The best players in the American Hockey League are converging on Rockford where they will be showing off their skills. It all happens the next two nights.
ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO/WQRF) — The best players in the American Hockey League are converging on Rockford where they will be showing off their skills. It all happens the next two nights.
A big sign outside of the BMO Center reads “Hockey Lives Here.” It certainly does with the IceHogs, but the Hockey that will live here the next two nights will be much different.
The AHL All-Star Classic will be held in Rockford for the first time. AHL league staff members have set up headquarters at the Embassy Suites just down the street.
You’ll notice All-Star banners on the streetlamps near the BMO.
A large TV production truck sits alongside the BMO Center off Main Street. The event will be shown by the NHL Network and by TSN in Canada.
Tuesday afternoon starting a four o’clock some of the streets around the BMO will be filled with a block party. But inside is where the biggest action will take place.
48 of the AHL’s best players will be in there. A skills competition will be held Tuesday night at seven o’clock. That will serve as the tune-up for Wednesday night’s All-Star Challenge, a series of six three-on-three round-robin games between the stars.
The IceHogs have high hopes for this event as IceHogs President of Business Operations told me a year ago when the IceHogs learned that they would host the event.
“We know we’ve got a great fan base,” said Snider. “We know we’ve got a great community behind us. We’ll sell the tickets. We just want to make sure that we are doing the league right, making the city proud, making the community proud. We want to make this the best All-Star Game ever.”
The block parties Tuesday and Wednesday at 4pm are free to the public, so is the AHL’s Hall of Fame Induction ceremony at the Coronado Theatre Thursday morning at 11.
Category: General Sports
