SANGUINETTI ANYTHING BUT SANGUINE 

The American Hockey League (AHL) announced today that the Hartford Wolf Pack’s Bobby Sanguinetti has been named to be a member of the PlanetUSA for the 2010 Time Warner Cable AHL All-Star Classic. Sanguinetti will join yesterday’s honoree Corey Locke as participants in the huge contest.

Sanguinetti is currently third among defenseman in scoring with 6 goals, 18 assists for 24 points in 29 games. The leagues top D-man offensively is Providence’s Andy Wozniewski, who in THREE more games than Hartford’s top blueliner, has 25 points (7 goals, 18 assists).

What makes no sense is the choice of starters, Michal Neuvirth (G), Ivan Vishnevskiy (D), Mike Weber (D), Keith Aucoin (F), Brandon Bochenski (F) and Nathan Gerbe (F). In fact even some of their inclusion makes no sense.

Vishnevskiy’s ranked 36th in scoring among defenseman with 4 goals, 9 assists in 35 games. Mike Weber is 74th with 10 points in 34 games. Up front, Nathan Gerbe has only 20 points in 23 games (5 goals, 15 assists).

Seems awfully bizarre to us. We understand that each team needs to be represented  and that it’s by no means an easy thing to come up with, and maybe these guys belong on the team, but as STARTERS?

This is the second time in Sanguinetti’s two pro years that he has earned this honor.  He took part in last year’s AHL Skills Competition as a member of the Planet USA squad, but was unable to play in the All-Star Game due to injury.

Sanguinetti, a first-round selection (21st overall) by the parent New York Rangers in 2006, is currently tied for second among AHL defensemen in points, with six goals and 18 assists for 24 points in 29 games.  His 18 assists rank him second on the Wolf Pack club in that department, and he stands third on the team in points.  The 21-year-old Trenton, NJ native has also seen his first NHL action this season, skating in five games with Rangers (no points, four penalty minutes).

Sanguinetti and Locke will both be on the ice this evening when the Pack take on the Springfield Falcons in the second of the back-to-back contests, this one at the XL Center at 7pm.

Here’s the official release:

The American Hockey League announced today the PlanetUSA AHL All-Star team roster for the 2010 Time Warner Cable AHL All-Star Classic, to be played next month at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland, Maine.

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PLANETUSA AHL ALL-STAR ROSTER ANNOUNCED
Teams set for 2010 Time Warner Cable AHL All-Star Classic  

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The team comprises 24 players – 13 forwards, eight defensemen and three goaltenders – born outside of Canada; the Canadian team was announced on Tuesday. AHL fans determined the starting lineups via on-line balloting at theahl.com, while a committee of AHL coaches selected the remainder of the rosters. All 29 AHL teams are represented by at least one All-Star.

Among the members of the PlanetUSA team are 18 first-time AHL All-Stars, including 2009 Calder Cup Playoffs MVP Michal Neuvirth of the Hershey Bears and 2009 AHL rookie of the year Nathan Gerbe of the host Portland Pirates, who missed last year’s event due to injury. The PlanetUSA club features five former first-round NHL draft picks: Lars Eller of the Peoria Rivermen, Jack Skille of the Rockford IceHogs, John Carlson of the Hershey Bears, Bobby Sanguinetti of the Hartford Wolf Pack and Ivan Vishnevskiy of the Texas Stars. Rochester’s Graham Mink will make his All-Star debut and serve as PlanetUSA captain.

Manchester Monarchs head coach Mark Morris and assistant Scott Pellerin will lead the PlanetUSA team because the Monarchs owned the AHL’s second-best points percentage (behind the defending champion Hershey Bears) at the end of play on Dec. 27.

The 2010 Time Warner Cable AHL All-Star Classic will feature the top talent in the American Hockey League competing in the 2010 AHL All-Star Skills Competition on Monday, January 18 (8:00 p.m. ET) and the 2010 AHL All-Star Game on Tuesday, January 19 (6:00 p.m. ET), and will be televised live nationally in the United States and Canada. Of the 492 players to take part in the AHL All-Star Classic since 1995, more than 94 percent have competed in the National Hockey League, including Patrice Bergeron, Brad Boyes, Dan Boyle, Daniel Briere, Brian Campbell, Zdeno Chara, Rick DiPietro, Miikka Kiprusoff, Kari Lehtonen, Ryan Miller, Zach Parise, Bobby Ryan, Martin St. Louis, Jason Spezza, Eric Staal and Tomas Vokoun.

Tickets for the 2010 Time Warner Cable AHL All-Star Classic – which include admission to both the Skills Competition and the AHL All-Star Game as well as an official commemorative All-Star Classic event program – are $49 (rows 1-12 in all sections) and $42 (rows 13-24 in all sections). To purchase tickets call (207) 775-3458, visit the Cumberland County Civic Center Box Office or go on-line at portlandpirates.com. 

