Monday, January 30, 2012

Quick All-Star Game Recap


It was a pretty good show that the NHL and their All-Stars put on over the weekend, some oohs and ahhs throughout the weekend, not to mention a number of good laughs and that's really what the whole thing is about.  The All-Star weekend is meant to be a show for fun and entertainment and I'm not sure how much more you really could have gotten out of this weekend in Ottawa.

The All-Star Skills Competition may have been won by Team Alfredsson, but the highlight of the night was likely when Zdeno Chara of the Boston Bruins (and captain of his own All-Star team), set a new NHL record for the hardest shot, bombing the net at 108.8 mph.  Chara was crushing the puck in the competition, shooting rarely below 105 mph.  Shea Weber of Team Alfredsson was no slouch, he had one top over 106 mph, which is also freakishly fantastic.

The game itself was fairly entertaining, with microphones on a number of players, getting the full effect of how much the players, themselves, enjoyed the weekend and the game, which to me, is just as fun.  Team Chara walked away with a solid 12-9 victory over Team Alfredsson, on the shoulders of Marian Gaborik, who had a hat-trick and an assist to take the MVP honours for the game.  Gaborik lit up New York Rangers teammate Henrik Lundqvist for a couple of goals to open the game, which was highly entertaining, since they were chirping about playing against each other, long before the draft on Thursday night.

PhotobucketAs for the Draft, we had a clear winner for points in the game and thankfully, there was a lot of points to be had. Wes M. led the way for all drafted teams, taking the two important players in the game for a ride, Gaborik and the winning goalie, Tim Thomas.  Wes finished up with 6 points, thanks to the two big stars and inched his way past Peter H. and Allan S..

Peter's team was led by Jarome Iginla, who had a goal and 2 assists, and was complimented by Milan Michalek, who had a goal and an assist.  Allan had Jason Pominville and John Tavares, who each had a goal and an assist in the game and Tyler Seguin, who had an assist.

You may not have thought much of these guys' teams in the regular season, none of the top three in the All-Star Game have a team in the top 10 in the regular season, but if they put money on their side in a side bet, they may have come away quite well.

Well, that's another year in the books for the All-Star Game, now we're onto the stretch drive towards the playoffs, not to mention getting the second Waiver Draft started.

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