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ECHL All-Star Game Available To Over 24 Million

January 6, 2004 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


PRINCETON, N.J. - The ECHL announced on Tuesday that the 2004 Par-A-Dice ECHL All-Star Game will be televised coast to coast to more than 24 million households and will be shown live in more than seven million homes.

The play-by-play will be handled by Jack Michaels of the Alaska Aces while former New York Rangers President and General Manager and current ESPN, TSN and NHL Network analyst Neil Smith will be the color commentator. Ned Bowdern of the Wheeling Nailers will handle in-game and between-period interviews with players, coaches and representatives from the ECHL and the National Hockey League.

For the second consecutive year, the telecast will be available live to subscribers of NHL Center Ice, the "Official Sports Package of the ECHL," in the United States on DIRECTV, DISH Network and iN DEMAND, and to subscribers of the NHL Network in Canada.

The ECHL, in association with Yahoo! Broadcast, is also making the telecast available online with live broadband video for the second year in a row. 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 television broadcast was offered free of charge to all ECHL teams and will be carried live in the following ECHL markets: Greensboro (WXIV TV), Idaho (Cable One), Peoria (Insight Media), and San Diego (Cox Cable).

The game will be available to the subscribers of Comcast Sports Southeast at 12:30 p.m. on January 22 and at 4 p.m. on January 25 and to the subscribers of New England Sports Network on January 23 at 9:30 p.m. The telecast will be shown on CN8 on January 25 at 2 p.m. and on Cox Sports Television Louisiana at 3 p.m. on January 25.

Smith, who is the majority owner of the ECHL's Johnstown Chiefs, currently works as a color commentator on ESPN and a hockey analyst on the NHL Network while also appearing in studio on TSN. General manager of the Rangers from 1989 to 2000, 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, which, in the history of the franchise, was second only to the legendary Lester Patrick in terms of longevity, the 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, respectively.

Michaels is the "Voice of the Aces" as well as the director of communications and team services for Alaska. In his second season with the Aces, Michaels was named WCHL Broadcaster of the Year following the 2002-03 season. Michaels, who worked three seasons with Colorado of the WCHL before joining the Aces, won the WCHL Broadcaster of the Year award following the 2000-01 season which also saw him selected to work the WCHL-CHL All-Star Game in San Diego, serving as both play-by-play announcer and broadcast coordinator. Prior to joining Colorado, Michaels broadcast college baseball, basketball and football in northwest Pennsylvania and in 1997 was named Sportscaster of the Year by the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters. The 29-year-old Michaels graduated magna cum laude from Ithaca College where he handled broadcasts for Ithaca football, basketball, baseball, lacrosse and soccer while also broadcasting Cornell hockey and football.

Bowdern, who worked as a member of the radio broadcast crew for the 2002 ECHL All-Star Game, is in his fourth season as the "Voice of the Nailers" and his ninth season broadcasting hockey. Prior to Wheeling, Bowdern, who has worked two seasons as the play-by-play voice of the Washington (Pa.) Wild Things baseball team, broadcast for Springfield of the North American Hockey League, Memphis of the Central League, and Central Texas of the Western Professional Hockey League.



Live Broadcast Date and Time (All Times Local)
NHL Network (Canada) January 21, 8:30 p.m.
NHL Center Ice (U.S.) January 21, 8:30 p.m.
Insight Media (Peoria, Ill.) January 21, 8:30 p.m.
WXIX TV (Greensboro, N.C.) January 21, 8:30 p.m.
Cable One (Boise, Idaho) January 21, 6:30 p.m.
Cox Cable (San Diego, Calif.) January 21, 5:30 p.m.

Delayed Broadcast Date and Time (All Times Local)
New England Sports Network January 23, 9:30 p.m.
CN8 January 25, 2:00 p.m.
Comcast Charter Sports Southeast January 22, 12:30 p.m.
January 25, 4:00 p.m.
Cox Sports Television Louisiana January 25, 3:00 p.m.
KJEO TV (Fresno, Calif.) January 23, 9:00 p.m.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


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