ECHL Peoria Rivermen

Longtime Rivermen Voice Ulrich to Broadcast Third Career All-Star Game

January 2, 2004 - ECHL (ECHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release


Peoria, Ill. (January 2, 2004) – The ECHL announced today that Norm Ulrich of the host Peoria Rivermen, Joe Babik of the Florence Pride and Dustin Bixby of the Gwinnett Gladiators have been selected as the announcers for the audio broadcast of the 2004 Par-A-Dice ECHL All-Star Game.

Ulrich – a Central Illinois native – is in his 13th season with the Peoria Rivermen organization and eighth with the Rivermen in the ECHL. He is a veteran of more than 30 years of professional sports broadcasting and will be calling the third All-Star broadcast of his career.

Sponsored by the Par-A-Dice Hotel Casino and hosted by the Peoria Rivermen, the 12th Annual ECHL All-Star Game and Skills Competition will be held at the 9,919-seat Carver Arena at the Peoria Civic Center in Peoria, Ill. The Skills Competition will be at 7:00 p.m. CT on Tuesday, January 20 and the game will be played at 7:30 p.m. CT on Wednesday, January 21. Tickets to the All-Star Game and Skills Competition are available by telephone at (309) 676-1040, x106.

The audio broadcast is produced by NHL Radio will feature a play-by-play announcer, a color commentator, and a roving reporter who will be ice level interviewing players and coaches as well as representatives from the ECHL, the NHL and the American Hockey League.

The live audio play-by-play will be broadcast worldwide on the Internet by Yahoo! Events (http://www.broadcast.com), marking the sixth consecutive year that Yahoo! has carried the ECHL All-Star Game audio live on the Internet. The live broadcast will begin at 7:15 p.m. CT and the broadcast will be available through on-demand for one year.

The audio broadcast was offered free of charge to all ECHL teams and will be carried live in the following ECHL markets: Bakersfield (KGEO 1230 AM), Idaho (KTIK 1350 AM), Mississippi (WXBD 1490 AM), Roanoke (WWWR 910 AM), South Carolina (WQNT 1450 AM or WQSC 1340 AM) and Wheeling (WEEL 95.7 FM).

In his third season as voice of the Pride, Babik also serves as the director of broadcasting and media relations for Florence. A graduate of Syracuse University, Babik was an intern for Syracuse of the American Hockey League for three seasons, including working on the broadcast team in 1999-2000 and 2000-01. A native of Johnstown, Pa., Babik has been involved in Johnstown Chiefs broadcasts and in 2001 was the play-by-play voice of the Johnstown Johnnies, an independent baseball team.

Bixby is in third season in professional hockey having previously served as the director of broadcasting and media relations for both Baton Rouge and Mobile in the ECHL. A native of Crofton, Md., Bixby was awarded his degree in mass communications from the University of Delaware.

On Friday, January 2, the Rivermen and the defending Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies do battle in a 7:05 p.m. affair. On Saturday, January 3, Peoria opens a home-and-home set with the archrival Toledo Storm on the road. Game time is 6:30 p.m. CT at the Toledo Sports Arena. On Sunday, January 4, the Rivermen host the Storm at 3:00 p.m. contest at Carver Arena.

The Peoria Rivermen are a member of the ECHL – America's Premier "AA" Hockey League. The Rivermen will host the 2004 ECHL All-Star Game & Skills Competition on January 20-21. Tickets are available by calling 309-676-1040 x106.

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