Mike Carcone Takes On 2023 AHL All-Star Weekend In Laval
Laval, QC – Tucson Roadrunners forward Mike Carcone represented the Roadrunners and the AHL’s Pacific Division over the weekend at the AHL All-Star Classic in Laval. This season marked Carcone’s first time being named an AHL All-Star, as he currently leads the American Hockey League in total scoring with 22 goals and 40 assists for 62 points across 39 outings with Tucson. The 26-year-old also participated in three of the seven events in Sunday’s AHL All-Star Skills Competition.
In Monday’s AHL All-Star Classic, Carcone tallied four assists over four three-on-three matchups, as the Pacific Division earned their first ever victory in the event with a 1-0 win over the Atlantic Division in the final. Carcone’s four assists led all skaters, while his four total points were tied for fourth in the event behind three of his Pacific Division teammates.
All four of Carcone’s assists were on goals by Bakersfield Condors forward Seth Griffith, who led the event with five total goals. After a 2-2 tie with the hosting North Division to open the event, the Pacific Division earned a 6-2 win over the Atlantic Division followed by a 5-2 victory against the Central Division to advance to the final. In a rematch against the Atlantic for the trophy, Carcone tallied the primary assist on the only goal of the game in the Pacific’s 1-0 win in the final. He ended the event as a plus-two overall with five total shots on goal.
Carcone’s performance of four assists at the All-Star Classic this season is tied for the second-most points by a Roadrunners All-Star, matching forward Dylan Strome’s four points (3g 1a) and trailing defenseman Kyle Capobianco’s six points (3g 3a) from the 2018 All-Star Classic in Utica, NY. He joins Strome, Capobianco, Brayden Burke (2020), Michael Bunting (2019), Kyle Wood (2017) and Christian Fischer (2017) as Tucson All-Star representatives to tally at least three points in the event.
In Sunday’s AHL All-Star Skills Competition, Carcone was the first participant out of six to compete in the Fastest Skater event, finishing in second place with a time of 13.282. He trailed only Hershey Bears forward Ethen Frank, who set an AHL All-Star record with a time of 12.915. Carcone’s lap would have also taken first place at this season’s Fastest Skater Competition in the National Hockey League, as well as in five of the last six NHL Fastest Skater events. He also competed in the RONA Accuracy Shooting and Upper Deck Breakaway Relay challenges, as the Western Conference fell to the Eastern Conference by a count of 16 to 10.
The Roadrunners will return to the ice from the AHL All-Star Break on Friday, February 10, for the first of two games on the road with the Abbotsford Canucks. Tucson is 2-0 against the AHL affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks after a two-game series sweep at the Tucson Arena January 28 and 29. The Roadrunners next home contest is slated for Saturday, February 18 against the Henderson Silver Knights.
