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All-Star Game Presented By Guardian Wear TV Crew Is Denny, Michaels, Smith

January 16, 2009 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


PRINCETON, N.J. - The ECHL announced that the television broadcast crew for the ECHL All-Star Game presented by Guardian Wear™ will be Jack Michaels of the Alaska Aces, veteran NHL analyst Neil Smith and Adrian Denny of the Utah Grizzlies.

The Reading Royals, the City of Reading and the Sovereign Center will host the 17th Annual ECHL All-Star Game on Jan. 21, 2009 and the 12th Annual All-Star Skills Competition on Jan. 20, 2009.

Michaels will be the play-by-play announcer with Smith doing color commentary for the eighth consecutive year and Denny working ice level where he will interview players, coaches and representatives from the ECHL and the National Hockey League.

The game will be telecast online free-of-charge on ECHLALLSTARTV by B2 Networks, the "Official Broadband Broadcast Provider of the ECHL". Additional television broadcast details are being finalized and will be announced as soon as they are available.

Smith, who is the owner and Governor of the Johnstown Chiefs, brings years of broadcast experience to the telecast. He works as an analyst for the NHL Network, NHL Radio, Hockey Night in Canada Radio and Versus Network and has also worked on TSN and ESPN. He was general manager of the New York Rangers from 1989-2000 and in 1992 was promoted to president, becoming the first person in team history to hold both the title of general manager and president. During his tenure, which is the second-longest in team history to only the legendary Lester Patrick, Rangers captured three division titles, two Presidents' Trophy honors, an Eastern Conference championship and a Stanley Cup championship. The championship in 1993-94 was the culmination of a season in which the Rangers set club records with 52 wins and 112 points and ended a 54-year run of Stanley Cup frustration. Following the 1991-92 and 1993-94 seasons, Smith was named Executive of the Year by The Hockey News and The Sporting News.

It is the fourth All-Star Game television broadcast for Michaels, who was the play-by-play announcer in 2008 and 2004 and the ice-level reporter in 2006. He is in his seventh season as the "Voice of the Aces" and also serves as the team's vice president and Alternate Governor. In his first season in the league in 2003-04, Michaels was ECHL Broadcaster of the Year after earning the honor in the West Coast Hockey League in 2001 and 2003. Each of the last three years, the Alaska Broadcasters Association has presented him with the "Goldie" award for "Best Live Play-By-Play." Michaels was the play-by-play announcer and broadcast coordinator for the 2001 WCHL All-Star Game and broadcast college baseball, basketball and football in northwest Pennsylvania. Named Sportscaster of the Year by the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters in 1997, Michaels graduated magna cum laude from Ithaca College where he broadcast Ithaca football, basketball, baseball, lacrosse and soccer while also broadcasting hockey and football for Cornell University.

It is the first All-Star game for Denny, who is in his fourth season as the "Voice of the Grizzlies". He also hosts "Utah Grizzlies Live," a weekly talk show and is the program director and executive producer for Grizzlies Radio. He serves as the director of operations/broadcasting for the team, overseeing the team's marketing initiatives, media relations, community relations and web site. He has broadcast minor league baseball and The Fan Sports Network's high school games of the week on 1320/1230 AM KFAN where he has also worked as a sports anchor and morning show producer. Denny was awarded his bachelor's degree in broadcasting from the University of Utah.

The game will be produced by ConCom, Inc. which produced the ECHL All-Star Games in Peoria in 2004, Reading in 2005, Fresno in 2006 and Idaho in 2007. Bruce Connal has been producing sporting events for 30 years, including 20 years of doing the NHL for ESPN. Al Connal oversees ConCom, Inc. which last year produced 75 sporting and entertainment events including Ultimate Fighting Championships, LPGA Golf and World Cup Skiing.



