burlington) and Norwich, two longtime minor league areas and former New York Penn League cities. That takes some of the sting away from losing a franchise three straight years to the NECBL, the latest being North Shore.

It’s nice to kind of have a path forward and start to gear up to have fans back in the stadium,” Sea Unicorns General Manager Dave Schermerhorn told the Norwich Bulletin. “We’re extremely excited. This league is a great fit. The play on the field will be similar if not equal to what we were used to in the New York-Penn League.”

Just think: Opening night for the Silver Knights is less than three weeks away.

And, to all the moms in the area, Happy Mothers Day.

Tom King may be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on twitter @Telegraph _TomK.