WINNIPEG, Man. … Goaltender Wade Flaherty of the hometown Manitoba Moose stopped 16 of 19 shots to lead the Canadian AHL All-Stars to a 21-12 victory over the PlanetUSA team at the 2006 CCM AHL All-Star Skills Competition, held in front of 14,738 fans at the MTS Centre here on Tuesday night.
The veteran Flaherty, playing in his first career AHL All-Star Classic, stopped seven of 10 shots in the RepeatSeat Rapid Fire event, then went a perfect 3-for-3 in the Rbk Pass and Score and 6-for-6 in the CCM Vector Breakaway Relay.
Grand Rapids’ Donald MacLean, the AHL’s leading goal-scorer with 32 at the All-Star break, won the CCM Vector Hardest Shot event with a blast clocked at 98.0 miles per hour. Lowell’s Keith Aucoin (PlanetUSA) and Norfolk’s Martin St. Pierre (Canadian) shared the Rbk Accuracy Shooting crown by breaking four targets in eight shots each.
Portland Pirates rookie Ryan Shannon dominated the speed events, earning a point for PlanetUSA by winning the individual InGlasCo Puck Control Relay, then posting a winning time of 14.084 seconds in the Rbk Fastest Skater event. His spin-a-rama goal against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s Dany Sabourin was also one of the highlights of the night.
The Canadians will go for the sweep when the 2006 Rbk Hockey AHL All-Star Classic continues on Wednesday night with the annual AHL All-Star Game. Coverage from Winnipeg begins at 8:00 p.m. ET on Rogers Sportsnet in Canada, a series of regional networks in the United States, and at no charge via B2 Networks’ video webcast on theahl.com.
