MAITLAND, FLA – Over the years, the CCM/ECHL All-Star Classic has evolved into one of minor league sports’ premiere events. Combined with the FanFest and the ECHL Hall of Fame induction ceremony, the league’s mid-winter showcase has become a celebration of both the game and the fans.

When Joe Haleski, Jason Siegel and the Orlando Solar Bears entered the ECHL, one of their goals was to bring the All-Star Game to the City Beautiful and show the league that Orlando knows how to put on a first-class event. That confidence will be put to the test next week as the ECHL comes to Central Florida with the game set for Wednesday, January 21st.

“From Day One, we had always discussed how do we get this game to Orlando within our first three to five years. To have it in year three we thought was aggressive,” Siegel, the Solar Bears’ President and C.E.O., said. “Everything fell in place.”

During the interview, Siegel made reference to how getting and putting on the event “takes a village” and he was quite serious. Starting with the original bid package, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer’s office and Visit Orlando (the presenting sponsor) provided help and support with showing the ECHL’s Board of Governors that the city met all of the league’s criteria for hosting the game. Since being selected, the team’s corporate partners have been there with financial and logistical support.

“When you get the bid packet from the league, you have to meet criteria in twenty different areas – transportation, hotels, all the things related to FanFest, all the things related to the game. You need media partners involved,” he said. “So we went [to] transportation, hotel, all of our media partners – radio, TV, outdoor advertising, newspaper/print and social. Obviously we went to our big corporate partners. Community-wise, the DDB (Downtown Development Board), Visit Orlando, the city of Orlando, Orlando Venues, the Central Florida Sports Commission and slowly but surely Phil Rawlins at Orlando City Soccer (Major League Soccer) and Alex Martins at the Orlando Magic (NBA) who are the shareholders. John Bisignano [at the Sports Commission] is tasked with bringing great events to Orlando. At the time we had only been here two years but these were all of our friends and partners that we asked to help us and help the community and they’ve all stepped up. We leaned on an awful lot of people to help us.”

The key component for the Solar Bears in planning the event was the community and the fans. What normally would be a two-day affair has been expanded to six days by integrating the Orlando Youth Hockey Association’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Tournament into the celebration. Beginning on Friday afternoon, 50 teams from seven states and three Canadian provinces will play over 100 games during the four-day tournament. On Monday, players from the Solar Bears will be on hand to present awards following the championship games. Many of the players will get the added bonus of participating in a youth street hockey game in downtown Orlando on FanFest Tuesday, playing alongside both Solar Bears players and league all-stars.

“That’s what it’s about, [taking it] one step further – not just taking pictures and getting autographs but hey I went out there and played with first, second, third round picks or my idol or a young guy who may be playing in the NHL [someday],” Siegel said about the street hockey game. “Had we done this last year, they could have been running around out there with Chris Gibson and here we are a few months later and Chris has had a callup to Toronto.”

Siegel said that one of the highlights of the FanFest will be the opportunity for fans to have their picture taken with the Stanley Cup. The Solar Bears caught a break and will have the cup in Orlando for two days, allowing them to share the famous trophy with more people. Monday’s first stop will be at Florida Hospital for Children. From there it will be taken around town to TV and radio stations and other places before landing Tuesday at the Amway Center for a photo session with the fans.

“Just the Stanley Cup tour alone we couldn’t have been more aggressive. We’re going to point A and then quickly to point B and then quickly it’s going to make six or seven stops on Monday,” he said. “We’re hitting two TV stations and three radio stations Tuesday morning then we’re off and running the rest of that day. I know our fans are excited to have their picture taken with the Cup.”

FanFest will also include an interactive display from the Hockey Hall of Fame, a country music concert by artist Madeline Smith, a street festival on Church Street and the street hockey game. The event is so big that that it dwarfs what the Solar Bears staff does for a normal game day operation. Siegel said that months of work have been put in to get everything in place to make sure everything runs smoothly.

“There are a lot of moving parts. We’re writing five sets of VIP lists, three scripts and six runs of show,” he said. “There are a lot of logistical pieces that have to be in place.”

The game itself will give the team and the league plenty of exposure. The Solar Bears announced Thursday that SunSports/Fox Sports Florida will produce the television broadcast that will be seen across the country and in Canada via regional sports networks and the NHL Network. Tampa Bay Lightning radio announcer Dave Mishkin will call the game with Orlando’s play-by-play announcer Bob Mills doing color.

All of this could have been a daunting task for a group with no experience with putting on large events. Thankfully for the Solar Bears, the city has experience with hosting the NBA All-Star Game, NCAA Men’s’ Basketball early round games and two high profile NCAA football bowl games. Add that to Siegel’s past experience with hockey all-star games and planning the 2003 Stanley Cup victory parade for the New Jersey Devils and it all adds up to being able to do the ECHL proud.

Siegel said that there are still tickets available for the game. The team is hoping to break the ECHL record for All-Star Game attendance of 11,493 that was set by the Louisiana IceGators.

“The most important piece is you have to have fans and we have awesome fans,” Siegel said. “We got a really good jump with a great presale and now we’re working hard to fill the building.”

Follow us on Twitter @prohockeynews