This Hour Has 22 Minutes at the All Star Game

If you have not seen the footage of it, it's worth a look.



T Tags: This+Hour+has+22+Minutes NHL+All+Star+Game 2009 video

This is a different Kovalev

THIS Alexei Kovalev and THIS Alexei Kovalev:




.....is a lot different than THIS Alexei Kovalev:




And that folks, is a good thing. Even if he is a stinky Hab. It's good to see AK27 evolve to where he is today as far as integrity goes.

Tech Tags: Alexei+Kovalev 2009+All+Star+Game+MVP evolution maturity Canadiens+hero

2009 NHL Super Skills Competition live coverage

TV: CBC

The panel gets into all the Lecavalier to Montreal BS. It's the big topic lately. But the Lightning are only 8 points from the final playoff spot. They have won 6 of their last 8. I don't see him jumping ship anytime soon, unless Tampa tanks.

Great Ovechkin profile. Alex is saying that he, Backstrom and other Caps players will be sporting a freaky haircut during the playoffs this year but wouldn't elaborate.

Wow, there is a pipe organ being played at center ice right now. The singer has Britney Spears talent.

Luongo is the first All Star to skate onto the ice. A big thrill for him this experience is.

I think JS Giguere and even Sheldon Sourray have had the biggest ovations so far during the introductions. Mark Streit got a rousing ovation as well. But listen to that cheer for Lecavalier! Holy smokes. These guys read the papers too much. The ovation goes on for over 20 seconds.
Fans are loving Ovechkin.
Kaberle gets the boo's. He's the first to get that treatment.
The french love their own, huh? Martin St. Louis gets a great cheer.
Tim Thomas, Marc Savard and Zdeno Chara get boo'd, naturally.
Komisarek, Markov, Kovalev and Price get the home cheers.

On to the skills....

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SPEED SKATING

Good to see Mason Raymond, who is a participating in the Young Stars game, get a chance to skate with the older players. This is the first time this has been able to happen.
1 lap around the ice.

Zach Parise: 14:59
Jeff Carter: 14.43
Brian Campbell: 14.50
Jay Boumeester: 14.59
Mason Raymond: he slipped...fail.
Andrew Cogliano: 14.31

BREAKAWAY CHALLENGE

This is the one we've been talking about. Let's see what kind of freaky shit these guys can pull off. Fans will do the voting on this one.
So the goalies are punks who are told to basically stay out of the way of the incoming forward. Fair enough. This is all about the forwards anyways.

Patrick Kane: Used the butt of his stick to try score. Players get multiple chances.
His last try was sweet.
My score: 6

Martin St. Louis: Oh wow. What a showing.
My score: 8.5

Ryan Getzlaf: Nice! He pulled off the lacrosse move! But mostly failed at the others.
My score: 7.5

Alex Kovalev: He just banked the puck off his head on the way in! He showed some original stuff indeed.
My score: 8

Steve Stamkos: More energy from Stamkos than the others. So much for the goalie getting out of the way....
My score: 8

Ovechkin: haha. Woa. Hahaha! Props! A fishing hat with sunglasses and a Canadian flag hanging out of it. Malkin wiped his glasses clean and squirted some Gatorade into his mouth before Ovie started. Then he uses 2 sticks at the same time. On the way in he threw one stick away and had to bang the puck past the no named goalie.

My score: 8.5 for style points.

So, between Ovechkin and St. Louis. I think St. Louis bagged 2 great plays....so I'll pick him as the winner.

That was a good time. There's a lot of pressure on these guys to complete their moves. Not many were pulled off successfully. But it was more fun to watch than last year's event.

Sophomore vs Rookies Game

Period 1

Carey Price and Pekka Rinne steal the show. Mason Raymond is everywhere as usual but has zero points to show for it. The players are playing at half-pace.
3-1 Rookies after 1.

Period 2

The pace is a little faster. Mason Raymond bagged one after a pretty 3-way passing play and then played for 2 extra consecutive minutes.
For the record: Blake Wheeler is sick. Just sick.
More goals in this period. 7-4 Rookies so far.


