ECHL ECHL

National Conference Roster Announced For ECHL All-Star Game

Published on December 30, 2008 under ECHL (ECHL) News Release


Roster Includes 13 Rookies, 20 First-Time Selections

PRINCETON, N.J. - The ECHL on Tuesday announced the starting lineup and roster of the National Conference team for the 2009 ECHL All-Star Game.

The Reading Royals, the City of Reading and the Sovereign Center will host the 17th Annual ECHL All-Star Game on Jan. 21, 2009 and the 12th Annual All-Star Skills Competition on Jan. 20, 2009.

There are 13 rookies on the National Conference and 20 of the 21 players are making their first appearance in an ECHL All-Star Game.

There have been 46 players from the All-Star Game who have gone on to play in the National Hockey League, including 29 since 2002 when the lineups began having players who coaches felt were prospects to move up to a higher level.

National Conference Starters

G - Jean-Philippe Lamoureux, Alaska (24 gp, 14-9-1, 2 shutouts, 2.46 GAA, .923 save pct.)

D - Dylan Yeo, Victoria (32 gp, 8g, 20a, 28 pts)

D - Matt Shasby, Alaska (30 gp, 5g, 15a, 20 pts)

F - Wes Goldie, Victoria (32 gp, 27g, 10a, 37 pts)

F - Colin Hemingway, Alaska (30 gp, 14g, 27a, 41 pts)

F - Steve Gainey, Idaho (31 gp, 11g, 18a, 29 pts)

The starting lineups are determined in voting by National Conference coaches, team captains, media directors, broadcasters and media members. Coaches also submitted the top prospects from within their conference to determine the final roster with each of the nine teams having a representative.

The Stanley Cup and the Patrick J. Kelly Cup will both be on display throughout the event, marking the ninth time in the last 10 years that the NHL championship trophy and the ECHL championship trophy have been displayed together at the All-Star Game.

Alaska has three starters with rookie goaltender Jean-Philippe Lamoureux, defenseman Matt Shasby, and forward Colin Hemingway. Lamoureux is 14-9-1 and is tied for the league lead with 14 wins and three shutouts while ranking second with 1,439 minutes and 711 saves. Hemingway leads the ECHL with 27 assists and is second with 41 points while Shasby is tied for fourth among league defensemen with 20 points (5g-15a).

Victoria has three representatives with starting defenseman Dylan Yeo and starting forward Wes Goldie and rookie forward Dan Gendur. Yeo, who is under contract to Manitoba of the AHL, leads league defensemen with eight goals and 28 points. He is tied for the lead among blueliners with four power-play goals and 20 assists and is second with 15 power-play points and 11 power-play assists. Goldie leads the league with 27 goals and is tied for the lead with five game-winning goals. His nine power-play goals tie him for second and his 37 points rank him fourth. Gendur, who is under contract to Vancouver of the NHL, leads ECHL rookies with 11 power-play assists and is tied for the lead with 14 power-play points. He is fourth among rookies with 19 assists and tied for 10th with 24 points.

Ontario has three rookies selected with goaltender Jeff Zatkoff and forwards Geoff Walker and Tim Kraus. Zatkoff, who is under contract to Los Angeles of the NHL, is 8-6-1 and ranks second in the league with a save percentage of .934 and sixth with a goals-against average of 2.31. Walker is tied for the rookie lead with 14 power-play points while his nine power-play assists tie him for second. He is tied for 10th among rookies with 24 points (10g-14a) while Kraus is 13th with 22 points (6g-16a).

Idaho will be represented by starting forward Steve Gainey and rookie defenseman Matt Stephenson. Stephenson, who is under contract to Manitoba of the AHL, is 15th among league defensemen with 15 points (5g-10a) while Gainey is tied for the team lead with 29 points (11g-18a).

Bakersfield will be represented by rookie Matt Pope and Mark Derlago, who is under contract to Manitoba of the AHL. Pope is tied for second among league rookies with 17 goals and seven power-play goals while his 30 points are fifth. Derlago had 20 points (9g-11a) in 12 games for the Condors before being called up to Manitoba where he has eight points (4g-4a) in 14 games.



Making his second straight appearance in the All-Star Game is defenseman Kenny MacAulay of Fresno who will be joined by rookie goaltender Joe Fallon. The Falcons are represented because the voting was complete and rosters had been determined before the team suspended operations on Dec. 22. Fallon, who is under contract to Chicago of the NHL and was recently reassigned to Gwinnett, is 8-4-1 with a shutout, a goals-against average of 2.57 and a save percentage of .911. MacAulay is tied for fifth among ECHL defensemen with 16 assists and is tied for seventh with 19 points.

Representing Las Vegas will be rookie defenseman Jeff May and forward Justin Taylor. Taylor has 15 points (8g-7a) in 16 games while May has 10 points (4g-6a).

Phoenix is represented by rookie forward Matt Fornataro and rookie defenseman Michael Wilson, who are both under contract to Worcester of the AHL. Fornataro has 18 points (9g-9a) in 21 games for the RoadRunners and five points (1g-4a) in 10 games with Worcester. Wilson has 10 points (2g-8a) in 15 games for Phoenix and two points (1g-1a) in 10 games for Worcester.

Rookie forward Ryan Huddy will represent Stockton and rookie forward Vladimir Nikiforov was selected from Utah. Huddy, who is under contract to Springfield of the AHL, is tied for fourth among league rookies with 14 goals and is tied for seventh with 27 points in 28 games while also playing three games for Springfield. Nikiforov, who is under contract to Bridgeport of the AHL, has 17 points (6g-11a) in 27 games for Utah while also playing four games for Bridgeport.

Premier ‘AA' Hockey League Fast Facts

-Watch Games Live on B2 Networks, the "Official Broadband Broadcast Provider" of the ECHL.