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   2010 PlanetUSA AHL All-Star Team  

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Defensemen
John Carlson, Hershey
Jonas Junland, Peoria
Bobby Sanguinetti, Hartford
Sean Sullivan, San Antonio
x-Ivan Vishnevskiy, Texas
Viatcheslav Voynov, Manchester
x-Mike Weber, Portland
Andy Wozniewski, Providence

Forwards
x-Keith Aucoin, Hershey
x-Brandon Bochenski, Norfolk
Mark Cullen, Rockford
Lars Eller, Peoria
Dan Fritsche, Syracuse
x-Nathan Gerbe, Portland
Christian Hanson, Toronto
Mikko Lehtonen, Providence
Graham Mink, Rochester (“C”)
Patrick Rissmiller, Grand Rapids
Sergei Shirokov, Manitoba
Jack Skille, Rockford
Brett Sterling

x- Chicago
x-starters

Head Coach: Mark Morris, Manchester Monarchs
Assistant Coach: Scott Pellerin, Manchester Monarchs
Athletic Trainer: Robert Frost, Portland Pirates
Equipment Manager: Henning Aagaard-Svendsen, Portland Pirates 

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2010 PlanetUSA AHL All-Star Team Starters  

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Michal Neuvirth, Goaltender (Hershey Bears):
Second-year pro Michal Neuvirth ranks among the AHL’s top five goaltenders in both goals-against average (1.99) and save percentage (.929) while going 10-5-0 for Hershey this season. The 21-year-old captured AHL playoff MVP honors last spring as a rookie, leading the Bears to their record 10th Calder Cup with a 16-6 playoff mark and four shutouts. A native of Usti nad Labem, Czech Republic, Neuvirth was drafted in the second round by Washington in 2006 and is 5-3-0 in 10 career NHL appearances with the Capitals.

Ivan Vishnevskiy, Defense (Texas Stars):
Selected in the first round (27th overall) of the 2006 NHL draft, Ivan Vishnevskiy scored goals in each of the Texas Stars franchise’s first two games this season and has gone on to post 13 points (four goals, nine assists) in 35 outings thus far. The 21-year-old native of Barnaul, Russia, has factored in the scoring of 11 of the Stars’ 25 power-play goals this year and is also 2-for-3 in shootout attempts. Vishnevskiy has been recalled by Dallas twice already this season and shows two assists in five career NHL games.

Mike Weber, Defense (Portland Pirates):
Tied for third in the AHL with a plus-16 rating, Mike Weber has played all 34 games for Portland this season and has contributed 10 assists, including a helper in four straight contests from Dec. 2-6. The third-year pro from Pittsburgh, Pa., is already just four points shy of the career-high 14 he registered in 59 games as an AHL rookie during the 2007-08 season. Weber, 22, was drafted in the second round by Buffalo in 2006 and has registered three assists in 23 career contests with the Sabres.

Keith Aucoin, Forward (Hershey Bears):
Keith Aucoin is making his fifth consecutive AHL All-Star appearance, but has been voted into the starting lineup by the fans for the first time. One of the top offensive players in the AHL during the 2000’s, Aucoin is tied for first in the AHL in goals (16) and ranks second in points (36) in 27 games for Hershey this season, and he also shows a goal and four assists in five NHL tilts with Washington. Aucoin has totaled 564 career AHL points and has finished in the top 10 in scoring four times in the last seven seasons.

Brandon Bochenski, Forward (Norfolk Admirals):
Brandon Bochenski has led Norfolk’s offense with nearly a point-per-game pace, putting up 16 goals (tied for the AHL lead) and 16 assists in 34 outings. The sixth-year pro has registered three or more points on four occasions and put together a six-game scoring streak from Dec. 5-19. Bochenski was previously an AHL All-Star as a rookie in 2005, and was voted to the starting lineup in 2007 but missed the event due to injury. Bochenski has 268 points in 248 career AHL games, along with 55 points in 128 NHL matches.

Nathan Gerbe, Forward (Portland Pirates):
The AHL’s rookie of the year in 2008-09, Nathan Gerbe has picked up where he left off with 20 points (5-15-20) in 23 games for Portland this season. A native of Oxford, Mich., Gerbe was voted a starter for last year’s All-Star Classic but was injured and missed the event. The 22-year-old was drafted by Buffalo in 2005 and has appeared in two games for the Sabres this year, scoring his first career NHL goal vs. Washington on Dec. 9. Gerbe won an NCAA title at Boston College in 2008 and led the nation in scoring with 68 points.

Goaltenders
Anton Khudobin, Houston
x-Michal Neuvirth, Hershey
Alexander Salak, Rochester

Also, congratulations to ex-Pack players, defenseman Richard Lintner of Slovakia, Vladimir Denisov of Belarus, Fedor Tyutin of Russia and Finnish forward Jarkko Immonen who have each been named to their respective national teams to play in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. On Friday the US Team will name it’s personnel and it’s possible at that time that ex-Pack forward Ryan Callahan could be named. It is also specualted that Andres Ambϋhl can be called to play for his native Switzerland.