Period 3

Devon Setoguchi scores the goal of the game in this frame. What hands. I remember watching him play for the Prince George Cougars 2 years ago. There was no one on the ice that even came close to having his talent.
9-5 Rookies win.
Best players of the game: 1. Blake Wheeler (3 goals) and 2. Pekka Rinne.

-I would have watched the Crosby interviews before the next event but I was too busy watching paint dry.


Ovechkin won the breakaway challenge as voted by the fans. Popularity contest. Ovechkin voted for Stamkos.

ACCURACY SHOOTING

Prediction: Iginla

Jonathan Toews: 4 for 8
Evgeni Malkin: 4 for 4
Ilya Kovalchuk: 3 for 8
Dany Heatley: 4 for 4
Mike Modano: 4 for 5
Marc Savard: 3 for 7
Jarome Iginla: 4 for 7
Tomas Kaberle: 3 for 6 I think.

Tie Breaker

Malkin: 3 for 4. So close!
Heatley: 2 for 4


Malkin wins!

HARDEST SHOT

$15,000 on the line for charity here, thanks to a great idea by Zdeno Chara.

Souray likes a sticky shaft. That's what he said...

Mark Streit:
98.3 mph
96.0

Shea Weber
98.9
103.4! Whoa!

Mike Komisarek
95.6
98.5

Lecavalier
96.6
97.0

Sheldon Sourray
98.1
102.3

Zdeno Chara
103.3
105.4! Chara wins! That's a new record! Bye bye Iafrate.

ELIMINATION SHOOTOUT

If you score you stay if you miss you're gone!

Toews: off the post (Backstrom)
Doan: scores. snap shot just over the glove (Lundqvist)
Parise: off the post.
Dustin Brown: tries a one-hander and misses
Weber: almost but no.
Robidas: hit the post. adiose
Niedermayer: through the legs and sneaks in.
Markov: stopped by King Henrik
Sourray: snap shot goal over the blocker
Chara: scores.
Savard: nice move and a goal.
Tkachuk: save
Marleau: scores along the ice
Carter: save by Henrik
Heatley: glove save
Nash: shoots and misses high
Kovalchuk: stopped by Backstrom
Lecavalier: stopped. great save by Lundqvist
Vanek: scores on Giguere (goalie switch)
Eric Staal: stopped by Tim Thomas
Hejduk: oh wow, nice backhander. Best goal so far.
Streit: stopped by Thomas and then crashes into that thingy
Kaberle: stopped by Jiggy
Campbell: save by Thomas. Timmy is gold.
Boyle: stopped by Giguere
Boumeester: scores off the post and in.
Komisarek: save by Giguere
Modano: scores on Thomas with a snap shot
Thornton: missed the net
Getzlaf: nice goal on Thomas. made it look easy
Iginla: stopped by JSG
Malkin: stopped by a Hasek-like Thomas
St. Louis: tries to go 5-hole and is stopped
Ovechkin: stopped by Thomas. OV almost loast the puck there.
Kane: missed on the backhand
Kovalev: scores! What a shot.

Round 2

Doan: scores top shelf
Niedermayer: scores along the ice
Sourray: stopped.
Chara: gets fancy and is stopped by teammate Thomas
Savard: nice goal!
Marleau: scores. made Lundqvist go right
Vanek: stopped by Giguere
Hejduk: oh wow. scores
Boumeester: stopped
Modano: backhander and stopped
Getzlaf: scores along the ice on his buddy Giguere
Kovalev: what a damned save by Thomas as he does the splits

Round 3

Doan: nice back hand goal on Backstrom
Niedermayer: stoned by Lundqvist
Savard: 5-hole goal
Marleau: another insane save by Thomas. Thomas never quits!
Hejduk: scores.backhander genius
Getzlaf: finally stopped by Lundqvist who stayed with him

Round 4

Doan: saved by Jiggy
Savard: overplayed and missed
Hejduk: stopped by Backstrom

OT

Doan: nice save by Giguere
Savard: stopped by King Henrik
Hejduk: easy save by Backstrom, who didn't even go down

OT 2

Doan: 100 moves and scores along the ice
Savard: Scores on Thomas! Conspiracy!
Hejduk is stopped by Backstrom.

