THRASHERS GET SET TO HOST THE 2008 ALL-STAR WEEKEND
(AP - Atlanta)
The city of Atlanta is buzzing this weekend as all the stars will be out as both the NHL and CPHL all-star games are happening at Chantelle Barnes Memorial Arena (CPHL) and Phillips Arena (NHL). The CPHL all-star game was sold out months ago and fans are looking forward to seeing their favorite stars from around the league. The hometown Thrashers have 4 representatives in the game with one being starter Darryl Sydor.
"It's a great honor being voted in by the GM's. For them to appreciate the hard work i've put in this year means a lot. My teammates deserve a lot of the recognition for me being voted in, particularly my defensive partners Derian Hatcher and Steve Staios. They make it easy to play." - Thrashers dman Darryl Sydor who leads all defenseman with 51 pts
Not only are the hometown Thrashers well represented but a lot of teams from both sides will be at this year's all-star game.
Starting in the Howe Conference, the Edmonton Oilers lead the way with 4 players in the game. Starters Vincent Lecavalier and Jarome Iginla were voted in by the GM's and joining them will be goaltender Martin Brodeur and RW Daniel Alfredsson. The Kings and Flames are right behind with 3 players each in the game. In total 11 of the 16 teams in the Howe are represented with atleast 1 player in the all-star game.
# of players on the all-star team in the Howe:
Edmonton - 4
Calgary - 3
Los Angeles - 3
Nashville - 2
Dallas - 2
Detroit - 1
Chicago - 1
San Jose - 1
Phoenix - 1
St.Louis - 1
Minnesota - 1
Over in the Gretzky Conference things aren't very different with a lot of representation from different teams. The Thrashers lead the way with 4 representatives (Defensman Darryl Sydor and Rob Blake, LW Martin St.Louis and C Rod Brind'Amour). Right behind them with 3 representatives each are the Boston Bruins (Starting LW Glen Metropolit, G Nikolai Khabibulin and D Sergei Gonchar), the Florida Panthers (starting RW Marian Gaborik, C Brad Richards and LW Martin Straka) and the Toronto Maple Leafs (starting defenseman Wade Redden, C Daymond Langkow and D Dan Boyle). In all, 9 of the 16 teams in the Gretzky Conference are represented with atleast 1 all-star.
# of players on the all-star team in the Gretzky:
Atlanta - 4
Boston - 3
Florida - 3
Toronto - 3
Montreal - 2
Pittsburgh - 2
Carolina - 1
Ottawa - 1
Philadelphia - 1
The starting lineups and reserves were named for each conference on Thursday. Here are the lineups for the all-star game:
Gretzky Conference Starters
LW - Glen Metropolit (Boston Bruins)
C - Joe Thornton (Pittsburgh Penguins)
RW - Marian Gaborik (Florida Panthers)
D - Wade Redden (Toronto Maple Leafs)
D - Darryl Sydor (Atlanta Thrashers)
G - Marc Andre Fleury - Ottawa Senators
Gretzky Conference Reserves
LW - Martin St.Louis (Atlanta Thrashers)
LW - Olli Jokinen (Montreal Canadiens)
LW - Martin Straka (Florida Panthers)
C - Brad Richards (Florida Panthers)
C - Rod Brind'Amour (Atlanta Thrashers)
C - Daymond Langkow (Toronto Maple Leafs)
RW - Alexander Ovechkin (Montreal Canadiens)
RW - Dany Heatley (Carolina Hurricanes)
RW - Jason Spezza (Pittsburgh Penguins)
D - Sergei Gonchar (Boston Bruins)
D - Chris Pronger (Philadelphia Flyers)
D - Rob Blake (Atlanta Thrashers)
D - Dan Boyle (Toronto Maple Leafs)
G - Nikolai Khabibulin (Boston Bruins)
Howe Conference Starters
LW - Mark Recchi (Detroit Red Wings)
C - Vincent Lecavalier (Edmonton Oilers)
RW - Jarome Iginla (Edmonton Oilers)
D - Kimmo Timonen (Dallas Stars)
D - Michal Rozsival (St.Louis Blues)
G - Miikka Kiprusoff (Calgary Flames)
Howe Conference Reserves
LW - Ilya Kovalchuk (Los Angeles Kings)
LW - Anson Carter (Nashville Predators)
LW - Daniel Sedin (Dallas Stars)
C - Peter Forsberg (Chicago Blackhawks)
C - Scott Hartnell (Los Angeles Kings)
C - Vaclav Prospal (Phoenix Coyotes)
RW - Glen Murray (Calgary Flames)
RW - Marian Hossa (San Jose Sharks)
RW - Daniel Alfredsson (Edmonton Oilers)
D - Alexei Zhitnik (Minnesota Wild)
D - Jarret Stoll (Los Angeles Kings)
D - Brian Rafalski (Nashville Predators)
D - Adam Foote (Calgary Flames)
The All-Star game goes Sunday @ 6 pm EST/4 pm MST/5 pm CST from the Chantelle Barnes Memorial Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. Saturday Afternoon there will be a skills competition pitting the Gretzky Conference vs the Howe Conference in some exciting events such as fastet skater, hardest shot, accuracy shooting and breakway relay. The participants of those events will be released shortly. The skills competition takes place @ 8pm EST/6 pm MST/7 pm CST on Saturday Night.
The hometown Thrashers are ready to put on a show for the fans of the CPHL. The friendly trash talking has already begun:
"We're honored to be hosting this event this year and we're taking this seriously. We look forward to teaming up with all our Gretzky teammates to beat the Howe Conference. Everyone knows who the better conference is. Now it's just a chance to re-prove it. With guys like Gaborik, Thornton, Redden, Ovechkin, Brind'Amour, Heatley, St.Louis, Spezza, Jokinen and of course WDF Metro leading the way, we like our chances." - Thrashers GM Sutaria
Atlanta hosts the 2008 CPHL All-Star Weekend!
