| 2005 NAHL AllStar Festival |
|
| NAHL
ANNOUNCES FIRST ALL-STAR FESTIVAL SET FOR FRISCO, TX, FEB. 7-8, 2005 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. 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. 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 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. 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 NAHL NAMES ALL-STAR TEAM TO FACE TEXAS TORNADO The North American Hockey League is proud to announce the team of All-Stars who will challenge the Junior A National Champion Texas Tornado as part of the NAHL’s All-Star Festival in February. The All-Star Team was selected by the coaches of the NAHL and includes a representative from each NAHL club, with the exception of the USA National Team Development Program, whose two teams are both scheduled to be out of the country during this time. “We wish to congratulate all our All-Stars and the All-Star coaches and staff,” said NAHL commissioner Michael Santos. “Narrowing this team down to 21 players was a difficult task and many other fine players could very easily have been included. When this team takes the ice against the Tornado, we are assured of having a thrilling All-Star Game.” The NAHL All-Star Team will be backstopped by three of the leading netminders in the league at the season’s mid-point -- ANDREW STRICKER of Fargo-Moorhead, JASON KEARNY of the Soo and RILEY GILL of Texarkana. These three along with Ben Bishop of the Tornado are the league’s top four in goals against average. The defense corps features some of the NAHL’s standout blueliners. SEAN ERICKSON of the Springfield Spirit and CLAY REHM of Bismarck are currently tied for fifth among all defensemen in scoring. BRYAN PLASZCZ of Santa Fe is tied for eighth and MIKE MAYRA of Billings is tied for 14th. The other two defensemen, MATT SHOUNEYIA of Cleveland and MARK ZARBO of Youngstown, are outstanding all-around defenders who are team leaders on their clubs. With the high-scoring Tornado having four of the top six point producers in the league -- Brad Cooper, Tom Train, Karl Sellan and Nick Mazzolini -- the All-Star Game will boast seven of the league’s top 10 scorers. The All-Stars will counter Texas’ firepower with the likes of PAT LEE of the Springfield Jr. Blues, who is the league’s second leading scorer and second in goals. RYAN HAWKINS of Minnesota is tied for third in scoring and is second in assists. BRANDON MARINO of Helena is tied for seventh in scoring. Also among the NAHL’s top 25 scorers on the All-Stars is PAT GALIVAN of Texarkana. The other All-Star forwards who will test the league-leading Tornado defense include BILL LEAHY of Bozeman, who is second in team assists and tied for second in team scoring and power play goals. NICK LARSON leads Central Texas in assists and is tied for the team scoring lead. JOHN GOEBEL of Cleveland leads his team in goals, is second is team scoring and is tied for second in the NAHL for shorthanded goals. MIKE PHILLIPICH of Fairbanks is second in team scoring and leads his team in power play goals. DAIN PREWITT of Fargo-Moorhead is tied for the team lead in game-winning goals. ERIC GIOSA of Toledo is tied for the team lead in scoring. KYLE KRAMER of Wichita Falls leads his team in goals and game-winning goals. KYLE LAUGHLIN of Youngstown, a excellent all-around performer, has a penchant for clutch goals and team leadership. The All-Stars will be coached by Youngstown’s BOB MAINHARDT and Fargo-Moorhead’s TODD KNOTT, who have piloted their teams to first place in the North and West Divisions respectively at the season’s mid-point. They will match wits with Texas coach Tony Curtale, who was last season’s NAHL Coach of the Year. JASON DODD of Wichita Falls was named the All-Star athletic trainer and MARK KULP of the Springfield Spirit was named All-Star equipment manager. ALL-STARS DOWN TORNADO IN WELL-PLAYED CONTEST In a highly competitive, fast paced game that featured both great skill and hard physical play, the NAHL All-Stars defeated the National Champion Texas Tornado at the NAHL All-Star Game in Frisco, Texas on Tuesday evening by a score of 3-1. The game was played before a crowd of 2,800 fans, including various NHL celebrities, college and professional scouts. The highlights began before the first puck was dropped after both teams were introduced to the crowd when two 1980 Lake Placid hockey Gold Medal Olympians, Ken Morrow and Neal Broten, received an enthusiastic welcome from the crowd as honorary captains for the evening. This month marks the 25th anniversary of the Miracle on Ice team. The game featured outstanding goaltending at both ends. The All-Star Game MVP was Soo Indians goaltender Jason Kearny, who shut out the Tornado in the second period, smothering a fifteen chances, many in difficult fashion, including stopping a 5-on-3 power play toward the end of the period. The second star of the game was Helena Bighorns forward Brandon Marino, who scored a shorthanded breakaway tally at the end of the second period that turned out to be the game winner. The game's third star was Fargo-Moorhead Jets goalie Andrew Stricker, who shut out the Tornado in the first period with some acrobatic goaltending. The league also selected a Tornado MVP and it was their lone goal scorer, Billy Skwarczewski, Kearny and Skwarczewski were presented with leather jackets by Pat Lovett of Sher-wood, the NAHL's official equipment supply company. A number of NHL dignitaries were introduced to the crowd during the first intermission. Brett Hull, Rob Blake, Nelson Emerson, Glen Murray, Brendan Morrow, Guy Carbonneau, Craig Ludwig, Craig Laughlin, Kelly Chase, Dave Tippett and Doug Armstrong all waved to the crowd from center ice. |