BINGHAMTON, N.Y. … American Hockey League President and CEO David Andrews has announced that the Binghamton Senators and the city of Binghamton have been awarded the 2008 AHL All-Star Classic.
The announcement was made this evening at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena in Binghamton.
“The American Hockey League is excited to be bringing its premier event to Binghamton, a city with a rich tradition of AHL excellence,” said Andrews. “The 2008 AHL All-Star Classic will again be a showcase of our sport’s very best young professional players, as well as a celebration of the American Hockey League and its storied history. We’re proud to be working with the Senators to host this event in Broome County.”
The Broome County Arena and the city of Binghamton will be hosting their 26th season of AHL hockey in 2007-08. This will be their first AHL All-Star event.
“It is indeed a privilege for us to partner with the AHL in hosting the 2008 All-Star Classic and to showcase the best young players in the world,” said Tom Mitchell, executive vice president of operations for the Binghamton Senators. “We’re also excited to be able to bring tremendous national and international exposure to our community.”
Joining Andrews and Mitchell for the announcement were New York state senator Thomas W. Libous, Broome County executive Barbara Fiala and Binghamton mayor Matthew Ryan. Also unveiled at the press conference was the event logo, which can be viewed on theahl.com.
The 2008 AHL All-Star Classic 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. Of the 427 players to take part in the AHL All-Star Classic since 1995, more than 92 percent have competed in the National Hockey League, including Patrice Bergeron, Pavol Demitra, Rick DiPietro, Patrik Elias, Miikka Kiprusoff, Kari Lehtonen, Ryan Miller, Martin St. Louis, Eric Staal and Steve Sullivan, as well as current Ottawa Senators Jason Spezza, Ray Emery, Anton Volchenkov and Joe Corvo, and current B-Senators Josh Hennessy, Ryan Vesce and Jamie Allison.
The 2007 Rbk Hockey AHL All-Star Classic took place last month in Toronto, and was broadcast to more than 100 million homes on Rogers Sportsnet across Canada and on 21 regional AHL television partners in the United States.
Dates for the 2008 event have not yet been determined.
