Springfield, MA - The American Hockey League announced its rosters today for the 2018 AHL All-Star Classic presented by Turning Stone Resort Casino, to be held January 28-29 at the Adirondack Bank Center in Utica, N.Y., home of the Utica Comets. Representing the Springfield Thunderbirds in the festivities is forward Alexandre Grenier.

 

Grenier joins MacKenzie Weegar (2017) as the first AHL All-Star Classic participants in Thunderbirds history. Grenier is one of two Springfield players to have skated in all 35 games this season. He is second on the team in points (27), third in goals (8), and tied for second in plus-minus (+4). It will be Grenier's second trip to the AHL All-Star Classic.

 

Signed as a free agent this summer by the Florida Panthers, Grenier will be making a return to the city where he spent his first four AHL seasons with the Comets. Grenier has scored at least 16 goals in each of his four seasons before arriving in Springfield while logging a total of 75 goals and 127 assists for 202 career AHL points in 312 games.

 

Originally a third round selection of the Vancouver Canucks in the 2011 NHL Draft, the 6-foot-5, 225-pound Grenier has skated in nine NHL games, all with Vancouver.

 

Grenier will skate on the Atlantic Division's team during the All Star Classic festivities in Utica. The full rosters for each division can be seen by clicking here. Each of the AHL’s four divisions will be represented by 12 players. Rosters were determined by committees of AHL coaches, and all 30 AHL teams are represented by at least one All-Star.

 

The 2018 AHL All-Star Skills Competition on Jan. 28 (8 p.m. ET) will pit the All-Stars from the two Eastern Conference divisions against those from the two Western Conference divisions in seven skills events.

 

In the 2018 AHL All-Star Challenge on Jan. 29 (7 p.m. ET), the four teams will participate in a round-robin tournament featuring six games of 10 minutes each, played entirely at 3-on-3. The two teams with the best records at the end of the round-robin will face off for the championship, a six-minute game also played at 3-on-3.

 

Tickets for the 2018 AHL All-Star Classic presented by Turning Stone Resort Casino are priced at $39, $49, $69, $89 and $99, and include admission to both the Skills Competition on Jan. 28 and the All-Star Challenge on Jan. 29. To purchase event tickets, visit the Adirondack Bank Center box office or go online to www.empirestatetix.com.