American Conference roster can be viewed as PDF by clicking here

National Conference roster can be viewed as PDF by clicking here

Premier 'AA' Hockey League Fast Facts
- The ECHL celebrated its 20th Anniversary in 2007-08 and is the third-longest tenured professional hockey league behind only the National Hockey League and the American Hockey League.
- ECHL began in 1988-89 with five teams in four states and has grown to be a coast-to-coast league with 21 teams in 16 states and British Columbia in 2008-09.
- The Reading Royals, the City of Reading and the Sovereign Center will host the 17th Annual ECHL All-Star Game on Jan. 21, 2009 and the 12th Annual All-Star Skills Competition on Jan. 20, 2009.
- The league officially changed its name from East Coast Hockey League to ECHL on May 19, 2003.
- Affiliations with 24 of the 30 teams in the National Hockey League marking 12th consecutive season that the league has had affiliations with at least 20 teams in the NHL.
- 387 former ECHL players have played in NHL.
- 131 have played their first NHL game in the last four seasons.
- 32 former ECHL players have made their NHL debut this season: former Wheeling Nailers and ECHL All-Star defenseman Paul Bissonnette (Pittsburgh on Oct. 4), former Bakersfield Condors center Alexandre Bolduc (Vancouver on Nov. 27), former Florida Everblades defenseman Brett Carson (Carolina on Dec. 7), former South Carolina Stingrays defenseman Sean Collins (Washington on Dec. 6), former Las Vegas Wranglers and Wheeling Nailers goaltender John Curry (Pittsburgh on Nov. 26), former Greenville Grrrowl goaltender Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers (Edmonton on Oct. 17), former Johnstown Chiefs center Andre Deveaux (Toronto on Nov. 27), former Dayton Bombers center Philippe Dupuis (Colorado on Dec. 12), former Gwinnett Gladiators right wing Pat Dwyer former Columbus Cottonmouths and Tallahassee Tiger Sharks left wing Mitch Fritz (New York Islanders on Oct. 30), former South Carolina Stingrays right wing Andrew Gordon (Washington on Dec. 23), former Charlotte Checkers center Dwight Helminen (Carolina on Oct. 28), former Trenton Devils right wing Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond (New Jersey on Oct. 22), former Gwinnett Gladiators defenseman Scott Lehman (Atlanta on Dec. 18), former Charlotte Checkers defenseman Steve MacIntyre (Edmonton on Oct. 15), former Florida Everblades left wing Kenndal McArdle (Florida on Dec. 2), former Phoenix RoadRunners and Wheeling Nailers center Cam Paddock (St. Louis on Nov. 14), former Las Vegas Wranglers defenseman Adam Pardy (Calgary on Oct. 9), former Idaho Steelheads left wing Warren Peters (Calgary on Dec. 7), former Charlotte Checkers defenseman Corey Potter (New York Rangers on Dec. 7), former Augusta Lynx defenseman Kevin Quick (Tampa Bay on Jan. 13), former Charlotte Checkers, Columbia Inferno and Elmira Jackals defenseman Bryan Rodney (Carolina on Dec. 11), former Gwinnett Gladiators center Jared Ross (Philadelphia on Oct. 11), former Alaska Aces goaltender Marek Schwarz (St. Louis on Oct. 25), former Greenville Grrrowl and Stockton Thunder center Tim Sestito (Edmonton on Nov. 26), former Dayton Bombers and Las Vegas Wranglers defenseman Tyler Sloan (Washington on Oct. 21), former Utah Grizzlies and ECHL All-Star center Trevor Smith (New York Islanders on Dec. 31), former Johnstown Chiefs and Mississippi Sea Wolves forward Radek Smolenak (Tampa Bay on Dec. 2), former Augusta Lynx defenseman Brett Skinner (New York Islanders on Oct. 27), former Las Vegas Wranglers and ECHL All-Star defenseman Tyson Strachan (St. Louis on Dec. 18), former Wheeling Nailers right wing Tim Wallace (Pittsburgh on Dec. 10) and former Idaho Steelheads center Tom Wandell (Dallas on Dec. 10).
- There were 72 former ECHL players on NHL opening-day rosters.
- Twenty-six former ECHL players made their NHL debut in 2007-08 including six who played in both the ECHL and the NHL: Chris Beckford-Tseu (Alaska and St. Louis), Adam Berti (Pensacola and Chicago), Joe Jensen (Wheeling and Carolina), Dan LaCosta (Elmira and Columbus), Jonathan Quick (Reading and Los Angeles) and Danny Taylor (Reading and Los Angeles).
- Record 47 former ECHL players played their first NHL game in 2005-06.
- ECHL is represented for the eighth consecutive year on the National Hockey League championship team in 2008 by Aaron Downey of the Detroit Red Wings.
- Former ECHL coaches working as head coaches in the NHL are Bruce Boudreau of the Washington Capitals and Scott Gordon of the New York Islanders. Boudreau, who coached Mississippi for three seasons winning the Kelly Cup championship in 1999, was named NHL Coach of the Year in 2007-08 becoming the first former ECHL coach to receive the award. Peter Laviolette, who began his coaching career with the Wheeling Nailers, led Carolina Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup in 2006.
- There are 18 assistant coaches in the NHL who were players or coaches in the ECHL.
- There are 18 former ECHL officials scheduled to work as part of the NHL officiating team in 2008-09 with referees David Banfield, Chris Ciamaga, Ghislain Hebert, Marc Joannette, Mike Leggo, Wes McCauley, Dean Morton, Dan O'Rourke, Brian Pochmara, Kevin Pollock, Kyle Rehman, Chris Rooney, Justin St. Pierre and Ian Walsh and linesmen Steve Barton, Brian Mach, Tim Nowak and Jay Sharrers. Barton, Joannette, Leggo, McCauley, Nowak, Pollock, Rooney and Sharrers all worked the 2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
- ECHL has affiliations with 23 of the 29 teams in the American Hockey League and for the past 19 years there has been an ECHL player on the Calder Cup Champion.
- In the last six seasons the ECHL has had more call-ups to the AHL than all other professional leagues combined with over 2,000 call-ups involving more than 1,000 players since 2002-03.
- Further information on the ECHL is available from its website at ECHL.com.

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