AHL Names All-Star Honorary Captains

December 17, 2002 - American Hockey League (AHL) News Release

Gordie Clark played parts of nine seasons in the AHL, including 237 games in Portland with the Maine Mariners from 1978-83. A member of the club's 1979 Calder Cup championship team, Clark also served as the Mariners' assistant coach from 1987-89. He recorded 267 goals and 332 assists for 599 points in 540 career AHL contests with Maine, Rochester and Springfield, and currently ranks 38th on the league's all-time scoring list. The two-time First Team AHL All-Star (1980, 1982) is also the fifth-leading scorer in AHL playoff history with 90 points in 94 career postseason matches.

A two-time All-American at the University of New Hampshire, Clark joined the New York Islanders in 1996 and served as the director of hockey operations for the AHL's Eastern Conference champion Bridgeport Sound Tigers in 2001-02. He is now a professional scout for the New York Rangers. Born in Glasgow, Scotland, and raised in Saint John, N.B., Clark will serve as the honorary captain for the PlanetUSA AHL All-Star team.

Kevin Dineen, who recently ended his distinguished 18-year NHL career, broke into the professional ranks with the AHL's Binghamton Whalers in 1984-85. He went on to record 355 goals and 405 assists in 1,188 career NHL games with four teams, including the Columbus Blue Jackets, who retained Dineen's service in a hockey operations capacity following his retirement last month.

Kevin was one of four Dineen brothers to play in the AHL during the 1980s, and his father Bill, himself an AHL All-Star honorary captain in 1999, won two Calder Cup titles as a head coach. Born in Quebec City, Dineen represented Canada at the 1984 Olympics, the 1987 Canada Cup tournament and three World Championships. He will serve as honorary captain of the Canadian AHL All-Star Team.

Of the 262 players to take part in the AHL All-Star Classic since 1995, more than 92 percent have competed in the NHL, including Tyler Arnason, Eric Boguniecki, Valeri Bure, Anson Carter, Pavol Demitra, J.P. Dumont, Mike Dunham, Patrik Elias, Martin Lapointe, John Madden, Mattias Norstrom, Steve Sullivan and Jason Williams.

The 2003 Dodge AHL All-Star Classic will take place at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland, Maine, home of the AHL's Portland Pirates. The event gets underway on Sunday, February 2, with the 2003 Pepsi AHL All-Star Skills Competition at 8:00 p.m. ET. The annual All-Star Game follows at 7:00 p.m. ET on Monday, February 3, and will be televised live in the United States and Canada.

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