SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … American Hockey League President and CEO David Andrews announced today that Mike Keane of the Manitoba Moose and Kip Miller of the Grand Rapids Griffins will serve as playing captains for the 2007 Rbk Hockey AHL All-Star Classic in Toronto next month.
Captains for the American Hockey League All-Star teams are selected by the league in recognition of their outstanding service and leadership to the AHL.
Making his first career AHL All-Star Classic appearance, forward Mike Keane has appeared in more than 1,300 games during his 19-year professional career, including 1,161 in the National Hockey League. Keane made his professional debut with the Sherbrooke Canadiens during the 1987 postseason, helping them to the Calder Cup Finals, and later went on to win three Stanley Cup championships with Montreal (1993), Colorado (1996) and Dallas (1999). A Winnipeg native, Keane has recorded four goals and six assists in 31 games for the Moose this season and is tied for the team lead in plus/minus rating (+4). He will captain the Canadian AHL All-Star team.
Kip Miller has played 1,195 professional games over 17 seasons, totaling 398 goals and 706 assists for 1,104 points, and is currently the leading scorer on the Grand Rapids Griffins with 31 points in 30 contests. Miller will be making his first career AHL All-Star Classic appearance; he was voted to the starting lineup in 2002, but missed the event due to NHL recall. Miller, whose NHL career includes 449 games with eight clubs, was named MVP of the 1998 IHL All-Star Game as well as that league’s 1995 Turner Cup Playoffs. A native of Lansing, Mich., and cousin of two-time AHL All-Star Ryan Miller, Kip will captain the PlanetUSA AHL All-Star team.
Previous players honored as AHL All-Star team captains include Eric Healey, Jimmy Roy, Brad Tiley, Craig Darby, Travis Richards, John Slaney, Randy Cunneyworth, Ken Gernander, current NHL head coaches Peter Laviolette and John Stevens and American Hockey League Hall of Famer Jody Gage.
Of the 394 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, Brad Boyes, Daniel Briere, Jonathan Cheechoo, Pavol Demitra, Rick DiPietro, Patrik Elias, Ray Emery, Miikka Kiprusoff, Kari Lehtonen, Ryan Miller, Dwayne Roloson, Marc Savard, Martin St. Louis, Jason Spezza, Eric Staal, Steve Sullivan and Kyle Wellwood.
The 2007 Rbk Hockey AHL All-Star Classic will take place at Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto, home of the AHL’s Marlies. The event features the 2007 CCM AHL All-Star Skills Competition on Sunday, January 28 (7:00 ET) and the 2007 AHL All-Star Game on Monday, January 29 (7:00 ET), and will be televised live on Rogers Sportsnet in Canada and on a network of regional broadcast partners in the United States.
