Brodeur named as All-Star

(Rochester, NY)... The American Hockey League announced today that Rochester Americans goaltender Mike Brodeur has been selected as one of three goaltenders to man the pipes for the Canadian All-Stars in the 2009 AHL All-Star Classic. "Im kind of at a loss for words, its an honor and a privilege to be chosen to the All-Star Game," said Brodeur. "Weve been playing great as a team and that accounts for it." Brodeur joins Amerks captain and veteran defenseman Rory Fitzpatrick, who was named the captain of the PlanetUSA team by the AHL last month. The 25-year-old netminder joined Rochester in early December on a 25-game professional tryout (PTO) and since shows an 8-3-1 record with a 1.59 goals-against average and .944 save percentage in 12 games between the pipes for the Amerks. His two shutouts also tie him for third among AHL goaltenders. He has now started 12 of the last 13 games for Rochester, including nine straight. Brodeur was named the Reebok/AHL Player of the Week for period ending December 14, 2008 after posting a 3-2-0 record to go along with one shutout as the Amerks completed a stretch of playing five games in six nights from December 9th to December 14th. Rochester opens its first home slate of the New Year on Friday, January 9th as the Syracuse Crunch travel west down the I-90 interstate to The Blue Cross Arena. The 7:35 p.m. North Division contest will be the fifth of 12 scheduled meetings between the longtime foes this season. Rochester earned its first win of the season against Syracuse in a 1-0 whitewash in the previous encounter between the two teams on December 14th at The Blue Cross Arena. The win snapped a 13-game losing streak to the Crunch dating back to last season. The Amerks are 1-3-0-0 this season and 79-70-15 all-time against the Columbus Blue Jackets affiliate.