It was the "long-awaited" affair between Team Lidstrom vs. Team Staal on Sunday. The final result: a very All-Star Game like 11-10 for Team Lidstrom including eight goals in the first period and eight goals in the last period. 21 goals combined is the fourth most in NHL All-Star Game history, as written by E.J. Hradek.
Again, this was the first All-Star Game to use captains and a draft. Nicklas Lidstrom, a perennial All-Star defenseman, and Eric Staal, the captain of the hometown Carolina Hurricanes, were the captains of each team. The game was played in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Also, a nice treat was given out to the last pick of the draft, the Toronto Maple Leafs' Phil Kessel. Kessel was given a brand new car and $20,000 to a charity of his choice. On a humourous note, a twitter account named DownGoesBrown said: "Phil Kessel wins a new car. It looks nice and it's really expensive, but it refuses to drive to the net."
I agree with another thing Hradek said. He said that if All-Star weekend continues with this format, "and I see no reason why they won't - they'd be wise to insist that one of the captains come from the host city. It creates a 'home team.'"
Do I like this format? Not really, but if it brings more fans to the game of Hockey and creates interest in All-Star Weekend, I am all for it.
According to nbcsports.com, it did.
"Luckily for the NHL, the weekend’s events produced great numbers in both the United States (on Versus) and Canada (on CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada)."
Lastly, a quick overview of tonight's action. In a wild one, no pun intended, the Minnesota Wild won 1-0 over the Los Angeles Kings. The Wild had a shutout on strong goaltending by Niklas Backstrom.
And the Vancouver Canucks have gained first spot in the NHL tonight with a 4-1 win over the Dallas Stars at the American Airlines Center. The Canucks scored twice on the power play with goals from Mikael Samuelsson and Christian Ehrhoff.
I know it's early but can we start talking playoffs soon? Only 3 points separate the 4th through 8th seeds, and only 10 points between 4th and 13th. The next 2 months could really shape up to be a Wild West. This is clearly a west coast bias, but based on last season's outcome, and the depth the western conference has in terms of competitive teams, I think the Stanley Cup Champions will come out of the west again. There are just too many good teams and the east doesn't match up.
ReplyDeleteI just got done watching a replay of the All-Star draft on the NHL channel! Super sick, just like in the backyard during elementary school. NBA needs to do the same thing. Funny as hell watching that guy get the car too! Didn't watch the game itself but heard it was entertaining.
ReplyDeleteOn the subject of all-star games, the Pro Bowl has become a non-event that draws little to no attention. Since it is already so underplayed, what if athletes earned the right to choose what position they played? I know its risking injury, but the season is over, and its not like they play all that hard. It could be entertaining to watch receivers and defensive backs go up against each other on the line of scrimmage while a defensive end dropped back into the pocket to look for an open offensive lineman running across the middle.
ReplyDeleteAs a huge Minnesota Wild fan, I love the mention of the team's great win tonight behind a great performance from Backstrom. Go Wild!
ReplyDeleteTim Hortons
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the comments!
ReplyDeleteTalking to Pasadena and the whole Western Conference, it is crazy. So many solid teams in the West. A team has to have over 90 points to make the playoffs. It's insane. And it's never too early to talk about playoffs...
In regards to the Pro Bowl and the positions, I don't know if that would be a great idea. First, they got into the All-Star Game because of how they played in their respective positions and sure the fans would like it, for the first couple years. After that no one would watch.
And I appreciate it Kiger and Tim! And to whoever mentioned the Tim Hortons, THANK YOU!
Jonny: Good to see you links are embedded. This post is pretty messy. In the first graf, why is "long-awaited" in quotes? In stead of "vs." it shoul dbe "and." The number "21" should be spelled out when the number appears as the first word in a sentence (AP style). Why does "Again" appear at the beginning of the second graf. AP style is "NC" not "North Carolina." Don't be shy about checking these details in your styleguide. Also, hockey should not be capitalized. These little things seriously detract from what you have to say, which is pretty interesting. Work at writing clean copy and that conforms to journalism style. Score = 8
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