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Chase Chevrolet ECHL All-Star TV Broadcasters Announced

December 22, 2007 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


PRINCETON, N.J. - The ECHL announced that the television broadcast crew for the 2008 Chase Chevrolet ECHL All-Star Game presented by Jackson Rancheria and Bud Light will be Jack Michaels of the Alaska Aces, NHL Network and Versus analyst Neil Smith and Dan Weiss of the Phoenix RoadRunners.

Hosted by the Stockton Thunder and the City of Stockton at Stockton Arena, the 2008 Chase Chevrolet ECHL All-Star Game presented by Jackson Rancheria and Bud Light will be played on Jan. 23 with the 11th edition of the Chase Chevrolet ECHL All-Star Game Skills Competition being held on Jan. 22.

The telecast will air live at 10 p.m. ET on NHL Network for the sixth-consecutive year, making it available in more than 80 million homes across America. It will be telecast online free-of-charge through the ECHL web site on B2 Networks, the "Official Broadband Broadcast Provider of the ECHL". The ECHL is continuing discussions to secure additional television broadcast outlets and will announce them as they become available.

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

Smith, who is the owner and Governor of the Johnstown Chiefs, brings years of broadcast experience to the telecast, works as an analyst for both the NHL Network and Versus 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 third ECHL All-Star Game television broadcast for Michaels, who was the play-by-play announcer in 2004 and the ice-level reporter in 2006. He is in his sixth season as the "Voice of the Aces" and also serves as the team's vice president of communications and team operations. 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 two 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 second ECHL All-Star Game for Weiss, who was part of the audio broadcast crew in 2005. He has been the "Voice of the RoadRunners" and director of broadcasting and team services since the team's first season in 2005-06 when he was named ECHL Broadcaster of the Year. Weiss was the public relations and broadcast manager for the Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies from 2003-05. The native of Weston, Mass. has been a broadcaster for nine years, doing play-by-play for Corpus Christi of the Central Hockey League and Northeastern University as well as working for three years as a producer at Sports Radio 850 AM WEEI in Boston, which is the top-rated sports radio station in the United States. Weiss was awarded his bachelor's degree in communications and political science from Northeastern University.

ECHL
The ECHL, celebrating its 20th Anniversary in 2007-08, is the Premier 'AA' Hockey League and 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 25 teams playing 900 games in 17 states and British Columbia in 2007-08.

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

The ECHL has affiliations with 26 of the 30 teams in the NHL in 2007-08, marking the 11th consecutive season that the league has had affiliations with at least 20 teams in the NHL.

There have been 337 former ECHL players who have gone on to play in the NHL after playing in the ECHL, including a record 47 in 2005-06 and 26 in 2006-07. There have been 192 former ECHL players who have played their first game in the NHL in the past five seasons.

There are 15 coaches in the NHL who have ECHL experience including former Wheeling coach Peter Laviolette, who is head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes, and former Mississippi coach Bruce Boudreau, who is interim head coach of the Washington Capitals.

The ECHL is represented for the seventh consecutive year on the National Hockey League championship team in 2007 with Anaheim assistant coach Dave Farrish, players Francois Beauchemin and George Parros and broadcasters John Ahlers and Steve Carroll.

The ECHL has affiliations with 26 of the 29 teams in the American Hockey League in 2007-08 and for the past 18 years there has been an ECHL player on the Calder Cup champion.

In each of the last two seasons there have been more than 225 players who have played in both the ECHL and the AHL and there were over 800 call-ups involving more than 500 players.

In the last five 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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