(apologies if that song gets stuck in your head for the rest of the day…)
Before I get into the All Star rosters…the blog officially turned 1 yesterday! The one 2011 New Year resolution that I actually kept up with…thank you to the readership!
Okay now to the business at hand…about 2 hours ago the AHL announced the All Star rosters for both the Eastern and Western Conferences. Unlike recent years, the selections were not based on fan voting (that comes later, I’ll explain) but more or less on merit (my assumption anyway). Here they are:
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Goaltenders
Michael Leighton (Adirondack)
Tyson Sexsmith (Worcester)
Jeff Zatkoff (Manchester)
Forwards
Cam Atkinson (Springfield)
Keith Aucoin (Hershey)
Jonathan Audy-Marchessault (Connecticut)
Chris Bourque (Hershey)
Carter Camper (Providence)
Cory Conacher (Norfolk)
Boyd Kane (Hershey; captain)
Corey Locke (Binghamton)
Colin McDonald (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton)
Andy Miele (Portland)
Kyle Palmieri (Syracuse)
Trevor Smith (Norfolk)
Mats Zuccarello (Connecticut)
Defensemen
Mark Barberio (Norfolk)
Calvin de Haan (Bridgeport)
Simon Despres (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton)
Thomas Hickey (Manchester)
Matt Irwin (Worcester)
Paul Postma (St. John’s)
Zach Redmond (St. John’s)
Matt Taormina (Albany)
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Goaltenders
Yann Danis (Oklahoma City)
Cedrick Desjardins (Lake Erie)
Matt Hackett (Houston)
Forwards
Joe Colborne (Toronto)
Philippe Cornet (Oklahoma City)
Jon DiSalvatore (Houston)
Matt Fraser (Texas)
Darren Haydar (Chicago; captain)
T.J. Hensick (Peoria)
Nazem Kadri (Toronto)
Krys Kolanos (Abbotsford)
Jon Matsumoto (Charlotte)
Chris Mueller (Milwaukee)
Gustav Nyquist (Grand Rapids)
Brandon Pirri (Rockford)
Jerome Samson (Charlotte)
Defensemen
Kevin Connauton (Chicago)
Ryan Ellis (Milwaukee)
Cade Fairchild (Peoria)
Brayden McNabb (Rochester)
Alex Plante (Oklahoma City)
Colby Robak (San Antonio)
Frederic St. Denis (Hamilton)
Clay Wilson (Abbotsford)
A little surprised to see Matt Taormina get the selection. Don’t get me wrong he was having a good season here before being recalled to New Jersey…I figured one of the top 3 scorers (Steve Zalewski, Matt Anderson or Joe Whitney) would be the one to get the nod.
Starting tomorrow through the 23rd, fans can go on the AHL website and place their votes for who should make the starting lineup on January 30th at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall.
Now for some other news:
-Three roster moves to report:
On Monday goaltender Timo Pielmeier was reassigned to Elmira, which all but means Jeff Frazee is back from injury. I would assume he gets in over the weekend in Norfolk.
Today two forwards swapped roster spots…Myles Stoesz was loaned to Trenton, while J.S. Berube was recalled. Stoesz has been out of the lineup since his fight/suspension in Toronto December 10th. Berube last appeared on November 13th, then was sent to Trenton 10 days later.
Then just announced…Steve Zalewski was recalled to New Jersey. Travis Zajac is day to day with some Achilles soreness, my guess is he’ll be filling in till he returns. Definitely a well deserved callup for Zeus.
Thoughts Inside The Box 