Twenty years later, 2005 All-Star event still a classic

Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer

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After taking office in July 1994, incoming American Hockey League President and CEO Dave Andrews crossed off one major item on a long to-do list: He revived the AHL All-Star Classic, creating a midseason showcase that had been dormant since 1959-60.

By 2005, the new annual tradition had become a much-anticipated date on the AHL schedule. On Feb. 13-14, the league’s top players and coaches were set to convene at Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, N.H.

A new building in a new market and home to one of the AHL’s top-drawing teams – a perfect showcase for the AHL.

But the 2005 AHL All-Star Classic came with a major wrinkle. The NHL was in the midst of what would become a season-long lockout and determined that, in order to continue their development, prospects would be permitted to sign AHL contracts with their affiliate clubs and play while the work stoppage was ongoing.

In a normal year, AHL rosters are filled with the best young talent in hockey outside of the NHL. But the lockout – combined with the turning pro of an NHL draft class (2003) considered one of the deepest ever – provided the AHL with an even more impressive pool of players.

And that talent was no more evident than during the All-Star Classic, which pitted the Canadian All-Star team (players born in Canada) against the PlanetUSA All-Star team (players from the rest of the world). Names like Jay Bouwmeester and Dan Hamhuis on the Canadian blue line. Up front? Patrice Bergeron, Mike Cammalleri, Patrick Sharp, Jason Spezza and Eric Staal. For PlanetUSA, how about Kari Lehtonen, Ryan Miller and Antero Niittymaki in net? Niklas Kronwall, Keith Ballard and Anton Volchenkov on defense. A group of forwards that featured the likes of future NHL stars Dustin Brown, Ryan Kesler, Mikko Koivu, Zach Parise and Tomas Plekanec.

The AHL had the hockey world’s attention on that Monday evening two decades ago. The game was televised across Canada and the United States, with Sportsnet’s Kevin Quinn, Ray Ferraro and Peter Loubardias on the call. Marcel Dionne, Dave Taylor and Larry Robinson were on hand as honorees.

Twenty years later, the memories of that time in Manchester quickly come back to the event’s participants. After long careers, they have found new callings. Coaching at a variety of levels has been a common destination for many of them. Management, too. Some have worked in television. One is even a mayor.

They took time to speak to TheAHL.com and share those memories from the 2005 AHL All-Star Game.

THE BUILD-UP

The second overall pick in the 2001 NHL Draft, Jason Spezza – today the general manager of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins – made his pro debut with the Grand Rapids Griffins during the 2002 Calder Cup Playoffs, then split his rookie pro season between Ottawa and Binghamton. In 2003-04, as a 20-year-old, he scored 22 goals in 78 games for Ottawa.

Spezza: “I was excited to be able to still be playing. I think as a young player you never want to stop playing, and with the lockout that causes uncertainty. I was unsure if I was going to go to Europe or not, and then once [Ottawa Senators general manager] John Muckler told me that the AHL was an option, I was excited to go there. It ended up being really the core of my friendship group and guys that I played with for a long time were established that year. I was looking to just make the most of the year.”

After six seasons bouncing around the IHL and Finland, Eric Perrin joined his former University of Vermont teammate Martin St. Louis in Tampa Bay in 2003-04 and won a Stanley Cup championship. He would be the Hershey Bears’ leading scorer in 2004-05.

Perrin: “It was a special season. Really, you didn’t know what to expect at that time because there were whispers guys were going to go overseas and play and go make some money there during the lockout. But then there was a lot of talk, too, of NHL teams wanting their young guys to stay and play North American hockey and stay in shape.

“A lot of the guys were sticking around and I just thought this was going to be an awesome experience for everybody.”

Referee Terry Koharski broke into the league as a linesman in 1986, but he was in just his third season as a referee. The 2005 event would be his first of two career AHL All-Star assignments.

Koharski: “The more it sunk in, and the closer the game got, it’s just more, ‘I’m stepping on the ice with these guys that are going to be top players in the National Hockey League.’ Just to get that assignment was head and shoulders above anything… it was one of the highlights of my career.

“They’re all good people. They’re fun, and they’re starting their careers. It was awesome.”

FIRST PERIOD

Verizon Wireless Arena, a beautiful 10,000-seat building that opened in 2001, is packed. Purple-and-gold Monarchs jerseys dot the stands just as they do each night through the regular season. The Monarchs are one of the league’s elite teams with a 35-10-3-3 record at the All-Star break, on their way to 51 wins and 110 points.

Koharski: “Manchester, every night, you’re getting 9,000 people back in the day. Ten thousand on a Friday, Saturday night there. And it was a good hockey town. Great building. Great off-ice crew. I lived there, so that was even better.”

