GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Grand Rapids Griffins center Patrick Rissmiller has been selected to play for the PlanetUSA AHL All-Star Team at the 2010 Time Warner Cable AHL All-Star Classic, which will be held Jan. 18-19 at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland, Maine.

Since being reassigned to the Griffins by the New York Rangers on Oct. 22, the 31-year-old Rissmiller has registered points in 18 of 29 games to rank among the team’s leaders with nine goals (3rd), 15 assists (1st), 24 points (T1st), four power play goals (T3rd) and two game-winning goals (T2nd). He has gone scoreless in consecutive games just twice as a Griffin, posting four separate three-game point streaks and registering his 100th pro goal (Oct. 30), 200th pro assist (Dec. 13) and 300th pro point (Dec. 9).

Rissmiller, who counts two full seasons with the San Jose Sharks (2006-08) among his five years of NHL experience, earned two assists in six games with Hartford this season before joining the Griffins.

A native of Belmont, Mass., Rissmiller is the first Griffins forward to be selected to play in an AHL All-Star Classic since Kip Miller captained PlanetUSA at the 2007 edition in Winnipeg. In each of the past two seasons, a defenseman and goaltender represented Grand Rapids at the event (2009: D Jakub Kindl and G Daniel Larsson; 2008: D Jonathan Ericcson and G Jimmy Howard).

Rissmiller will be joined in Portland by five former Griffins: forwards Alexandre Giroux (Hershey), Darren Haydar (Lake Erie) and Ryan Keller (Binghamton), and defensemen Danny Groulx (Worcester) of the Canadian AHL All-Star Team, as well as forward Mark Cullen (Rockford) of the PlanetUSA All-Star Team.

Both the 2010 AHL All-Star Skills Competition on Monday, Jan. 18 (8 p.m. EST) and the 2010 AHL All-Star Game on Tuesday, Jan. 19 (6 p.m. EST) will be televised live nationally in the United States and Canada.

2010 Time Warner Cable AHL All-Star Classic
Jan. 18-19 at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland, Maine

PlanetUSA AHL All-Star Team

Forwards
x-Keith Aucoin, Hershey
x-Brandon Bochenski, Norfolk
Mark Cullen, Rockford
Lars Eller, Peoria
Dan Fritsche, Syracuse
x-Nathan Gerbe, Portland
Christian Hanson, Toronto
Mikko Lehtonen, Providence
Graham Mink, Rochester (“C”)
Patrick Rissmiller, Grand Rapids
Sergei Shirokov, Manitoba
Jack Skille, Rockford
Brett Sterling, Chicago

Defensemen
John Carlson, Hershey
Jonas Junland, Peoria
Bobby Sanguinetti, Hartford
Sean Sullivan, San Antonio
x-Ivan Vishnevskiy, Texas
Viatcheslav Voynov, Manchester
x-Mike Weber, Portland
Andy Wozniewski, Providence

Goaltenders
Anton Khudobin, Houston
x-Michal Neuvirth, Hershey
Alexander Salak, Rochester

Head Coach: Mark Morris, Manchester
Assistant Coach: Scott Pellerin, Manchester

Canadian AHL All-Star Team

Forwards
x-Logan Couture, Worcester
Tyler Ennis, Portland
x-Alexandre Giroux, Hershey
Andrew Gordon, Hershey
Darren Haydar, Lake Erie
Jason Jaffray, Abbotsford
x-Dustin Jeffrey, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton
Ryan Keller, Binghamton
Charles Linglet, Springfield
Corey Locke, Hartford
Jon Matsumoto, Adirondack
Cal O’Reilly, Milwaukee
Martin St. Pierre, Binghamton

Defensemen
x-Nolan Baumgartner, Manitoba (“C”)
Tyler Eckford, Lowell
Keaton Ellerby, Rochester
Danny Groulx, Worcester
Mark Katic, Bridgeport
Maxim Noreau, Houston
Bryan Rodney, Albany
x-P.K. Subban, Hamilton

Goaltenders
x-Jonathan Bernier, Manchester
Cedrick Desjardins, Hamilton
Brent Krahn, Texas

Head Coach: Mark French, Hershey
Assistant Coach: Troy Mann, Hershey

x-starters, as determined by fan balloting