Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer
More than a year of planning is about to turn into execution for the Rockford IceHogs.
The 2026 AHL All-Star Classic presented by BMO is set for Tuesday and Wednesday. The hours, weeks and months of work are mostly behind the Rockford front office, and next week will be go-time.
The BMO Center ice has a new look, with the artwork and advertising in place for the All-Star event. It’s one more task that had to be checked off the organizational to-do list. Next weekend, it’s back to the regular season as the Milwaukee Admirals come to town for a pair of home games.
Juggling 36 home dates and the day-to-day business of running a hockey team has been combined with preparing to welcome fans, players, coaches, management and others from across the AHL. Helping to orchestrate it have been IceHogs president of business operations Ryan Snider along with Mike Peck, the team’s vice president of marketing, content and operations.
Peck estimates that preparing for the AHL All-Star Classic has made up approximately 75 percent of the front office’s workload since the end of December, though that was not a surprise.
“We kind of knew that going in,” Peck continued, “and people had mentioned to us prior to this whole process that, ‘Hey, just so you know, it will take away a lot of your time.’ And it has, but it’s been a great process. It’s been awesome working with the league office and we’re excited to have people from around the AHL come to Rockford.”
Snider sees the event coming to Rockford as critical on two fronts. It’s a boost for business and the Rockford economy, especially coming in the middle of February. And it’s a chance to showcase BMO Center.
Snider said that more than 800 hotel nights have been booked. Local restaurants and businesses will also have visitors from 31 other AHL markets and elsewhere. Given Rockford’s location close to several Central Division neighbors, there will be an influx of visiting fans from Rockford rivals. This year is the AHL All-Star Classic’s first appearance in the American Midwest since the Grand Rapids Griffins hosted it in 2004. With a mega-air hub like Chicago a short drive away, direct travel from across the AHL map is an option as well for more far-flung fans.
“It is a really convenient city,” Peck explained. “There is everything that you’d want here. We have some great local restaurants, so you’re going to find great food. There’s a really great convenience getting around this town.”
When those fans arrive, they will see that more than $30 million of renovations have gone into refurbishing BMO Center as well. Opened in 1981, the building barely resembles its former self. Among the upgrades are a new scoreboard and sound system, LED ribbon boards, digital dasher boards, improvements to the building’s office space and club spaces, a new bar and a refreshed exterior. It’s a much different building than the one that housed the IceHogs when they joined the AHL in 2007.
Before the AHL All-Star Skills Competition on Tuesday, fans can head to a block party outside of the arena. Free and open to the public, the winter-themed event will feature several activities and food options for fans.
“I really think fans are going to be blown away,” Peck said. “I know I’m really excited to show off our building.”
For IceHogs fans, there are longer-range goals with maintaining and expanding a crucial part of any hockey team’s business, its season-ticket base. The team included the event in season-ticket packages.
“We wanted all of our season-ticket members to have access to those tickets,” Snider stressed, “and they’ve really come through strong for us. We’ve moved a large number of tickets to our season-ticket base.”
There is also the intangible of civic pride. It can be difficult to quantify exactly, but Snider says that he can sense it in Rockford.
“It’s one of those things where the community of Rockford can have an event that they can feel really proud about,” Snider said, “that they’re able to attract a national event, that we put our name in the hat against other markets out there, and the league put their trust in us to execute really what is their pre-eminent event annually.
“That says a lot about Rockford. And that’s one of the main reasons we wanted to host this event. It’s really for the community pride, to bring something special to this community that they could be proud of, that they could showcase to the world with the game being broadcast across North America on NHL Network and TSN and regionally here on CHSN.
“It’s going to put a spotlight on our region, and I think that’s something for our market to be really proud of.”
From the renovations to strengthening and expanding a fan base to the inspiration to host and now the lengthy process of taking that idea and making it reality, the Rockford front office is almost there. There is some more work still to go, but the IceHogs and their city will be able to have an event that they can remember long after it ends.
“It’s been a lot of work,” Peck said, “but we know it’s going to pay off in the end.”
On the American Hockey League beat for two decades, TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams also currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for his outstanding coverage of the league in 2016.