ECHL Idaho Steelheads

Three Steelheads Named All-Stars

Published on December 21, 2007 under ECHL (ECHL)
Idaho Steelheads News Release


PRINCETON, NJ - The ECHL on Friday announced the starting lineup and roster of the National Conference for the 2008 Chase Chevrolet ECHL All-Star Game presented by Jackson Rancheria and Bud Light, and three Idaho Steelheads have been named to the team.

It is the second straight year that veteran Idaho defenseman Darrell Hay has been voted as a starter and it will be the second consecutive appearance for Idaho forward Greg Rallo, who was named as a replacement player and registered an assist a year ago. Rallo leads Idaho with 29 points (14g-15a) in 25 games while Hay has 16 points (5g-11a) in 26 games. It will be the first All-Star Game for Steelheads rookie goaltender Kellen Briggs, who is 5-4-1 with a shutout and ranks second in the ECHL with a goals-against average of 1.87 and fifth with a save percentage of .928.

Hosted by the Stockton Thunder and the City of Stockton at Stockton Arena, the 2008 Chase Chevrolet ECHL All-Star Game presented by Jackson Rancheria and Bud Light will be played on Jan. 23 with the 11th edition of the Chase Chevrolet ECHL All-Star Game Skills Competition being held on Jan. 22.

There are 12 rookies on the National Conference and only four of the 21 players have ever been selected to an ECHL All-Star Game.

National Conference Starters

G - Julien Ellis, Victoria (13 gp, 9-2-1, 1 shutout, 2.89 GAA, .920 save pct.)

D - Darrell Hay, Idaho (26 gp, 5g, 11a, 16 pts)

D - Bryan Miller, Alaska (24 gp, 5g, 13a, 18 pts)

F - Ash Goldie, Victoria (24 gp, 15g, 13a, 28 pts)

F - Peter Ferraro, Las Vegas (24 gp, 13g, 18a, 31 pts)

F - Greg Rallo, Idaho (25 gp, 14g, 15a, 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.

ECHL

Celebrating its 20th Anniversary in 2007-08, the ECHL is the Premier 'AA' Hockey League and 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 25 teams playing 900 games in 17 states and British Columbia in 2007-08.

The league officially changed its name to ECHL on May 19, 2003.

The ECHL has affiliations with 26 of the 30 teams in the NHL in 2007-08, marking the 11th consecutive season that the league has had affiliations with at least 20 teams in the NHL.

There have been 337 former ECHL players who have gone on to play in the NHL after playing in the ECHL, including a record 47 in 2005-06 and 26 in 2006-07. There have been 192 former ECHL players who have played their first game in the NHL in the past five seasons.

There are 15 coaches in the NHL who have ECHL experience including former Wheeling coach Peter Laviolette, who is head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes, and former Mississippi coach Bruce Boudreau, who is interim head coach of the Washington Capitals.

The ECHL is represented for the seventh consecutive year on the National Hockey League championship team in 2007 with Anaheim assistant coach Dave Farrish, players Francois Beauchemin and George Parros and broadcasters John Ahlers and Steve Carroll.

The ECHL has affiliations with 26 of the 29 teams in the American Hockey League in 2007-08 and for the past 18 years there has been an ECHL player on the Calder Cup champion.

In each of the last two seasons there have been more than 225 players who have played in both the ECHL and the AHL and there were over 800 call-ups involving more than 500 players.

In the last five 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 Idaho Steelheads Statistics

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



ECHL Stories from December 21, 2007


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.

OurSports Central