THE AHL ZONE

The AHL Zone is the newest feature to be added to the family of Illegal Curve articles and will explore the latest news from around the American Hockey League, with special emphasis placed on prospects and call-ups.

– According to the Associated Press, Worcester Sharks left winger Tomas Plihal has been called up by the San Jose Sharks after center Curtis Brown was placed on injured reserve. Plihal has only three NHL games under his belt.
– The Manitoba Moose are currently on a six game losing skid after back-to-back weekend losses to the Peoria Rivermen and must be concerned with their inability to score goals. Brad Moran and Michael Grabner lead the team offensively but have been inconsistent over the past two weeks. The Moose were pleased to get Jason Jaffray and Mike Brown back from the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks but are unsure if they have enough firepower to compete with the top teams in the Western Conference. In a possible team shake-up, the Moose released forward Mathieu Melanson and re-assigned defenceman Dylan Yeo to the Victoria Salmon Kings of the ECHL. The Moose don’t play until next Thursday night against the Syracuse Crunch, and will be desperately seeking to end their streak.

– The 2008 AHL All-Star Classic will be played in Binghamton, New York, the home of the Baby Senators, on January 28 with the Skills Competition going a day earlier. The Binghamton Senators are the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Ottawa Senators. The AHL All-Star Classic annually pits Canadian All-Stars versus PlanetUSA All-Stars. It is very common for players named to the All- Star team to be called up to the NHL, for obvious reasons, and in this case many players will fly to the host city for the one night. It was announced early last week that two Winnipeggers named to the Canadian team, New York Rangers/Hartford Wolf Pack forward Nigel Dawes and Chicago Blackhawks/Rockford Ice Hogs defenseman Cam Barker,would participate in the All-Star Classic despite currently playing in the NHL.

Here are the complete rosters for the 2008 AHL All-Star Classic game:

Canadian AHL All-Stars

Goalies

Drew MacIntyre, Manitoba Moose (Charlottetown, PEI)
Nolan Schaefer, Houston Aeros (Yellow Grass, Saskatchewan)
Michael Leighton, Albany River Rats (Petrolia, Ontario)

Defensemen

Cam Barker, Rockford Ice Hogs (Winnipeg, Manitoba)
Micki Dupont, Peoria Rivermen (Calgary, Alberta)
Joel Kwiatkowski, Chicago Wolves (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan)
Lawrence Nycholat, Binghamton Senators (Calgary, Alberta)
Ryan O’Byrne, Hamilton Bulldogs (Victoria, BC)
Adam Pardy, Quad City Flames (Bonavista, Newfoundland)
Alexandre Picard, Philadelphia Phantoms (Gatineau, Quebec)
Derrick Walser, Toronto Marlies (New Glasgow, Nova Scotia)

Forwards

Derick Brassard, Syracuse Crunch (Hull, Quebec)
Nigel Dawes, Hartford Wolf Pack (Winnipeg, Manitoba)
Denis Hamel, Binghamton Senators (Lachute, Quebec)
Mike Iggulden, Worcester Sharks (St.Catherines, Ontario)
Jason Krog, Chicago Wolves (Fernie, BC)
Clarke Macarthur, Rochester Americans (Lloyminster, Alberta)
Pascal Pelletier, Providence Bruins (Labrador City, Newfoundland)
Joel Perrault, San Antonio Rampage (Montreal, Quebec)
Rich Peverley, Milwaukee Admirals (Guelph, Ontario)
Teddy Purcell, Manchester Monarchs (St.Johns, Newfoundland)
Martin St.Pierre, Rockford Icehogs (Embrun, Ontario)
Jeff Tambellini, Bridgeport Sound Tigers (Calgary, Alberta)
Kyle Wanvig, Norfolk Admirals (Calgary, Alberta)

PlanetUSA All Stars

Goalies

Jimmy Howard, Grand Rapids Griffins (Syracuse, New York)
Tuukka Rask, Providence Bruins (Savonlinna, Finland)
Pekka Rinne, Milwaukee Admirals (Kempele, Finland)

Defensemen

Jonathan Ericsson, Grand Rapids Griffins (Karlskrana, Sweden)
Peter Harrold, Manchester Monarchs (Kirtland Hills, Ohio)
Matt Lashoff, Providence Bruins (East Greenbush, NY)
Brian Lee, Binghamton Senators (Moorhead, North Dakota)
Erik Reitz, Houston Aeros (Detroit, Michigan)
Brian Salcido, Portland Pirates (Hermosa Beach, California)
Anton Stralman, Toronto Marlies (Tibro, Sweden)
Clay Wilson, Syracuse Crunch (Sturgeon Lake, Minnesota)

Forwards

Keith Aucoin, Albany River Rats (Waltham, Massachussetts)
Gabe Gauthier, Manchester Monarchs (Torrance, California)
T.J Hensick, Lake Erie Monsters (Howell, Michigan)
Joakim Lindstrom, Syracuse Crunch (Skelleftea, Sweden)
Greg Moore, Hartford Wolf Pack (Lisbon, Maine)
Joe Motzko, Hershey Bears (Bemidji, Minnesota)
Toby Petersen, Iowa Stars (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
Jared Ross, Philadelphia Phantoms (Huntsville, Alabama)
Bobby Ryan, Portland Pirates (Camden, New Jersey)
Rob Schremp, Springfield Falcons (Syracuse, New York)
Brett Sterling, Chicago Wolves (Los Angeles, California)
Jeff Taffe, Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins (Hastings, Minnesota)
Petr Vrana, Lowell Devils (Stemberk, Czech Republic)

For Illegal Curve, I’m Ezra Ginsburg.