PHPA Press Releases
Canadians Rally Late For AHL All-Star Classic Win
By Published on: Friday January 15, 2010
(Portland, Maine) After an 18-12 win in Monday’s Skills Competition, the Canadian AHL All-Stars completed a sweep of the 2010 Time Warner Cable AHL All-Star Classic with a come-from-behind 10-9 shootout win over PlanetUSA in the 2010 AHL All-Star Game at the Cumberland County Civic Center.
Rookie Tyler Ennis of the hometown Portland Pirates was selected the game’s most valuable player, notching a goal and two assists for the Canadians.
The Canadians were down by four goals when the Worcester Sharks’ Logan Couture began the comeback at 7:48 of the third period. The Binghamton Senators’ Ryan Keller collected his second goal of the night at 12:30 and Dustin Jeffrey of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins cut the deficit to 9-8 at the 14:41 mark. Then, with their goaltender pulled for an extra attacker, the Canadian squad evened the score when reigning league MVP Alexandre Giroux of the Hershey Bears banged home a shot with 18.0 seconds remaining.
Couture and Hamilton Bulldogs rookie P.K. Subban scored in the shootout while Hamilton’s Cedrick Desjardins stopped four of five PlanetUSA attempts to seal the win, establishing the largest third-period comeback in AHL All-Star Game history.
PlanetUSA’s offense was led by Brett Sterling of the Chicago Wolves, Mikko Lehtonen of the Providence Bruins and Sergei Shirokov of the Manitoba Moose with two goals apiece.
Corey Locke of the Hartford Wolf Pack picked up an assist for the Canadian side to set a league record with his ninth career All-Star point.
2010 Canadian AHL All-Star Team
Goaltenders
- Jonathan Bernier (Manchester)
- Cedrick Desjardins (Hamilton)
- Justin Peters (Albany)
Defensemen
- Nolan Baumgartner (Manitoba)
- Tyler Eckford (Lowell)
- Keaton Ellerby (Rochester)
- Danny Groulx (Worcester)
- Dustin Kohn (Bridgeport)
- Maxim Noreau (Houston)
- Bryan Rodney (Albany)
- PK Subban (Hamilton)
Forwards
- Logan Couture (Worcester)
- Tyler Ennis (Portland)
- Alexandre Giroulx (Hershey)
- Andrew Gordon (Hershey)
- Jason Jaffray (Abbotsford)
- Dustin Jeffrey (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton)
- Blair Jones (Norfolk)
- Ryan Keller (Binghamton)
- Charles Linglet (Springfield)
- Corey Locke (Hartford)
- Jon Matsumoto (Adirondack)
- Cal O’Reilly (Milwaukee)
- Martin St.Pierre (Binghamton)
Among the 24-man roster for the PlanetUSA team, comprising players born outside of Canada, are 18 first-time AHL All-Stars, including 2009 AHL rookie of the year Nathan Gerbe of the host Portland Pirates, who missed last year’s event due to injury.
The PlanetUSA club features five former first-round NHL draft picks: Lars Eller of the Peoria Rivermen, Jack Skille of the Rockford IceHogs, John Carlson of the Hershey Bears, Bobby Sanguinetti of the Hartford Wolf Pack and Ivan Vishnevskiy of the Texas Stars. Rochester’s Graham Mink will make his All-Star debut and serve as PlanetUSA captain. Manchester Monarchs head coach Mark Morris and assistant Scott Pellerin will lead the PlanetUSA team because the Monarchs owned the AHL’s second-best points percentage (behind the defending champion Hershey Bears) at the end of play on Dec. 27.
2010 PlanetUSA AHL All-Star Team
Goaltenders
- Anton Khudobin (Houston)
- Alexander Salak (Rochester)
- Alex Stalock (Worcester)
Defencemen
- John Carlson (Hershey)
- Jonas Junland (Peoria)
- Bobby Sanguinetti (Hartford)
- Sean Sullivan (San Antonio)
- Ivan Vishevskiy (Texas)
- Viatcheslav Voynov (Manchester)
- Mike Weber (Portland)
- Andy Wozniewski (Providence)
Forwards
- Keith Aucoin (Hershey)
- Mark Cullen (Rockford)
- Lars Eller (Peoria)
- Dan Fritsche (Syracuse)
- Nathan Gerbe (Portland)
- Christian Hanson (Toronto)
- T.J. Hensick (Lake Erie)
- Mikko Lehtonen (Providence)
- Graham Mink (Rochester)
- Patrick Rissmiller (Grand Rapids)
- Sergei Shirokov (Manitoba)
- Jack Skille (Rockford)
- Brett Sterling (Chicago)
Since 1995, more than 94 percent of all players to take part in the AHL All-Star Classic have competed in the National Hockey League. Thirty-seven former AHL All-Stars were selected to participate in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver next month, including Patrice Bergeron, Dustin Brown, Ryan Callahan, Zdeno Chara, Ryan Miller, Zach Parise and Eric Staal.
The road to the 2010 Calder Cup Playoffs continues when the American Hockey League’s 74th season resumes on Friday.
