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AHL All-Rookie Team Has Former ECHL Players St. Pierre, Girardi

Published on April 7, 2006 under ECHL (ECHL) News Release


SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The American Hockey League announced that former Greenville and current Norfolk center Martin St. Pierre and former Charlotte and current Hartford defenseman Daniel Girardi have been selected to the 2005-06 AHL All-Rookie Team.

The 22-year-old St. Pierre began his professional career in 2004-05 with Greenville and was selected to the ECHL All-Star Game and finished third among league rookies with 39 assists and ninth in scoring with 53 points in 45 regular season games. He also played in the AHL for Edmonton where he scored a goal in his first game and had seven points (4g-3a) in 18 games. One of 11 former ECHL players chosen to the 2006 Rbk Hockey AHL All-Star Classic, the 5-foot-9 and 180-pound St. Pierre is third among AHL rookies with 20 goals and 46 assists in 71 games and his 66 points is the second-highest total in team history. He was signed by the Chicago Blackhawks on Nov. 3 and made his NHL debut the next night and became the 270th former ECHL player to play in the NHL.

The 21-year-old Girardi began the season with Charlotte and had five points (1g-4a) in seven games with the Checkers before being recalled to Hartford on Nov. 12. The 6-foot-1 and 205-pound Girardi has 38 points (8g-30a) in 60 games with the Wolf Pack.

Former ECHL players have won the CCM Vector/AHL Player of the Week award nine times in 2005-06 with Keith Aucoin (Florida and Lowell), Mike Ayers (Dayton and Syracuse), Zdenek Blatny (Greenville and Springfield), Brian Finley (Toledo and Milwaukee), Jamie Holden (Fresno and Cleveland), Jani Hurme (Columbia and Portland), Brent Krahn (Las Vegas and Omaha), Lawrence Nycholat (Jackson and Hershey) and Nathan Robinson (Toledo and Providence).

There are eight head coaches, 12 assistant coaches and countless other personnel on the 27 teams in the AHL, including Mike Haviland, who won the Kelly Cup with Atlantic City in 2002-03 and Trenton in 2004-05 and moved up to the AHL as head coach of Norfolk. Other former ECHL coaches who are now head coaches in the AHL are Claude Noel of Milwaukee, Roy Sommer of Cleveland, Greg Ireland of Grand Rapids, Dave Allison of Iowa, Scott Gordon of Providence, Bruce Boudreau of Hershey and David Baseggio of Bridgeport.

For the each of the past three seasons, the ECHL has had more players called up to the AHL than all other professional leagues combined, including 2004-05 when over 200 players were involved in 355 call ups, accounting for almost 80 percent of the AHL roster additions. The ECHL had 425 call ups involving 234 players in 2003-04 and 450 call ups in 2002-03.

The AHL Most Valuable Player Award has been won four times by former ECHL players, most recently by former Charlotte goaltender Jason LaBarbera in 2003-04. Other former ECHL players who were named as MVP of the AHL are Eric Boguniecki in 2001-02, Martin Brochu in 1999-2000 and Brad Smyth in 1995-96.

The AHL Coach of the Year award was won by ECHL coaches four years in a row from 2001-04 with Noel (2004), Geoff Ward (2003), Bruce Cassidy (2002) and Don Granato (2001) while current Carolina Hurricanes and former Wheeling coach Peter Laviolette was the first ECHL coach to capture the award in 1999.

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