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Aucoin, Halak Help PlanetUSA Win AHL All-Star Game

January 30, 2007 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


PRINCETON, N.J. - TORONTO, Ontario - Former ECHL players Jaroslav Halak and Keith Aucoin each played a role in PlanetUSA's 7-6 win in the 2007 Rbk Hockey American Hockey League All-Star Classic on Monday at Ricoh Coliseum.

Halak, who played for Long Beach as a rookie in 2005-06, started in goal for PlanetUSA and made 19 saves in the first period while Aucoin, who was making his second All-Star appearance, had three assists for PlanetUSA.

The ECHL has affiliations with 24 of the 27 teams in the American Hockey League in 2006-07 and for the past 17 years there has been an ECHL player on the Calder Cup champion. The ECHL has had more players called up to the AHL than all other professional leagues combined each of the past four seasons with 1,646 call ups involving almost 1,000 players.

Dan Bylsma, who began his playing career in the ECHL and is now an assistant coach with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, was the assistant coach for PlanetUSA while the coaches for the Canadian team were former Mississippi coaches Bruce Boudreau and Bob Woods, who are now the head coach and assistant coach, respectively, for Calder Cup champion Hershey. One of 10 former ECHL coaches who are head coaches in the AHL, Boudreau is the only coach to win both the ECHL and the AHL titles having led Hershey to the Calder Cup championship in 2006 and Mississippi to the Kelly Cup championship in 1999.

Martin St. Pierre led the Canadian team with three points (1g-2a) while Sheldon Brookbank (1g-1a) and Jason Jaffray (1g-1a) each had two points and T.J. Kemp was +2. Jason LaBarbera, who played with Charlotte each of his first two seasons, was the starting goaltender for the Canadian team and made 12 saves in the first period.

St. Pierre began his professional career with Greenville and was selected to the ECHL All-Star Game in 2004-05. Kemp was selected to the ECHL All-Star Game while also being named to the ECHL All-Rookie Team with Reading in 2005-06 while Brookbank played for Mississippi as a rookie in 2001-02. Jaffray, who was named as a replacement for the Canadian team, was voted to the starting lineup for the 2003 ECHL All-Star Game and the 2004 ECHL All-Star Game. In his first professional season in 2002-03, Jaffray was named First Team All-ECHL and to the ECHL All-Rookie Team while also being voted ECHL Rookie of the Year. In 2003-04, Jaffray was named Second Team All-ECHL while finishing third in voting for Most Valuable Player.

Former ECHL players Zenon Konopka, Daniel Girardi and Lawrence Nycholat were all voted as starters for the Canadian team, but were not able to participate in the game after being recalled to the NHL. Konopka helped Idaho win the Kelly Cup as an expansion team in 2003-04 and was named to the ECHL All-Star Game and to the ECHL All-Rookie Team in 2002-03 with Wheeling. Former Pensacola forward Kris Newbury and former Jackson defenseman Lawrence Nycholat were also both called up and did not play. The original rosters announced for the game had 11 former ECHL players, including five starters.

Six times this season the winner of the CCM Vector/AHL Player of the Week award has been an ECHL player with Al Montoya, Charlotte and Hartford (Jan. 1), Jason Jaffray, Roanoke and Wheeling and Manitoba (Oct. 30), Zenon Konopka, Wheeling and Idaho and Portland (Nov. 13), Charles Linglet, Alaska and Las Vegas and Peoria (Dec. 4), Cory Larose, Jackson and Chicago (Dec. 18), and Quintin Laing, Jackson and Hershey (Dec. 26).

ECHL
The league officially changed its name to ECHL on May 19, 2003.

The Premier 'AA' Hockey League, the ECHL has affiliations with 25 of the 30 teams in the National Hockey League in 2006-07. There have been 315 former ECHL players who have gone on to play in the NHL after playing in the ECHL, including a record 47 in 2005-06. There have been 170 players who have played in the NHL after the ECHL in the past five seasons.

The ECHL was represented for the sixth consecutive year on the National Hockey League championship team, including Carolina Hurricanes head coach Peter Laviolette, who is the first ECHL coach to win the Stanley Cup.

In 2005-06 the ECHL and its member teams contributed more than $2.3 million for charity and relief funds, including those benefiting victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, while also making thousands of appearances by players, coaches, team personnel and mascots at schools, hospitals, libraries and charity functions.

Further information on the ECHL is available from its website at ECHL.com.

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