Bruce Boudreau was in his sixth season coaching the Los Angeles Kings’ affiliate, his fourth in Manchester. As his team had the league’s best record, Boudreau was tapped to coach the PlanetUSA All-Star team.

Boudreau: “I took a lot of pride because I was coaching the Monarchs. The amount of good players that were in that game was pretty incredible. Manchester is a great hockey town. I mean, the whole New England area loves hockey as much as anybody. The building was state-of-the-art.”

Perrin: “It was great energy. I remember having my whole family, my mom and dad. It was just a great weekend all-around with all the events Everything was family-oriented.”

Koharski worked the game with linesmen John Costello and Luke Galvin.

Koharski: “They’re announcing our names. We’re nobody. We’re the three officials who were sitting in the back of the room. Just to be recognized that we’re doing that game, and you’ve got all those scouts there, and then the players and everybody else, the ownership and all that. We’re with these guys that are going to be NHL stars and Hall of Famers. The whole atmosphere, the whole weekend, was… I don’t know if you want to say in awe, but it was.”

Boudreau had a chance to coach his Monarchs forward Dustin Brown, a future Los Angeles Kings captain, that night.

Boudreau: “He was only 20 at the time, but he was amazing. As a person, Dustin Brown was great., and as a player that threw body checks, as a guy that went to the net and played the right way, you knew he was going to be a star. And not necessarily a superstar, but I mean a star player because he had the right attitude toward everything, and he was a real pleasure to coach.”

The Canadian AHL All-Stars open the scoring with redirection from the St. John’s Maple Leafs’ Kyle Wellwood at 7:09. Three goals follow in a span of 4:56 from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s Michel Ouellet, Perrin, and Norfolk’s Rene Bourque as Canada builds a 4-0 lead. Providence’s Patrice Bergeron already has two assists and Hartford’s Jason LaBarbera handles 11 shots.

The format of the game – players born in Canada against players from the rest of the world – means regular-season teammates could find themselves on opposite sides of the ice. PlanetUSA forward Brandon Bochenski found himself up against Spezza, his linemate in Binghamton.

Bochenski: “It was great playing together all year, and then you have a little bit of fun and you get to go after each other a little bit like that. It was enjoyable on both sides.”

Late in the first period, Spezza holds up Albany’s Zach Parise and Koharski makes the call, an all-star rarity that leaves Spezza with a grin on his way to the penalty box. Spezza, who happens to be mic’d up for television, does an interview from the penalty box, saying, “I like leading the league in any category, and if it’s penalty minutes in the All-Star Game, I’ll take it.”

Koharski: “He’s chirping me in the box. Funny story, after the game he gave me two sticks signed in the locker room. So it just tells you the class of these guys and the pros they are.”

Canadian AHL All-Star head coach Claude Noel, who had guided the Milwaukee Admirals to a Calder Cup championship the previous season, has to come up with a penalty-killing unit quickly. Perrin ends up producing a shorthanded goal, taking a pass from Philadelphia’s Patrick Sharp before batting in his own rebound.

Perrin: “So we are shorthanded, and I was sent out with Patrick Sharp, which was pretty cool because Sharpie and I were both University of Vermont guys. We didn’t go at the same time, but we had that connection there with that because we trained in the summer, and so that was cool to be out there with him.”

Boudreau, however, is not a happy coach with PlanetUSA down by four. Long-time Kings player and executive Dave Taylor was serving as one of the honorary captains for the event.

Boudreau: “Dave Taylor came in the room after the period with my coaches, and he told me it was the first time he’d ever seen a coach go nuts in an All-Star game. I was legitimately mad because we were getting beat pretty bad in our own building.”

SECOND PERIOD

Whatever Boudreau said evidently worked.

Boudreau: “I think I did sit a couple players because they weren’t playing well. I was taking the game way too serious, maybe. You get a guy like Mikko Koivu, you ask people that know what he’s like. ‘Oh, he’s a great defensive centerman.’ OK, then he could be my third-line shutdown center even in an all-star game. I was doing my best to try to win the game.”

Tomas Plekanec of the Hamilton Bulldogs greeted the new Canadian goaltender, Grand Rapids’ Joey MacDonald, 3:34 into the period. Providence’s Andy Hilbert makes it 4-2, and Bochenski follows as MacDonald is pelted with 20 shots in the frame.

It’s a one-goal game now.

Bochenski, a rookie in 2004-05, put up 138 goals and 276 points in 256 AHL games. That season with Spezza produced nightly offense, with the duo combining for 187 points. The AHL All-Star Game provided a chance to view each other from an opponent’s perspective.

Bochenski: “Spezza was really known for his passing and his vision on the ice, so he was an absolute pleasure to play with. Me coming in as a more of a goal scorer, it just gave me so many opportunities to use my talent.”

