Among the 40 players announced today, were five who participated in the 2002 World Junior Championships that concluded on January 4. Mark Popovic (Toronto St. Michael’s Majors) and Olivier Michaud (Shawinigan Cataractes) were members of Canada’s silver medal winning team, while Lukas Krajicek (Peterborough Petes) and Ales Hemsky (Hull Olympiques) played for the Czech Republic and Peter Budaj (Toronto St. Michael’s Majors) played for Slovakia.
Brian Kilrea, coach and general manager of the 2001 OHL champion Ottawa 67′s, will coach the OHL Eastern Conference All-Stars. Kilrea is the winningest coach in Canadian Hockey League history, having compiled 943 wins during his illustrious 25-year career with the 67′s.
Denis Francoeur, coach of the Lebel Conference leading Shawinigan Cataractes, will guide the QMJHL Lebel Conference All-Stars, along with Mario Durocher, coach of the Victoriaville Tigres.
The Hershey Cup CHL All-Star Series is a three-game interlocking series involving the OHL, QMJHL and the Western Hockey League. The Red Deer (Alberta) Rebels will host the WHL game on Wednesday January 23, 2002 between the OHL’s Western Conference and the WHL’s Eastern Conference. The series wraps up in Rimouski, Quebec on February 6 for the game between the WHL’s Western Conference and the QMJHL’s Dillio Conference.
