Captains, roster replacements and skills competition rosters announced for 2019 CCM/ECHL All-Star Classic

The ECHL on Thursday announced the team captains, roster replacements and skills competition rosters for the 2019 CCM/ECHL All-Star Classic presented by ProMedica, to be hosted by the Toledo Walleye on Monday, Jan. 21 at 7 p.m. ET at the Huntington Center. The game will air LIVE exclusively on NHL Network.

David Kolomatis of the Manchester Monarchs will serve as captain for the Eastern Conference while Justin Hodgman of the Fort Wayne Komets will serve as captain for the Western Conference. A.J. Jenks is captain of Team Fins and Shane Berschbach is captain of Team Hooks.

On the Eastern Conference roster, Norfolk’s Jalen Smereck will replace Maine’s Sean Day, who is recalled to Hartford of the American Hockey League, and South Carolina’s Andrew Cherniwchan will replace teammate Jonathan Charbonneau, who is injured.

On the Western Conference roster, Kalamazoo’s Reid Gardiner will replace teammate Justin Taylor, who is injured; Indy’s Alex Brooks will replace teammate Neil Manning, who has departed to play in Europe; and Tulsa’s Adam Pleskach will replace Rapid City’s Andrew Radjenovic, who has departed to play in Europe.

The 2019 CCM/ECHL Skills Competition will feature three events: Fastest Skater, Hardest Shot and Accuracy Shooting. Each competition will feature one player from each team, with the winning player earning one point for his team.

The Fastest Skater will include Newfoundland’s Giorgio Estephan (Eastern Conference), Allen’s Alex Breton (Western Conference) and Toledo’s Tyler Spezia (Team Hooks) and Bryan Moore (Team Fins).

The Hardest Shot will feature Greenville’s Johno May (Eastern Conference), Kansas City’s Jared VanWormer (Western Conference) and Toledo’s Matt Register (Team Hooks) and A.J. Jenks (Team Fins).

Competing in Accuracy Shooting are Brampton’s David Pacan (Eastern Conference), Cincinnati’s Vasili Glotov (Western Conference) and Toledo’s Greg Wolfe (Team Hooks) and T.J. Hensick (Team Fins).

For the second consecutive year, the CCM/ECHL All-Star Classic will feature a 3-on-3 tournament with four teams competing for the top spot. New in 2019, the host team will make up two of the four teams and face-off against the other two teams made up of All-Star players from the Eastern and Western Conference. These four teams will compete in a 3-on-3 tournament with rally scoring in order to crown a winner. The 2019 CCM/ECHL All-Star Skills Competition will take place in between rounds of the tournament, highlighting the talents of the ECHL Players, and showcasing the future of hockey as they develop in the League.

The 12th class of the ECHL Hall of Fame will be officially inducted at a luncheon, presented by BFL CANADA and Sutton Special Risk, on Sunday, January 20 at 1 p.m. at the SeaGate Center, in conjunction with the Toledo Hockey Hall of Fame, presented by Cooper Tire.

Anchored by the CCM/ECHL All-Star Classic presented by ProMedica, there will be multiple activities that showcase the Toledo community including the All-Star Fanfest in Hensville Park and All-Star Winter Brewfest at Fifth Third Field. The Hall of Fame luncheon will be followed by a regular-season matchup between the Walleye and the Fort Wayne Komets at the Huntington Center. 

CCM/ECHL All-Star packages and individual tickets can be purchased by calling (419) 725-9255 or by visiting www.toledowalleye.com/allstar.

About the ECHLBegan in 1988-89 with five teams in four states, the ECHL has grown into a coast-to-coast league with 27 teams in 20 states and two Canadian provinces for its 31st season in 2018-19. There have been 651 players who have gone on to play in the National Hockey League after playing in the ECHL, including 10 who have made their NHL debuts in the 2018-19 season. The ECHL has affiliations with 25 of the 31 NHL teams in 2018-19, marking the 22nd consecutive season that the league has affiliations with at least 20 teams in the NHL. Further information on the ECHL is available on its website at ECHL.com as well as on Twitter and Facebook.