Cumberland native Dave Ahlers was honored by the American Hockey League as the winner of the annual James H. Ellery Award in the radio category.

Ahlers completed his eighth season as the play-by-play voice of the Portland Pirates and is also the team’s director of communications/broadcasting and team services. Last season, the University of Maine alumnus also oversaw the editing of event publications and supplied content for the All-Star section of the team’s Web site: portlandpirates.com.

These awards, which honor a man who was the AHL’s league secretary and publicity director for 17 years, have been presented since 1964. The Ellery Award is given in recognition of outstanding contributions to the progress of the AHL. A recipient is selected in three categories (radio, print, television) each year.

Ahlers also served as the executive producer of the AHL All-Star Classic radio broadcast. He selected the on-air team and developed the format for the event’s live coverage – heard locally on the Pirates Radio Network and worldwide via the league’s Web site: theahl.com – and was the arena/sidelines reporter for the TV broadcast of the game, providing interviews and league insight. The live broadcast of the game was seen all through the United States and Canada. It was seen locally on New England Sports Network.

Cooper on ESPN special

The latest installment of ESPN’s Behind the Lines series – Winning At All Costs – aired for the first time last night, but for those who missed it, there will be two more chances to see it.

The special, which takes an in-depth look on the evolution of performance-enhancing drugs and how they have affected professional and amateur sports, will include a reference and sound bite from former University of Maine linebacker Stephen Cooper.

Warm up your VCR’s because the rebroadcasts will air on ESPN Saturday, July 12 at 4:30 a.m. and Sunday, July 27 at 4 a.m.

Cooper was arrested last year for possession of a large amount of steroid pills. The audio and video material concerning Cooper in the show was taken from footage provided by Bangor ABC affiliate WVII (Channel 7) and sports director Nate Long.

Nation of players

The National Basketball Association’s 24-hour television network – NBA TV – has debuted its own original series called NBA Player Nation. The series is made up of six, half-hour shows focusing on the $20 billion sports-related video game industry.

The series is hosted by Joumana Kidd, wife of point guard Jason Kidd, and features exclusive interviews with NBA players, previews of upcoming NBA game releases along with an in-depth look into how games are created, analysis of the technology used for the games, and a look at the motion-capture technology which mimics certain players’ signature moves.

NBA TV is available on DirecTV and EchoStar (Dish Network) satellite TV systems, but is not yet on any cable TV systems nationwide. The series will run through July and into August.

USA aces golf ratings

USA Network’ 12-hour, live coverage of the PGA Tour’s Bank of America Colonial golf tournament set ratings records.

The cable network’s Friday afternoon and early evening coverage (May 23) broke a PGA TOUR event record with a 2.9 household rating (2.5 million households, 3 million viewers) over a five-hour period. Viewership for the tournament peaked at 5 PM (eastern) with a household rating of 3.6 (3.1 million households, 3.8 million viewers). USA’s previous high rating for a Friday live telecast of a PGA event was a 1.9 household rating (1.5 million households, 1.8 million viewers) during the 2000 NEC Invitational.

USA’s two-day overall household rating average of 2.1 (1.8 million households, 2.2 million viewers) also set a network ratings record for a PGA event, as the previous two-day overall household ratings record was 1.4 (1.2 million households, 1.4 million viewers) recorded at the 2002 The Players Championship.

Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600, or aneff@bangordailynews.net