Dafoe, Daneyko to be honorary captains

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … The American Hockey League announced today that Byron Dafoe and Ken Daneyko will serve as the honorary captains at the 2010 Time Warner Cable AHL All-Star Classic, to be held January 18-19 at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland, Maine.

Byron Dafoe played parts of four seasons in the American Hockey League with the Portland Pirates, Baltimore Skipjacks and New Haven Nighthawks. In 1993-94, Dafoe was named a First Team AHL All-Star and shared the Harry “Hap” Holmes Award for team goaltending with Olaf Kolzig, helping backstop Portland to a Calder Cup championship. Dafoe went on to play 12 seasons in the National Hockey League with Washington, Los Angeles, Boston and Atlanta, winning 171 games and recording 26 shutouts. He was inducted into the Portland Pirates Hall of Fame in 1999.

Ken Daneyko spent his rookie professional season in Portland skating for the American Hockey League’s Maine Mariners in 1984-85, compiling four goals, nine assists and 204 penalty minutes in 80 games. After another 21-game stint with Maine the following year, Daneyko would spend the next 18 seasons with the New Jersey Devils, becoming the franchise’s all-time leader with 1,283 games played. The rugged defenseman won three Stanley Cups in New Jersey and was the recipient of the Bill Masterton Trophy in 1999-2000 as the NHL player best exemplifying the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.

Dafoe and Daneyko will serve as the honorary team captains for the 2010 Time Warner Cable AHL All-Star Classic. Previous honorary captains have included 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.

The 2010 Time Warner Cable AHL All-Star Classic will feature the 2010 AHL All-Star Skills Competition on Monday, January 18 (8:00 p.m. ET) and the 2010 AHL All-Star Game on Tuesday, January 19 (6:00 p.m. ET), and will be televised live nationally in the United States and Canada.

Tickets for the 2010 Time Warner Cable AHL All-Star Classic – which include admission to both the Skills Competition and the AHL All-Star Game as well as an official commemorative All-Star Classic event program – are $49 (rows 1-12 in all sections) and $42 (rows 13-24 in all sections). To purchase tickets call (207) 775-3458, visit the Cumberland County Civic Center Box Office or go on-line at portlandpirates.com.

Of the 488 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, Brad Boyes, Dan Boyle, Danny Briere, Brian Campbell, Zdeno Chara, Rick DiPietro, Miikka Kiprusoff, Kari Lehtonen, Ryan Miller, Zach Parise, Bobby Ryan, Martin St. Louis, Jason Spezza, Eric Staal and Tomas Vokoun.