-Watch ECHL Games Around The Clock On ECHL TV on B2CableTV.com.
-The ECHL celebrated its 20th Anniversary in 2007-08 and is 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 21 teams in 16 states and British Columbia in 2008-09.

-The Reading Royals, the City of Reading and the Sovereign Center will host the 17th Annual ECHL All-Star Game on Jan. 21, 2009 and the 12th Annual All-Star Skills Competition on Jan. 20, 2009.

-The league officially changed its name from East Coast Hockey League to ECHL on May 19, 2003.

-Affiliations with 24 of the 30 teams in the National Hockey League marking 12th consecutive season that the league has had affiliations with at least 20 teams in the NHL.

-385 former ECHL players have played in NHL.

-129 have played their first NHL game in the last four seasons.

-30 former ECHL players have made their NHL debut this season: former Wheeling Nailers and ECHL All-Star defenseman Paul Bissonnette (Pittsburgh on Oct. 4), former Bakersfield Condors center Alexandre Bolduc (Vancouver on Nov. 27), former Florida Everblades defenseman Brett Carson (Carolina on Dec. 7), former South Carolina Stingrays defenseman Sean Collins (Washington on Dec. 6), former Las Vegas Wranglers and Wheeling Nailers goaltender John Curry (Pittsburgh on Nov. 26), former Greenville Grrrowl goaltender Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers (Edmonton on Oct. 17), former Johnstown Chiefs center Andre Deveaux (Toronto on Nov. 27), former Dayton Bombers center Philippe Dupuis (Colorado on Dec. 12), former Gwinnett Gladiators right wing Pat Dwyer former Columbus Cottonmouths and Tallahassee Tiger Sharks left wing Mitch Fritz (New York Islanders on Oct. 30), former South Carolina Stingrays right wing Andrew Gordon (Washington on Dec. 23), former Charlotte Checkers center Dwight Helminen (Carolina on Oct. 28), former Trenton Devils right wing Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond (New Jersey on Oct. 22), former Gwinnett Gladiators defenseman Scott Lehman (Atlanta on Dec. 18), former Charlotte Checkers defenseman Steve MacIntyre (Edmonton on Oct. 15), former Florida Everblades left wing Kenndal McArdle (Florida on Dec. 2), former Phoenix RoadRunners and Wheeling Nailers center Cam Paddock (St. Louis on Nov. 14), former Las Vegas Wranglers defenseman Adam Pardy (Calgary on Oct. 9), former Idaho Steelheads left wing Warren Peters (Calgary on Dec. 7), former Charlotte Checkers defenseman Corey Potter (New York Rangers on Dec. 7), former Charlotte Checkers, Columbia Inferno and Elmira Jackals defenseman Bryan Rodney (Carolina on Dec. 11), former Gwinnett Gladiators center Jared Ross (Philadelphia on Oct. 11), former Alaska Aces goaltender Marek Schwarz (St. Louis on Oct. 25), former Greenville Grrrowl and Stockton Thunder center Tim Sestito (Edmonton on Nov. 26), former Dayton Bombers and Las Vegas Wranglers defenseman Tyler Sloan (Washington on Oct. 21), former Johnstown Chiefs and Mississippi Sea Wolves forward Radek Smolenak (Tampa Bay on Dec. 2), former Augusta Lynx defenseman Brett Skinner (New York Islanders on Oct. 27), former Las Vegas Wranglers defenseman Tyson Strachan (St. Louis on Dec. 18), former Wheeling Nailers right wing Tim Wallace (Pittsburgh on Dec. 10) and former Idaho Steelheads center Tom Wandell (Dallas on Dec. 10).

-There were 72 former ECHL players on NHL opening-day rosters.

-Twenty-six former ECHL players made their NHL debut in 2007-08 including six who played in both the ECHL and the NHL: Chris Beckford-Tseu (Alaska and St. Louis), Adam Berti (Pensacola and Chicago), Joe Jensen (Wheeling and Carolina), Dan LaCosta (Elmira and Columbus), Jonathan Quick (Reading and Los Angeles) and Danny Taylor (Reading and Los Angeles).

- Record 47 former ECHL players played their first NHL game in 2005-06.

- ECHL is represented for the eighth consecutive year on the National Hockey League championship team in 2008 by Aaron Downey of the Detroit Red Wings.

- Former ECHL coaches working as head coaches in the NHL are Bruce Boudreau of the Washington Capitals and Scott Gordon of the New York Islanders. Boudreau, who coached Mississippi for three seasons winning the Kelly Cup championship in 1999, was named NHL Coach of the Year in 2007-08 becoming the first former ECHL coach to receive the award. Peter Laviolette, who began his coaching career with the Wheeling Nailers, led Carolina Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup in 2006.

- There are 18 assistant coaches in the NHL who were players or coaches in the ECHL.

- There are 18 former ECHL officials scheduled to work as part of the NHL officiating team in 2008-09 with referees David Banfield, Chris Ciamaga, Ghislain Hebert, Marc Joannette, Mike Leggo, Wes McCauley, Dean Morton, Dan O'Rourke, Brian Pochmara, Kevin Pollock, Kyle Rehman, Chris Rooney, Justin St. Pierre and Ian Walsh and linesmen Steve Barton, Brian Mach, Tim Nowak and Jay Sharrers. Barton, Joannette, Leggo, McCauley, Nowak, Pollock, Rooney and Sharrers all worked the 2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

- ECHL has affiliations with 23 of the 29 teams in the American Hockey League and for the past 19 years there has been an ECHL player on the Calder Cup Champion.

- In the last six 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.

Check out the ECHL Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



ECHL Stories from December 30, 2008


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.


Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central