RUSH TO HOLD ALL-STAR GAME WATCH PARTIES

(RAPID CITY, SD) – The Rapid City Rush, proud ECHL affiliate of the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes, has partnered with loyal corporate sponsors, Native New Yorker and Buffalo Wild Wings, watch party locations for Rush away games, to show the ECHL All-Star Game, featuring Rush defenseman Michael Young, tonight at 6 p.m. MST.

The 2017 All-Star Game features Rush defenseman, Michael Young, who earned his first career All-Star Game selection this season. Fans can watch the game at both Native New Yorker and Buffalo Wild Wings at 6 p.m. and cheer Michael on, and also earn a chance to win one of two signed sticks at each location.

The 2017 CCM/ECHL All-Star Classic, presented by I LOVE NY will feature the ECHL All-Stars facing off against the hometown Adirondack Thunder. The game will be played in a non-traditional format to incorporate both the game and a skills competition into an all-encompassing experience for fans in one night. The event will be played as two 25-minute halves with the skills competition to be held in between. The event will be televised throughout North America to showcase the league’s best talent.

The first portion of the event will be a 25-minute half, played entirely as 5-on-5 hockey between the All-Stars and the Thunder. Following the completion of the first half of play, the scores will carry over into the Skills Competition, which will be played during the intermission.

The Skills Competition will feature three events: Fastest Skater, Hardest Shot and Skills Relay. Each Skills Competition event will feature competitors from both the All-Stars and the Thunder and the winning team in each event will receive one goal (point) towards their overall score, with a total of three goals (points) available from the Skills Competition.

The second half will again feature a 25-minute stanza, but will incorporate some of the new and exciting situations typically featured during ECHL overtime. The half will begin with 10 minutes of 5-on-5 play but the first whistle after the 15-minute mark will see the teams switch to 4-on-4. At the first whistle following the 10-minute mark, the teams will switch again, this time to a 3-on-3 format, which will be carried out through the remainder of the game. At the end of the second half, the team with the most goals (points) from the first half, skills competition and second half combined will be the winner of the 2017 CCM/ECHL All-Star Classic, presented by I LOVE NY. In the event that the score is tied, a sudden death, five-minute, 3-on-3 overtime period will be played to determine the winner. If the event is still tied, a three-player shootout will commence to determine the winner.

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