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All-Star Game Televised Live on CSS

January 9, 2003 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


PRINCETON, N.J. – The East Coast Hockey League announced on Thursday that former New York Rangers President and General Manager and current Pittsburgh Penguins consultant Neil Smith will be the color commentator for the 2003 Compuware/ECHL All-Star Game, being broadcast live by Comcast Sports Southeast / Charter Sports Southeast to its more than 3.9 million subscribers in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

CSS, a joint venture of Comcast Corporation and Charter Communications, is a 24-hour regional sports network. CSS programming includes live and re-aired college football, basketball and baseball games, weekly coaches and preview shows and minor league hockey and baseball. CSS' lineup also includes auto racing, outdoor shows and ESPNews.

Smith, who is a majority owner of the ECHL's Johnstown Chiefs and a minority owner of the ECHL's Cincinnati Cyclones, currently works as a color commentator on ESPN game broadcasts while also appearing on ESPN's NHL 2Night.

Joining Smith on the television broadcast will be Mark Miller of the Florida Everblades and Darren Abbott of the South Carolina Stingrays. Miller will handle the play-by-play while Abbott will interview players and coaches as well as representatives from the ECHL and the National Hockey League during the broadcast.

In addition to Comcast Sports Southeast, the game was offered to each of the 27 teams in the ECHL for broadcast in their respective markets, and it can also be seen in Greensboro on WXIV-TV, in Pensacola on WFGX-TV and in Peoria on Insight Cable.

The ECHL in association with Yahoo! Broadcast is also making the telecast available online with live broadband video. The live broadcast video requires a minimum connection speed of 100 Kbytes and Real Player. Dial-up customers will be able to listen to the radio broadcast on Yahoo! Broadcast, marking the fifth consecutive year that Yahoo! has carried the ECHL All-Star Game audio broadcast live on the Internet.

The 2003 Compuware/ECHL All-Star Game will be played at 7:30 p.m. ET on January 21. The game and the skills competition on January 20 will be hosted by the Florida Everblades at TECO Arena in Estero, Fla. For tickets, telephone (239) 948-7825 or log on to www.ticketmaster.com.

Named as general manager of the Rangers in 1989, Smith was promoted to president in 1992, becoming the first president in Rangers history to also hold the title of general manager. During his tenure, the Rangers captured three division titles, two President's Trophy honors, 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 season, Smith was named as The Hockey News Executive of the Year.

Miller is the director of marketing and the "Voice of the Florida Everblades". In addition to his radio and television broadcast duties, Miller oversees the Everblades advertising, sales and public relations departments and was named ECHL Marketing Director of the Year following the 2001-02 season. A member of the Everblades staff since the team's inception in 1998, Miller began his broadcasting career in 1993 with the Atlanta Knights working as a color commentator for the team's radio and television network. He spent two seasons as the director of communications for Nashville of the ECHL and served in the same capacity for Raleigh of the ECHL in 1996-97.

In his fourth season as the "Voice of the South Carolina Stingrays," Abbott was part of the radio broadcast team for the 2000 ECHL All-Star Game in Greenville. Abbott hosts the team's weekly television program "Alltel Stingrays Show" and handles the team's media relations responsibilities. He was named ECHL Public Relations Director of the Year following the 1999-2000 season and again following the 2000-01 season, making him the only individual to win the award twice. Abbott was the public address announcer and color analyst on Stingrays road games in 1996-97 and then spent two seasons as the director of public relations and broadcasting for Roanoke of the ECHL before returning to South Carolina.

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