January 13, 2008

Sioux City's Bobby Kinsella (left) and Indiana's Scott McConnell have been named associate coaches for the 2008 USHL Prospects/All-Star Game on January 29.
Kinsella, McConnell Round Out All-Star Coaching Staffs

The United States Hockey League is pleased to announce that Indiana Ice Associate Coach Scott McConnell and Sioux City Assistant Coach Bobby Kinsella will join guest coaches Pat Funk and Fred Bandel on the benches for the 2008 USHL Prospects/All-Star Game, to be held January 29, 2008 at the Resch Center in Green Bay, Wis.

Coaches are selected from the teams that sit atop their respective divisions when the league reaches the halfway point in the schedule, which is the 30-game mark. The USHL started using this system in the 1999-2000 season.

Funk and McConnell will coach the East Division (Team RBK) while Bandel and Kinsella will work with the West Division (Team CCM). McConnell will be making his first appearance in the Prospects/All-Star Game, while Kinsella will be making his second. He helped the West Division win last year's event, 7-3 over the East Division.

Previous assistant coaches selected for the event include:

East Division: Dave Holum (Green Bay), Ian Kallay (Green Bay), A.J. Toews (Cedar Rapids), Chris Tok (Waterloo), Eric Rud (Cedar Rapids), Scott Meyer (Cedar Rapids), Todd Knott (Des Moines), Shane Fukushima (Waterloo) and Derrick Johnson (Waterloo).

West Division: Tom Mutch (Omaha), Steve Ross (Lincoln), Fred Harbinson (Sioux City), Mark Pivetz (Lincoln), Tom Rudrud (Tri-City), Keith Fisher (Omaha) and Doug Schueller (Sioux Falls).

The game will be preceded by the 2008 USHL Prospects/All-Star Game Banquet, held Monday, January 28 at Shopko Hall, which is adjacent to the Resch Center. The keynote speaker for the banquet will be Mark Johnson, head women's hockey coach at the University of Wisconsin and a member of the gold medal winning 1980 United States Olympic team. The banquet will also feature an auction and the presentation of the 2008 USHL Distinguished Service Awards.

Tickets for both the banquet and the game are available. For more information on the event, including auction items that will be available as well as hotel and travel information, visit the event online at www.gamblershockey.com, www.ushl.com or www.ushlallstargame.com. You may also contact the Gamblers by phone at (920) 405-1237.

The USHL is America's only Tier I league and the premier path for developing players in America. The league has over 135 current players committed to Division I colleges and 19 players that have been selected in the NHL Draft. For more information on the USHL and its member teams, visit us on the web at www.ushl.com