NAHL announces first All-Star Festival
December 17, 2004 - North American Hockey League (NAHL) News Release
The NHL won't have an All-Star celebration this year, but the NAHL will.
The oldest and largest Junior A hockey league in the United States, the North American Hockey League is proud to announce its first All-Star Festival, set for February 7 and 8 in Frisco, Texas.
The centerpiece of the two-day event will be the NAHL All-Star Game on Tuesday, February 8, but a second highlight of the Festival will be the Monday NAHL All-Star Skating Party, with a live concert by the world's foremost all-hockey rock band, the Zambonis (www.thezambonis.com).
The Game itself will feature the original format used by the NHL for its early All-Star Games -- the All-Stars vs. the Champs. In this case, a team comprised of the best players from 18 NAHL teams will face-off against the defending National Junior A Champion Texas Tornado. Game time is 7:00 p.m.
At the All-Star Skating Party the night before, fans will have the opportunity to skate alongside the All-Stars and the Tornado on the same Deja Blue Arena ice where the game will be played, while the Zambonis rock the house. The Party begins at 7:00 p.m.
All NAHL All-Star Festival events, including an All-Star party for invited guests, will be at the Dr. Pepper Star Center in Frisco.
Tickets for the NAHL All-Star Festival go on sale Friday, December 17 and are available through the host team, the Texas Tornado. Tickets are priced at $45, $30 and $15 and both the NAHL All-Star Game and the NAHL All-Star Skating Party are included in the price of the ticket.
For ticket information, call 972-335-9800. On-line orders will be accepted shortly and a link will be available on NAHL.com
Tickets have been available to Tornado season ticket holders for the past week and, according to Tornado vice president of sales and marketing Matt Canavan, "The response has been very, very strong." However, good tickets in all price ranges are still available.
Canavan added that, even though no formal announcement had been made about the All-Star Festival until now, the Tornado have been getting regular inquiries about tickets for the All-Star Game since it appeared on the NAHL schedule at the start of the season. He expects ticket sales to be very brisk now that the Festival has been announced.
The All-Star team will be selected by the NAHL coaches and be announced in the weeks leading up to the game.
A number of other announcements, including the selection of Honorary All-Star Captains, will also be made in the coming weeks.
The new NAHL All-Star logo was created by Blake Ricciardi of LoudShot Media (www.loudshot.com). LoudShot, formerly Ruckus Sound and Style, also designed the NAHL logo as well as NAHL.com.
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