Chirps from Center Ice

Today the AHL announced that the 2013-14 AHL All-Star Classic will be played in St. John’s, Newfoundland on February 11-12, 2014.

Only the format won’t be the traditional East vs. West, rather it will pit a team of AHL All-Stars vs. Färjestad BK of the Swedish Hockey League.

Färjestad BK is the Swedish equivalent of the Hershey Bears, winning six Swedish League Championships since 1996, and three in the last seven years.

I like this concept, considering that the hockey world will be turning its eyes to Sochi, Russia for the 2014 Winter Olympics, for this year and this year only.

Why, you ask?

There are 30 teams in the AHL. You can only dress 20 players for a regular season game (12 forwards, 6 defensemen, 2 goaltenders for a total of 20 players) in All-Star Classics prior, the rosters expand to three goalies, and a few more forwards and defensemen a side but even still, the AHL isn’t dressing a 30 player lineup for the exhibition, which leads me to believe that there will be some teams left unrepresented. Not overly fair, if you ask me. Not to mention this is going to be played like an actual game, you know, with hitting and stuff. I would hate to see anyone get injured.

So that’s why.

Nothing going on in Pittsburgh on the eve of training camp.

My pal Bob Howard has ran an “30 AHL Arenas in 30 Days” feature on his Facebook page. Today was Wilkes-Barre’s turn.

If there’s anything newsworthy out of Day 1 of training camp in Pittsburgh, I will most likely have something to say about it here Wednesday.