The respective conference coaches and support crew for the 2005 Central Hockey League All-Star Game have been determined, based upon highest team winning percentage following the completion of all games played on December 19th. Chris Stewart of the Colorado Eagles will lead the Northern Conference squad at the January 12th All-Star Game in Laredo, Texas, and will be joined by Eagles Equipment Manager Tony Deynzer and Athletic Trainer Chris Porowski. Representing the Northern Conference on the All-Star radio broadcast will be John Brooks of the Oklahoma City Blazers. Coaching the Southern Conference All-Star team will Chris Dashney of the Lubbock Cotton Kings, with Cotton Kings Equipment Manager Rusty Aldridge and Athletic Trainer Bobby Franco also attending. Chris Due of the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees will represent the Southern Conference on the All-Star radio broadcast.

In his twenty-first season of coaching, sixth in the CHL and second with Colorado, Stewart ranks fifth all time in wins among CHL coaches with 218, including 13 in the current season, giving the Eagles the top current conference winning percentage of .714. A former CHL Coach of the Year (with Huntsville in 1998/1999 season), Stewart also coached the Eastern team at the 1999 CHL All-Star Game in Oklahoma City. Deynzer, a Peoria, Illinois native, is in his second season with Colorado, and in his third season with coach Stewart. Porowski, from Dayton, Ohio, is a 1998 graduate of Wilmington College, and joined the Eagles in their 2003/2004 inaugural season. The venerable Brooks is in his 27th and final season as the play-by-play voice of professional hockey in Oklahoma City, and the number 27 will be retired at the Blazers game on March 11th, 2005 in honor of his distinguished service. Brooks previously served as the play-by-play voice for the University of Oklahoma football and basketball teams for several seasons in the 1980’s, and is a six-time National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Oklahoma Sportscaster of the Year.

A 2-time CHL All-Star as a player, Lubbock’s Chris Dashney earns All-Star coaching honors in his first season as a head coach. A former assistant coach with Doug Sauter and the Oklahoma City Blazers, the St. Lawrence University graduate has led the Cotton Kings to a record of 14-6-2 this season, the top mark in the CHL’s Southern Conference. Last season, the club didn’t earn their 14th victory of the season until February 12th. Aldridge is a veteran equipment manager in the CHL in his second full year with the Cotton Kings, and earlier this season worked his 500th game. In his first year with the Cotton Kings, Franco has a Kinesiology Degree from Midwestern State University and will be working his first All-Star contest. Due, a 28 year-old native of Fort Worth, Texas brings 10 years of experience working in professional sports and hockey, and earned WPHL Public Relations Executive of the Year honors in 2001 while with the Lubbock Cotton Kings. Due will be working his second All-Star Game, having participated in the 2000 WPHL All-Star contest in Amarillo.

The starting lineups for both the Northern and Southern Conference All-Star teams will be announced Wednesday, December 22nd, with the remainder of the All-Star rosters announced the following Wednesday. The six starters from each conference are determined through balloting among all CHL coaches, broadcasters/public relations staff and media members in each CHL market, with the reserves selected by the All-Star coaches in conjunction with the CHL’s hockey operations department.