Stars Over Stockton

The ECHL All Star Classic closed out the month of January with a mid-season showcase of the best in the biggest Double-A hockey league in the business. Jill Adler reports on the festivities and the highlights of the Stockton starcase.

Jill ADLER
MLNSportsZone.com

STOCKTON, CAL - Victoria’s Ash Goldie failed to spin the Price is Right big wheel a couple years ago, but he definitely cashed in at the 2008 ECHL All-Star events held in Stockton, California Jan. 22-23. Goldie set a new accuracy shooting record, hitting a perfect four-for-four targets in the skills competition.

“I was just worried about hitting one to start, just to get the monkey off my back. You don’t want to go and not hit any,” Goldie said. “Just got the first and kept going, and it just ended up being four in a row. It was a nice surprise.”

He kept that shooting touch as he set a new all-star game record the next night by scoring six points on a hat trick and three assists to earn the ECHL All-Star MVP award.

“I think it went pretty well,” Goldie said.

Injury prevented Goldie’s first ECHL All-Star appearance as a Long Beach Ice Dog in 2006, but he made the contestant row at a taping of the game show “The Price is Right” during a team outing.

Led by Goldie’s six points, the National Conference defeated the American Conference, 10-7. National captain Peter Ferraro of the Las Vegas Wranglers (2g-3a) and Greg Rallo (1g-4a) of the Idaho Steelheads each contributed five points. The Goldie/Ferraro/Rallo line gelled for 16 points.

“The message that I’d like to send amongst the players is just basically go out and have fun, but also compete. You’re here to showcase yourself and make an impression,” Ferraro said before the game.

Idaho’s Darrell Hay, a member of last season’s Kelly Cup champion, echoed Ferraro’s sentiments.

“I think for older guys, like Peter and myself, if you really don’t get voted as a starter, it’s more of a developmental game for the young guys, so you see a lot of rookies,” Hay said.

This year’s game featured 24 rookies out of 42 players. Several all stars received AHL call ups the day after the game.

Brett Hemingway of the Reading Royals led the American scorers with three points (1g-2a).

Glen Gulutzan of Las Vegas and helmer Mark Morrison of the Victoria Salmon Kings coached the National...

Continued...

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