ECHL All-Stars Defeat Adirondack 8-7

GLENS FALLS, N.Y. – The ECHL All-Stars defeated the Adirondack Thunder 8-7 on Wednesday in the 2017 CCM/ECHL All-Star Classic.

With two goals and two assists, Matt Garbowsky of the Colorado Eagles was named the game’s Most Valuable Player.

Alex Wideman from Indy opened the scoring with 17:41 remaining in the first half, converting on a pass from Garbowsky, who then extended the lead to 2-0 with 11:38 left when he beat Adirondack goaltender Drew Fielding on a semi-breakaway.

The All-Stars took a 3-0 lead with 1:27 remaining in the first half when Brampton’s David Vallorani took a cross-crease pass from Atlanta’s Justin Buzzeo and beat Fielding.

Adirondack got on the board with 22 seconds remaining in the first half when Nick Bligh beat Tulsa’s Jamie Phillips with a wrist shot from the left-wing circle, but the All-Stars restored their three-goal lead just nine seconds later when Wideman got behind the defense and beat Fielding for his second goal of the night.

Between halves, three skills events were contested – puck relay, hardest shot and fastest skater – with the winning team in each event receiving one goal towards the score.

The Thunder gained a point by winning the puck relay event and closed to within 4-3 with a win by Stepan Falkovsky, who had a shot of 99 miles per hour. Cincinnati’s Eric Knodel was second with a shot of 96 miles per hour.

The ECHL All-Stars took home the point in the fastest skater competition, as South Carolina’s Steven McParland posted the fastest time at 13.62 seconds. Patch Alber of Adirondack finished second at 13.85 seconds.

Vallorani scored his second goal of the game with 23:21 left to extend the All-Stars lead to 6-3, but two quick strikes from Brian Ward and James Henry made it a one-goal game with 18:24 remaining.

With 13:48 left in the second half, Garbowsky notched his second goal of the night to give the All-Stars a 7-5 lead but Brett Pollock answered for Adirondack just 47 seconds later to close the gap to one.

Fort Wayne’s Shawn Szydlowski scored with 2:55 left to give the All-Stars an 8-6 lead and the Thunder’s Dana Fraser scored with 11.3 seconds left to set the final.

Photo: Erin Coker