Bolland Among All-Star Weekend Roster Additions

From chicagoblackhawks.com (link)

Having produced a marvelous first half of the 2008-09 season that has him fifth in the League with 24 goals, San Jose center Patrick Marleau now has a spot in the 2009 NHL All-Star Game to show for it. Having been named to the 2008 All-Rookie Team, Montreal goaltender Carey Price has chosen to do double-duty by coming to the aid of his class and will play goal for the sophomores in the 2009 NHL YoungStars Game presented by Upper Deck in addition to starting for the Eastern Conference in the All-Star Game.

Marleau and Dallas Stars defenseman Stephane Robidas have been named to the Western Conference team to replace injured Detroit Red Wings Pavel Datsyuk and Nicklas Lidstrom, respectively, in the 57th NHL All-Star Game in Montreal’s Bell Centre on Sunday (6 p.m. ET, RDS, CBC, VERSUS, NHL Radio).

Price received more votes than any goaltender in history in being chosen an All-Star starter by fans and will work the first period for the Eastern Conference Sunday evening. With the sophomores left without a goalie because of an injury to Los Angeles’ Erik Ersberg, Price will jump between the pipes for his classmates in their match against the League’s rookies during the 2009 Honda/NHL SuperSkills® on Saturday (7 p.m. ET, RDS, CBC, VERSUS, NHL Radio).

This will be the third All-Star Game appearance for Marleau, who also played in the 2004 and 2007 mid-winter classics. Robidas, a native of Sherbrooke, Quebec, will be making his NHL All-Star debut while returning home to the city where he broke into the league with the Canadiens.

"To be an All-Star anywhere would be great," Robidas said. "But to play in Montreal, that will be something very special."

Sophomores Dave Bolland of Chicago and David Perron of St. Louis and rookie goaltender Pekka Rinne of Nashville will experience how special an All-Star Weekend in Montreal can be when they join their respective YoungStars lineups Saturday night.

Bolland, who has scored eight goals with 17 assists and played to a plus-14 rating for the Blackhawks, will take the place of Boston’s Milan Lucic. Blues winger Perron, who has racked up 25 assists to go with five goals, will step in for Washington’s Nicklas Backstrom.

The place of Columbus’ Steve Mason in the rookies’ net will be taken by Nashville’s Rinne, who is 10-7 with a 2.33 goals against average and .916 save percentage.

The 2009 NHL All-Star Weekend in Montreal will celebrate the Montreal Canadiens’ Centennial season with live national broadcasts of the Honda/NHL SuperSkills on Saturday, Jan. 24, and the NHL All-Star Game on Sunday, Jan. 25, on CBC and RDS in Canada and VERSUS in the United States. NASN, ASN, J Sports, Sky Mexico, Fox Sports Australia and other NHL international broadcast partners will provide live coverage of both the Honda/NHL SuperSkills event and the NHL All-Star Game to more than 150 countries and territories in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, the Pacific Rim, Mexico and the Caribbean. NHL Radio will provide exclusive, national radio coverage which can be heard on stations around the United States and Canada as well as on Sirius XM Radio's NHL Home Ice, located at XM channel 204 and on SIRIUS channel 208 with the “Best of XM” programming package. NHL.com and NHL Network will provide extensive coverage of the All-Star Weekend.