Kolzig, Kypreos to be honorary captains

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … The American Hockey League announced today that Olaf Kolzig and Nick Kypreos will serve as the honorary captains at the 2011 AHL All-Star Classic presented by Capital BlueCross, to be held January 30-31 at Giant Center in Hershey, Pa.

Olaf Kolzig played parts of six seasons in the American Hockey League after being drafted by the Washington Capitals in 1989. He backstopped the Rochester Americans to the Calder Cup Finals in 1993, and then won the championship with the Portland Pirates in 1994 when he was named the MVP of the Calder Cup Playoffs. Kolzig went on to play 719 games over 17 years in the National Hockey League, capturing the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s outstanding goaltender in 1999-2000 and the King Clancy Trophy for his humanitarian service in 2005-06. He was also a two-time member of Germany’s Olympic hockey team (1998, 2006).

Nick Kypreos began his professional career with the AHL’s Hershey Bears, putting up 24 goals, 20 assists and 101 penalty minutes for the Calder Cup champions as a rookie in 1987-88. Kypreos would play 442 games in the National Hockey League with Washington, Hartford, the New York Rangers and Toronto, and was a member of the Rangers’ Stanley Cup championship team in 1994. Kypreos now serves as a hockey analyst for Rogers Sportsnet.

Previous honorary captains at the AHL All-Star Classic have included Ken Daneyko, Byron Dafoe, Gerry Cheevers, Ron Hextall, Ken Holland, Larry Pleau, Adam Oates, Steve Thomas, John Ferguson, Ab McDonald, Marcel Dionne, Dave Taylor, Adam Graves, Joe Kocur, Kevin Dineen, Gordie Clark, Lanny McDonald, Darryl Sittler, Don Cherry, Bill Dineen, Jim Craig and Al MacNeil.

Tickets for the 2011 AHL All-Star Classic presented by Capital BlueCross – which include admission to both the 2011 AHL All-Star Skills Competition at 3 p.m. on Sunday, January 30, and the 2011 AHL All-Star Game at 7 p.m. on Monday, January 31 – are nearly sold out. Tickets remain available for the 2011 AHL Hall of Fame Induction & Awards Ceremony (January 31, 11 a.m.) and the Post-Skills Party (January 30, 6 p.m.). Contact the Giant Center box office at (717) 534-3911 for information.

The 2011 AHL All-Star Classic presented by Capital BlueCross in Hershey will feature the top young talent in the American Hockey League, competing in the AHL All-Star Skills Competition and the AHL All-Star Game, a two-day event to be televised nationally in the United States and Canada. Of the 528 players to take part in the AHL All-Star Classic since 1995, more than 93 percent have competed in the National Hockey League, including Patrice Bergeron, Dan Boyle, Daniel Briere, Dustin Byfuglien, Brian Campbell, Zdeno Chara, Eric Fehr, Miikka Kiprusoff, Kari Lehtonen, Ryan Miller, Zach Parise, Bobby Ryan, Martin St. Louis, Jason Spezza, Eric Staal and Tomas Vokoun.