The American Hockey League — the top-farm league to the National Hockey League — is holding its All-Star Classic festivities in Springfield, Massachusetts, on Sunday and Monday.
The event showcases players from teams across the league who either have aspirations of making it to the big-league NHL, or getting back there.
"In any given year in our season, half of our players play games in both leagues, the American league and the national league, so they're going back and forth quite a bit," said Chris Nikolas, a vice president with the AHL. "So we play a big role in what happens in the National Hockey League in terms of our players, where they are coming from, where they are developing their skills."
On Sunday evening, the players will take part in a skills competition at the MassMutual Center.
Monday's All-Star Classic features four teams from each of the AHL's divisions competing in a round-robin tournament. The format includes mini-games using three skaters and a goal tender — very similar to what takes place during overtime in the regular season.
Professional hockey in Springfield has enjoyed a resurgence at the box office in recent years.
The Thunderbirds have been averaging more than 4,500 fans a game over their first three years in existence. Their predecessor, the Falcons, were near the bottom in league attendance over their last four years in town, before leaving in 2016.
Thunderbirds President Nathan Costa said an especially good second half of last season, attendance-wise, was key in attracting the AHL's all-star activities.
"The league wanted to make sure that we could sustain that, that we would have people in the seats," Costa said. "We've worked really hard at doing that, and I think that's really what's led us to host this event and and have everyone from across the American Hockey League come out to Springfield, and check out what the city's done in the last couple of years."
As for this season, The Thunderbirds are averaging 4,649 fans per game, which is more than two geographical rivals in Connecticut: Bridgeport (3,940 going into this weekend) and Hartford (3,425).
This will be the first time the AHL all-star event will take place in Springfield since 1959.