NELSON TO COACH CENTRAL DIVISION IN 2017 AHL ALL-STAR CLASSIC

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Grand Rapids Griffins head coach Todd Nelson has earned the honor to coach the Central Division in the 2017 AHL All-Star Classic presented by Capital BlueCross, to be held Jan. 29-30 at the PPL Center in Allentown, Pa.

Thanks to Grand Rapids’ 5-2 win tonight against Rockford, the Griffins have clinched the best points percentage (0.694) in the division through the end of play on Dec. 31, meriting Nelson’s accolade.

In his seventh season as an AHL head coach, Nelson, 47, will be making his second trip to the AHL All-Star Classic as a coach, after he previously served as co-coach for the Western Conference at the 2012 All-Star Classic in Atlantic City, N.J.

Nelson will become the third head coach in Griffins history to coach in an all-star game, joining Jeff Blashill in 2014 and Bruce Cassidy in 2002 (AHL) and 2001 (IHL).

The 10th head coach in Griffins history, Nelson has guided Western Conference-leading Grand Rapids to a 20-8-1-2 (0.694) record in his second season as head coach, marking the franchise’s third-best start through 31 games that trails only the 2000-01 (22-6-3, 0.758) and 2013-14 (22-7-1-1, 0.742) teams.

Nelson led the Griffins to an eight-game point streak from Nov. 25-Dec. 9 to mark the sixth straight season in which he has led his team to a points run of at least eight. Nelson helped direct the Griffins’ vaunted league-leading power play attack to a franchise-record tying 13 consecutive games with a power play goal (Nov. 9-Dec. 7).

A native of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Nelson shows a 64-38-2-3 (0.621) record as bench boss of the Griffins and he authored both a 15- and 13-game winning streak last season, the two longest runs in franchise history. As an AHL head coach, he is 240-149-14-37 (0.603).

The second former Griffins player to be employed as Grand Rapids’ head coach, Nelson was the first player ever signed to a Griffins contract on July 24, 1996, prior to the team’s inaugural season. One of the most accomplished defensemen in Grand Rapids history, he skated through parts of four seasons with the team and ranks seventh overall in club history with a plus-53 rating.

The 2017 AHL All-Star Classic will begin on Sunday, Jan. 29 at 7:30 p.m. with the traditional AHL All-Star Skills Competition. All-Stars from the Eastern Conference will square off against All-Stars from the Western Conference in seven skills events, including hardest shot, fastest skater and accuracy shooting.

Then on Monday, Jan. 30 at 7 p.m., the 2017 AHL All-Star Challenge will take place. The league’s all-stars will be divided into four teams, representing each of the league’s divisions (Atlantic, North, Central, Pacific), and the teams will participate in a round-robin tournament featuring six games of 10 minutes each, played entirely at 3-on-3. The two teams with the best records at the end of the round-robin will face off for the championship, a six-minute game also played at 3-on-3. Last year’s inaugural All-Star Challenge was won by the Central Division, as Jeff Hoggan (captain) and Xavier Ouellet represented the Griffins.

Rosters for each team will be composed of 10 skaters and two goaltenders each. All 30 AHL teams will be represented by at least one All-Star player. The coach for each team will be the AHL head coach whose team has the highest points percentage in each division at the end of play on Dec. 31.