All-Star roster changes announced

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … The American Hockey League today announced several roster changes for next week’s 2006 Rbk Hockey AHL All-Star Classic, set for Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg.

Grand Rapids Griffins forward Donald MacLean, Iowa Stars forward Junior Lessard and Hamilton Bulldogs goaltender Yann Danis have been added to the Canadian AHL All-Star roster, while Albany River Rats forward Aleksander Suglobov and Lowell Lock Monsters goaltender Vitaly Kolesnik have been added to the PlanetUSA AHL All-Star roster.

The AHL also announced that Portland’s Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s Tomas Surovy and Michel Ouellet, Iowa’s Matt Greene, Albany’s David Hale and Providence’s Tim Thomas will all miss the event due to recall to the National Hockey League, and Houston’s Josh Harding is out due to injury.

Portland forward Dustin Penner will replace Perry in the Canadian starting lineup.

MacLean, 29, leads the American Hockey League with 29 goals in 43 games for Grand Rapids this season. This will be the second career All-Star Classic appearance for the former AHL scoring champion (2001-02).

Lessard, 25, has a team-leading 14 goals to go along with 13 assists in 29 games for Iowa. The University of Minnesota-Duluth product won the Hobey Baker Award as the top player in U.S. college hockey in 2004.

Danis, 24, has gone 10-11-1 with a 2.63 goals-against average and .913 save percentage in 23 appearances for Hamilton in 2005-06. He was also 3-2-0 in six NHL appearances for Montreal earlier in the year.

Suglobov, 24, was selected to play in the 2004 AHL All-Star Classic but missed the event due to injury. He has 15 goals and 15 assists for a team-leading 30 points in 34 games for Albany this season.

Kolesnik, 26, ranks sixth in the AHL with a .919 save percentage to go with his 2.77 GAA and 13-11-0 record in 25 games for Lowell. He made his NHL debut with Colorado last month and went 3-3-0 in seven games.

The 2006 Rbk Hockey AHL All-Star Classic will take place at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, home of the AHL’s Manitoba Moose, and will feature the top young talent in the American Hockey League. The event gets underway on Tuesday, January 31, with the 2006 CCM AHL All-Star Skills Competition at 7:00 p.m. (CT), and concludes with the annual All-Star Game at 7:00 p.m. (CT) on Wednesday, February 1.

The 2006 Rbk Hockey AHL All-Star Classic will be televised on Rogers Sportsnet in Canada and on a series of regional cable networks in the United States. It will also be offered at no charge on B2 Networks’ broadband video webcast at theahl.com.