
NHL Network, NHL Center Ice Broadcast All-Star Game Presented By Guardian Wear
January 19, 2009 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release
PRINCETON, N.J. - The ECHL announced that the ECHL All-Star Game presented
by Guardian Wear will be televised live at 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday on
the NHL Network in Canada and on NHL Center Ice.
The game will air on NHL Center Ice at 7 p.m. ET on Channel 785 on
DirecTV, on Channel 626 on Dish Network and on Channel NHL10 on Digital
Cable (channel numbers vary by cable system).
It is the seventh year in a row that the ECHL All-Star Game has been
televised live by the NHL Network, the first national network dedicated
entirely to hockey.
The game will be broadcast on the NHL Network in the United States on Jan.
27 at 2 p.m. ET.
Launched in Canada in 2001 and introduced to America in 2007, the NHL
Network gives viewers unprecedented 24-hour access to the most
comprehensive hockey coverage, both on and off the ice. NHL Network will
broadcast 50 live regular-season games in addition to classic games,
documentaries, instructional shows, highlights and more.
The television broadcast crew is Jack Michaels of the Alaska Aces, veteran
NHL analyst Neil Smith and Adrian Denny of the Utah Grizzlies. Michaels
will be the play-by-play announcer with Smith doing color commentary for
the eighth consecutive year and Denny working ice level where he will
interview players, coaches and representatives from the ECHL and the
National Hockey League.
The Reading Royals, the City of Reading and the Sovereign Center will host
the 17th Annual ECHL All-Star Game on Wednesday at 7 p.m. and the 12th
Annual All-Star Skills Competition on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
The game will be produced by ConCom, Inc. which produced the ECHL All-Star
Games in Peoria in 2004, Reading in 2005, Fresno in 2006 and Idaho in 2007.
Bruce Connal has been producing sporting events for 30 years, including 20
years of doing the NHL for ESPN. Al Connal oversees ConCom, Inc. which last
year produced 75 sporting and entertainment events including Ultimate
Fighting Championships, LPGA Golf and World Cup Skiing.
There have been four coaches and 46 players from the All-Star Game who
have advanced to the National Hockey League. Twenty-nine players from the
All-Star Game have gone on to play in the NHL since 2002 when the lineups
began having players who coaches felt were prospects to move up to a higher
level.
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.
American
Conference roster can be viewed as PDF by clicking here
National
Conference roster can be viewed as PDF by clicking here
Premier âAA' Hockey League Fast Facts
- 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 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.
- 388 former ECHL
players have played in NHL.
- 132 have played their first NHL game in the last four seasons.
- 33 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 Stockton Thunder and ECHL
All-Star right wing Troy
Bodie (Anaheim on Jan. 16), 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 Augusta Lynx defenseman Kevin
Quick (Tampa Bay on Jan. 13), 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 Utah Grizzlies and ECHL All-Star
center Trevor
Smith (New York Islanders on Dec. 31), 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 and
ECHL All-Star 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.
ECHL Stories from January 19, 2009
- Condors Ducks-style Jersey Auction to benefit the Boys and Girls Club of Kern County - Bakersfield Condors
- Korchinski Nets Game Winner For Jackals - Elmira Jackals
- All-Star Game Televised To More Than Thirteen Million - ECHL
- NHL Network, NHL Center Ice Broadcast All-Star Game Presented By Guardian Wear - ECHL
- ECHL Transactions - January 19 - ECHL
- Lineups Announced For Skills Competition Presented By Guardian Wear - ECHL
- McLean Becomes Thirty-Eighth Former Wheeling Player to Make NHL Debut - Wheeling Nailers
- Thunder Sweep Las Vegas, Idaho Heading Into All-Star Break - Stockton Thunder
- Bombers Weekly News - Dayton Bombers
- RoadRunners Take Four Game Split into All-Star Break - Phoenix RoadRunners
- Condors Head into Break with a Win - Bakersfield Condors
- Checkers Jakaitis Called up to Monarchs - Charlotte Checkers
- Royals Fall To Jackals on âKids Day', 3-2 - Reading Royals
- Gladiators Post 2-1 win over Stingrays - Atlanta Gladiators
- Everblades Weekly - Florida Everblades
- Stingrays Battle, but Fall to Gladiators 2-1 - South Carolina Stingrays
- Ryan Gunderson Selected as a Starter for the ECHL All-Star Game - Trenton Devils
- Weekly Arrowhead - Johnstown Chiefs
- Thunder Trades Kyrzakos to Mississippi - Stockton Thunder
- Jeff Kyrzakos Acquired In Trade From Stockton Thunder - Mississippi Sea Wolves
- Devils take three of four games going into the All-Star Break - Trenton Devils
- Sea Wolves Weekly - Mississippi Sea Wolves
- Grizzlies Home Friday, Saturday, Sunday - Utah Grizzlies
- Rays Set New Attedance Record of 10,568 on Saturday - South Carolina Stingrays
- Wheeling Nailers Sign Winger Jason Payne - Wheeling Nailers
- Cyclones Run Winning Streak To Four - Cincinnati Cyclones
- ECHL Today - ECHL
- Gladiators Weekly Update - Atlanta Gladiators
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.
