Chirps from Center Ice

The AHL is announcing the rosters and starting lineups for the All-Star Classic later in January Tuesday at 3 p.m.

You don’t have to wait that long, I am predicting who makes the team here, after the jump, because I don’t want to let Dustin Jeffrey’s recall to Pittsburgh go that far down the blog list.

I am just going to make this simple, and go 12 forwards, 6 defensemen and 3 goalies. The League I saw from year to year used 8 defensemen and 13 forwards one year and 8 defensemen and 9 forwards another. You need to have each team represented once. So here goes:

Eastern Conference

Defensemen:

Mark Wotton – Bridgeport Sound Tigers (C)
Robert Bortuzzo – Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins
Lawrence Nycholat – Hershey Bears
Erik Gustaffson – Adirondack Phantoms
Viatcheslav Voynov – Manchester Monarchs
Marc Andre Gragnani – Portland Pirates

Goaltenders:

Brad Thiessen – Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins
Braden Holtby – Hershey Bears
Martin Jones – Manchester Monarchs

Forwards:

Dustin Jeffrey – Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins
Andrew Gordon – Hershey Bears
Corey Locke – Binghamton Senators
Nicholas Deschamps – Syracuse Crunch
Jerome Samson – Charlotte Checkers
Marc-Antoine Pouliot – Norfolk Admirals
Jeremy Williams – Connecticut Whale
Jonathan Cheechoo – Worcester Sharks
Tomas Kubalik – Springfield Falcons
Michael Swift – Albany Devils
Joe Colborne – Providence Bruins
Mark Mancari – Portland Pirates

Western Conference

Defensemen:

Garrett Stafford – San Antonio Rampage
Nathan Oystrick – Peoria Rivermen
Taylor Chorney – Oklahoma City Barons
Jonathan Blum – Milwaukee Admirals
Clay Wilson – Rochester Americans
Maxim Noreau – Houston Aeros

Goaltenders:

Jake Allen – Peoria Rivermen
Mark Dekanich – Milwaukee Admirals
Curtis Sanford – Hamilton Bulldogs

Forwards:

Alexandre Giroux – Oklahoma City Barons (C)
Jason Krog – Chicago Wolves
Brett MacLean – San Antonio Rampage
Travis Morin – Texas Stars
Justin Hodgman – Toronto Marlies
Matt Keith – Abbotsford Heat
Francis Pare – Grand Rapids Griffins
Ben Walter – Lake Erie Monsters
Ryan Potulny – Rockford IceHogs
Sergei Shirokov – Manitoba Moose
Graham Mink – Peoria Rivermen
Linus Omark – Oklahoma City Barons

As far as starting lineups, it’s anyone’s guess.

Some of my picks are chalk, some aren’t. We’ll see who above actually makes the list and who doesn’t tomorrow at 3. Feel free to call me out in the comments section.