Top goalie prospects Lukas Dostal and Dustin Wolf were named co-MVPs of the AHL All-Star Challenge for the Pacific Division on Monday after combining for a shutout in a 1-0 win against the Atlantic Division in the championship game, capping the two-day event.
Dostal and Wolf combined for 42 saves on 49 shots over 46 minutes in the 3-on-3 round-robin tournament, which included one team from each of the league's four divisions. Dostal, 22, plays for San Diego (Anaheim Ducks) and is in his third AHL season; Wolf, 21, represented Calgary (Calgary Flames) and is in his first AHL season.
Twelve first-round and 17 second-round NHL Draft picks participated in the event hosted by Laval, the AHL affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens. Seventeen players invited to Laval have played at least one NHL game this season.
In the AHL Skills Competition on Sunday, rookie forward Ethen Frank of Hershey (Washington Capitals) set a record in the Fastest Skater event with a time of 12.915 seconds; it was the first time in league history that a player broke 13 seconds.
RELATED: [Pacific Division wins All-Star Challenge | AHL Skills Competition recap]
The weekend also was notable for what happened off the ice. Montreal, Laval, and the AHL worked together to bring the event to Quebec for the first time.
It was originally scheduled to take place there in 2021, but the coronavirus pandemic forced the AHL to postpone the event that year and in 2022. Held at Place Bell, a 10,000-seat arena located just outside Montreal, the event was sold out each night. TSN and RDS broadcast both nights live across Canada, as did NHL Network in the United States.
"[Television coverage is] really positive exposure for our brand," AHL president and CEO Scott Howson said during his state-of-the-league address Monday.
Next season, the AHL will bring the All-Star Classic to the West Coast for the second time when San Jose (San Jose Sharks) hosts it at brand-new Tech CU Arena. Ontario (Los Angeles Kings) hosted the event in California in 2020.
Howson, a former Columbus Blue Jackets general manager and Edmonton Oilers executive, is in his third season as president and CEO, having replaced Dave Andrews in July 2020. He spent much of his early tenure managing the pandemic fallout. In order to provide NHL teams with ongoing prospect player development, the AHL staged a truncated 2020-21 season. Last season, the league worked with the NHL to facilitate temporary taxi squads after the pandemic's resurgence in December 2021.
"It's been a tough 2 1/2 years," Howson said. "I was very proud of our league [for playing the 2020-21 season]. We got on the ice. I was so proud of the fact that our ownership, with a lot of NHL support [and] NHL team support, got our players on the ice.
This season the AHL welcomed its record 32nd team, Coachella Valley, the Seattle Kraken affiliate located in Palm Desert, California.
"We are trending extremely well," Howson continued. "You can look at any metric. It's going to be a record revenue year for the [AHL]. The league has come back so strong from the past two years."
Howson also implemented a uniform 72-game schedule for all 32 teams. Before this season, teams' schedules had ranged from 68 to 76 games dating to 2015-16. Last season, the AHL expanded its playoff field to 23 teams to provide postseason experience for more prospects.
Where does the AHL go next? Howson, who said he doesn't expect any team movement for next season, outlined several goals. He wants to expand the league's diversity and inclusion programming, and said that talks regarding national sponsorships have intensified in the past six months.
With the AHL back on track, growth was the theme in Laval for the league and Howson.
"We just want to keep growing it," he said, "and make it the best we can make it."