Spezza: “Bo was my guy. He was my winger, and he was a guy that I really love playing with. A different, unique style of skater and player, but amazing shot, knew how to score, had a nose for the net, and just a really good hockey player who I had really good chemistry with.”

A Minnesota native, Bochenski starred at the University of North Dakota before a 14-year pro career. He returned to Grand Forks, N.D., after he retired and in 2020 was elected mayor, defeating the five-term incumbent.

THIRD PERIOD

Koivu, the 21-year-old Houston Aeros rookie, finishes off a feed from Edmonton’s Tony Salmelainen for PlanetUSA with 11:18 to go in regulation. Make it 4-4.

Bochenski: “The intensity was definitely higher than your normal all-star game. I don’t think there was a lot of hitting… but it was certainly competitive. We had friends on each team, and you didn’t want to lose to them. But the competitiveness certainly was there.”

The intensity is picking up as the game moves along. Koharski and the rest of the building can sense that. But so is the fun.

Koharski: “It’s just, don’t trip over the blue line. Just a lot of fun. Those guys are so serious… that’s their job through the year. All-Star is just like, let your hair down and be your person.”

SHOOTOUT

No overtime. This is going directly to a best-of-five shootout. Rochester’s Ryan Miller is in net for PlanetUSA and he shuts down Spezza, Wellwood, and Lowell’s Chuck Kobasew in order, fending off Kobasew’s backhanded attempt and delivering a fist pump. Meanwhile Parise and Plekanec beat Manchester’s Mathieu Garon between the pads before Hilbert puts a shot over Garon’s right glove to finish off the night.

PlanetUSA has a 5-4 win. Plekanec, with a goal in regulation and another in the shootout, takes home the night’s most valuable player honor.

POST-GAME

Players, coaches, and fans head out into the Manchester night with plenty of memories.

Koharski: “That was probably the highlight of my career. Just watching those guys snap that puck around… Stand in the corner and watch these guys operate. Just watching these guys do their skills and what their crafts are, you get caught up in it. You really do.

“That was that was pretty much the start of my (refereeing) career in the American Hockey League, and to be selected to be the All-Star referee was a good stepping stone for me. It just gives you more drive that they have belief in you and the desire to have you be a good official. I just ran with that.”

Boudreau: “I was there, I think, for two reasons: to promote hockey and to win. And we did.”

EPILOGUE

Spezza went on to win the AHL scoring title and league MVP honors for Binghamton, but the Senators were upset by Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the first round of the Calder Cup Playoffs.

Bochenski: “We were super, super talented. We didn’t get it done in the playoffs, but it was a really tough year in the AHL. It was really a talented league.”

Boudreau and the Monarchs were also ousted in the first round of the postseason. It was the Monarchs’ fourth opening-round defeat in as many years, and led to Boudreau’s dismissal. He was hired by the Washington Capitals that summer as the new head coach of the Hershey Bears, and he led them to a Calder Cup championship in 2006. The affable Boudreau was elected to the AHL Hall of Fame in 2009 and went on to serve as head coach for 15 NHL seasons in Washington, Anaheim, Minnesota and Vancouver.

Boudreau: “It was incumbent on us in the American League – I think I used this as a speech – to show the world how great hockey is because there was no NHL going on. And to try to sell the game. I think my whole career I’ve tried to do that, to sell the game and make it really popular. I was trying to pull at their heartstrings a little bit to make them understand that this game is so important to them.”

Ryan Miller would win the Baz Bastien Award as the AHL’s outstanding goaltender, going 41-17-4 with a .922 save percentage and helping Rochester to the best record in the league. Rene Bourque captured the Dudley (Red) Garrett Award as the league’s top rookie, besting a field of first-year pros also included Marc-Andre Fleury, Zach Parise, Thomas Vanek and Cam Ward. Grand Rapids’ Niklas Kronwall took home the Eddie Shore Award for best defenseman.

Perrin: “It (the AHL) was huge for me. I needed that big-time. I was coming from three years in Finland, and the AHL was exactly what I needed to restart my career development-wise, maturity-wise, physically and mentally. When I got back to North America, that was perfect for me to gain even more confidence.”

The rosters for the 2005 AHL All-Star Classic produced eight Stanley Cup champions, 19 Olympians and 10 players who would appear in more than 1,000 games in the National Hockey League.

Spezza: “That year was huge for my development. I think it allowed me to be a first-line center again, to kind of be the guy to carry the load. I had played in the NHL and had success, but as a younger NHL player, a lot of the time you’re sheltered or in more specialty roles. I think it really allowed me to gain confidence in taking over games and having a big role again. For me it was massive in that sense, just being able to do that and knowing that there was no call-up pending or anything. You were just there to play, be where your feet are, and that’s kind of how I approached it.

“And we had a ton of fun doing it.”