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Warschaw, McDevitt, Hamilton Named Officials For ECHL All-Star Game Presented By Guardian Wear

Published on January 8, 2009 under ECHL (ECHL) News Release


PRINCETON, N.J. - The ECHL announced that Shane Warschaw has been selected as the referee and Mike McDevitt and Mike Hamilton have been chosen to be the linesmen for the 2009 ECHL All-Star Game presented by Guardian Wear.

"It is an honor to be selected to work an All-Star game in any League. I can still recall my NHL All-Star Game in Los Angeles in 1981," said ECHL Director of Officiating Bryan Lewis. "The officials of the ECHL are to be commended for their hard work and dedication in a tough and arduous profession. Shane, Mike and Michael have earned this honor and on behalf of the ECHL Officiating Management Team and their peers we offer our sincere congratulations on their assignment to the All-Star Game."

Warschaw is in his third full season as a full-time official in the ECHL and he has worked more than 150 regular season games while also working in the Central Hockey League and the Southern Professional Hockey League. He spent three years in the USA Hockey Junior Developmental Program and 2008 was selected to work for a month in the Asian Professional Hockey League. He played hockey and received his bachelor's degree in business administration with a minor in sports management and finance and his master's degree in organizational management in business from New England College.

McDevitt began officiating professional hockey in 1993-94 and has worked more than 900 regular season games in the ECHL and the American Hockey League while also working the Kelly Cup Playoffs and the Calder Cup Playoffs. He was a linesman in the 2002 International Ice Hockey Federation Under-20 World Championship and the Winter World University Games in 2000. McDevitt worked as a linesman for the 1999 Three Nations Under-20 Tournament and has been a referee in the Asian Professional Hockey League since 2004. He is an instructor at USA Hockey's officiating camps where one of his students was All-Star referee Shane Warschaw.

Hamilton, who began officiating when he was 14 years old in Uxbridge, Ontario, is in his third season in the ECHL after spending one year in the USA Hockey Developmental Program. He has worked more than 200 regular season games and the Kelly Cup Playoffs including the Finals in 2008.

Brian Pochmara and Justin St. Pierre, who worked the All-Star Game in 2002 and 2001, respectively, are both working as referees in the National Hockey League while Brian Mach, who worked the All-Star Game in 1999, works as a linesman in the NHL. Jeff Smith and Ian Walsh, who worked the All-Star Game in 1998 and 1997, respectively, also went on to work in the NHL.

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.

Seven of the nine full-time officials working in the American Hockey League and three of the six officials contracted to the NHL who are working in the AHL came from the ECHL while seven current ECHL officials have worked games in the AHL this season.

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.

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 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.
- 386 former ECHL players have played in NHL.
- 130 have played their first NHL game in the last four seasons.
- 31 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 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.

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