ECHL ECHL

All-Star Game Festivities A Success

January 27, 2006 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


PRINCETON, N.J. - Sponsored by Bud Light and hosted by the Fresno Falcons, the ECHL All-Star Game saw the National Conference post a 7-6 win over the American Conference in front of the largest All-Star crowd since 2000, 7,667 at Save Mart Center on Wednesday.

The ECHL will make an announcement on the host of the 2007 All-Star Game in the near future.

Luke Curtin of the host Falcons was named the Most Valuable Player after scoring two goals in 20 seconds, the third-fastest two goals scored in an All-Star Game, in the first 45 seconds of the third period to give the National Conference a 5-2 lead. The National Conference also won the Skills Competition on Tuesday, marking the ninth year that the winner of the Skills Competition has won the game.

Showcasing some of the top prospects in the ECHL, the game had 21 rookies and 35 of the 41 players were playing in their first All-Star Game. Attended by representatives from both the National Hockey League and the American Hockey League, the All-Star Game has produced 28 players who have gone on to the NHL and there are five current NHL assistant coaches who were behind the bench for an ECHL All-Star Game.

The game was televised live for the fifth year in a row and available in more than 80 million homes on The NHL Network, NHL Center Ice and America One as well as being available in Reading (WTVE), Dayton (Time Warner Cable, San Diego (Cox Communications) and Trenton (WZBN). It was rebroadcast on Thursday by OLN, the cable home of the National Hockey League, and OLN will broadcast it again on Saturday at 6 p.m. ET. The game was also rebroadcast by Comcast SportsNet West and Comcast Sports Southeast. The television play-by-play was done by Darren Abbott of the South Carolina Stingrays while OLN analyst Neil Smith provided color commentary for the fifth straight game and Jack Michaels of the Alaska Aces handled ice-level interviews. For the fourth year in a row, the television broadcast was shown live online by Yahoo! and remains available on-demand.

The audio broadcast was produced by NHL Radio and was available live on XM Satellite Radio, the nation's leading satellite radio service with more than six million subscribers, as well as on The Team 950 AM in South Carolina and on 1350 KTIK The Ticket in Idaho. For the eighth year, the audio broadcast was available live online by Yahoo! and remains available on demand.

For the seventh consecutive year, the Patrick J. Kelly Cup and the Stanley Cup were both displayed throughout the All-Star festivities, allowing fans the opportunity to see and take pictures with the postseason championship trophies of the ECHL and the NHL.

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