AHL Announcement

The AHL had been teasing fans recently with word of a big announcement that would be made today. 

I'm not one to jump on board when I hear something like this being stated from an organization.  It tends to be not as interesting as the hype would suggest.  Quite frankly I completely forgot that they were even making an announcement until it started rolling through my feed this morning.  So what could this major news be?  I was about to find out.

 

I'm going to be honest and admit I was annoyed by what I saw.  After all the back and forth (St. John's feed was also going nuts) excitement, they announced the all-star game was going to be played in St. John's.  Wow.  Who would have guessed they would play the AHL all-star game in a city that has an AHL team.  My mistake was not reading the whole thing.  I eventually noticed what the hype was about.

The AHL all-star team this year will be playing not against each other in an east/west or North American/European format but instead be playing against Farjestad from the Swedish Elite League.  That's a different approach and one I can get behind.

Using a soccer term this could be considered a friendly as this is a very typical thing to do in soccer and in European hockey.  The only thing I question is how friendly will it be.  It's a professional sports team playing against a group of all-stars.  Pretty sure both sides want to win and play the game as intended while doing it in a way they all stay healthy.  It should also be interesting to see the guys from Farjestad who previously played in the AHL come back to face off against former teammates.

In reading the report from the AHL it is actually the first time ever a Swedish Hockey League (previously known as the Swedish Elite League up until this season which I will continually say wrong) team has played in North America.  The team president is Hakan Loob which leads me to believe John Buccigross got a little excited today.  In fact maybe I should check to see if he made any comments about this event.

In a year that will see Rochester go to Switzerland to participate in the Spengler Cup and represent the AHL in Euorpe, we add on another new chapter to the story.  I'm a proponent of blending leagues, teams, countries and continents especially when you have a select group to choose from.  Many countries probably have never heard of hockey but many from the north play.  Why not bring them together for various events for something different and exciting.  

BUCCI UPDATE:

No comments from John on Hakan Loob.  As a college hockey fan he did have something else interesting to report. 

"The line to get Penn State hockey season tickets was so long today that the university had to shut down the sale. Wrapping around much of the interior of the Penn State student center and out the door, officials decided to call off the in-person sale to prevent students from missing too much class."

Looks like there is a new sport in town in central Pennsylvania.  Be aware Big 10.