Portland, ME - For what started as a pretty laid back contest in the 2010 AHL All-Star Classic sure turned into a competitive nail biter by the end as Team Canada edged PlanetUSA 10-9 in a shootout. After PlanetUSA’s Nathan Gerbe (Portland Pirates) missed an empty net opportunity from the slot Team Canada sailed down the ice and tied it up at 9-9 with just 18 seconds remaining.

There are no overtime periods in AHL All-Star games so they went immediately to the shootout which Team Canada capitalized on by putting two in net versus PlanetUSA’s one, giving Canada a clean sweep of both the Skills competition and the Classic.

This one started as your typical non-checking wide open hockey All-Star game. There were seven total goals in the first frame, five for PlanetUSA (on 15 shots, Canada - 8). It didn’t take long for both sides to jump on the board as they set a new AHL All-Star record by both scoring by the 1:12 mark.

PlanetUSA forwards Brett Sterling (Chicago Wolves) and Sergei Shirokov (Manitoba Moose) each had two tallies while the rest of the scoring was provided by Canada’s Jason Jaffray (Abbotsford Heat) and Tyler Ennis (Portland Pirates) along with PlanetUSA’s Mikko Lehtonen (Providence Bruins).

You have to tip your hat to PlanetUSA netminder Alexander Salak (Rochester Americans) for not only playing some solid defense in net but also providing some entertainment.

At 17:12 the Czech native came out of the crease to catch the puck and then immediately flipped it into the air and punted it with his skate to the blue line. The crowd busted into a roar of laughter as most probably expected the Canadian defense to signal for a fair catch.

“I just grabbed the puck and didn’t know what to do with it so I made a little bit of a fancy play and no bad luck because they didn’t score,” stated Salak.

Salak also provided a couple of nice poke check saves and stopped some challenging breakaways. Canadian goalie Jonathan Bernier (Manchester Monarchs) had seen better periods but clearly with minimal defense the blame could not be put on him.

Team Canada’s Charles Linglet (Springfield Falcons), Nolan Baumgartner (Manitoba Moose), and Ryan Keller (Binghamton Senators) all lit the lamp in the second, while Keith Aucoin (Hershey Bears) and Lehtonen did the same for PlanetUSA putting them up 7-5 by intermission.

Backstops for both sides were pretty solid between the pipes especially PlanetUSA’s Anton Khudobin (Houston Aeros) who steered away 20 of the 23 shots he faced including many point blank opportunities. On the other end Justin Peters (Albany River Rats) did his job by stopping 9 out 11.

The final frame made it all worth it. The Canadians netted 4 goals while their counterparts put up 2. PlanetUSA’s TJ Hensick (Lake Erie Monsters) and Gerbe put up the first two goals of the period. From there on it was all Canada as they came back from a 9-5 deficit with just 12:12 remaining.

Logan Couture (Worcester Sharks), Dustin Jeffrey (W/B Scranton Penguins), and Keller all brought the game to 9-8. Then after Gerbe missed the open net with Canadian netminder Cedrick Desjardins (Hamilton Bulldogs) on the bench, Alexander Giroux (Hershey Bears) capitalized for Team Canada as he tied things up at 9-9 when he knocked the puck in from the bottom left corner of the crease beating Alex Stalock (Worcester Sharks). In short time the contest found itself in a shootout.

In the best of five rounds, PlanetUSA’s Aucoin punched in the only goal for his team while the combination of Couture and P.K. Subban (l, photo by Feldman) scoring for Canada and Desjardins stopping Sterling on their final opportunity, suddenly the Canadians completed their huge come from behind victory.

“The goalie seemed like he knew what I was about to do, I thought he was going to poke check me so I was just kind of looking at his stick to see if he was going to move it and he didn’t,” described Subban. “I wasn’t originally going to go to my backhand, I was going to go forehand but he took that away and then I just quickly pulled it to my backhand and I just tried to get it up as quickly as possible because I knew his pad would be there and I got it up in time so I was happy to score.”

All in all it truly didn’t matter who won, it was a reward for all of those selected and a chance to have a great time.

“It was everything I expected and more it was a lot of fun to get together with the best guys in the league, we play against these guys all the time. They’re a bunch of competitors on the ice but it’s nice to get to know some of them off the ice,” stated PlanetUSA forward Christian Hanson (Toronto Marlies), son of “Hanson Brother” character Jack Hanson.

“Guys are just here to have fun and put on a good show, you just use it as your vacation, just have a good time with it. We’re all here because we’ve been honored and it is a great honor and we’re excited to be here,” added PlanetUSA’s Bobby Sanguinetti (Hartford Wolf*Pack).

Notes - The 2010 AHL Hall of Fame induction ceremony was held this afternoon in Portland, inductees were John Paddock, Bill Sweeney, Marcel Paille, and Macgregor Kilpatrick. Guest speakers included Brian Burke, Ken Daneyko, and Byron Dafoe……The Team Mascots had an un-friendly game of hockey in between the first and second period, pile-ups in the corner, hard checks, and all sorts of uncalled penalties…..Attendance was less than expected (5,225), mostly due to the continual snowfall……Both teams visited the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital before the game.

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