OT 3

Doan: 5 hole goal on Jiggy
Savard: poke check by Lundqvist!

Winner: Shane Doan.

That was cool.

This whole event was cool. That was a fun time.


Tech Tags: 2009+NHL+Skills+Competition live blog coverage Ovechkin+breakaway+challenge+props

All Star Game doesn't overly excite me, but the Skills pay the Bills

Well, if a player scores 4 or more goals that's alright. Some pretty plays would be fine. But I'll tell you what I most look forward to: the Skills Competition. In years past I enjoyed watching Mike Gartner glide around the rink to win the fastest skater competition, Al Iafrate and Al MacInnis dominating the hardest shot category in the early 90's with...wooden sticks, yes. I believe Iafrate's 105.2 mph slapper in 1993 is still the record. The breakaway event has kind of lost it's novelty to me, now that NHL games are decided by shootouts so often.
What I am really curious about in this year's skills competition is how creative players are going to be in the event that was started last year called the Breakaway Challenge. It was fun to watch, even though the players couldn't score after pulling off a few sick moves. In the end it was a showdown between Ryan Getzlaf and Alex Ovechkin, with AO stealing the show of course, getting the best scores from the panel of judges.
Earlier in the competition, the goalies would poke check the puck away from players while they were in the middle of their moves. People thought the keepers shouldn't have done that. Well, see for yourself. Below is the complete footage of that event.

PART 1

PART 2

**UPDATE**
Ah, it appears I was a little ahead of TSN on the breakaway challenge and it's issues, as you can see here. They may get goalie to avoid poke checks during the event. Patrick Kane called Ovechkin's spinaroonie baseball attempt the "YouTube goal" and that he wants to be that guy this year.
So as much as last year's attempt at that event was awkwardly successful, I think players are preparing more for it this year and it will be a must see tonight.
The TSN panel was talking about fans texting in scores for the event. That is cool.

Check out some All Star Skills events results/history from 1990-2007 at this site.
There are some intriguing numbers and facts from past All Star Games found at NHL.com.
How about some sick All Star Game records found at NHL.com? Worth a look.

I believe the Young Stars game starts at somewhere around 3 pm PST on Saturday. Not quite sure.
The Super Skills Competition will start at 4 pm PST on Saturday.
The All Star Game will start at 3 pm PST on Sunday.

Tech Tags: NHL+All+Star+Game records stats NHL+Skills+Competition 2009 history

Canucks R&R (some in Hawaii) / Players being suspended for skipping All Star Game

From Canucks.com:

Last year Willie Mitchell and his wife went to Maui with nothing more than swimming and sun tanning on the agenda. That plan lasted about a day with Mitchell getting caught in a few waves.


“I surfed quite a bit last year,” said Mitchell. “I really enjoyed it and I’m addictive with things like that so we decided to go again this year.”

Mitchell and his wife will be far from alone this time around; his unwavering love for Maui perked the ears of a few teammates who are also making the trip this year.

Among them are Kyle Wellwood, Mattias Ohlund, Daniel and Henrik Sedin, Steve Bernier and Shane O’Brien.

Everyone is psyched to get away for a few days and recharge for the task ahead, especially Bernier, having always wanted to visit Hawaii.

“Usually I don’t like to travel much because we travel a lot all year, but I think it’ll be good to just relax and think about something else,” said Bernier, who admitted he’s tempted, but a little scared, to hang ten with Mitchell.

Hell, the whole team minus Sundin (working out in Vancouver), Raymond and Luongo (All Star participants) should go to Hawaii. It would be good for chemistry.
CDC raises a very appropriate question however.

The Canucks have lost six straight games and eight of their past nine with only a pair of wins in 2009, leaving some to argue that the team has been on an early vacation. Do they deserve more time off? Or would they be better served by immediately building on Tuesday's OT loss in San Jose?

Do they deserve more time off? No. I'd say yes if I was a nice guy. It would have been great for them to build on the effort against San Jose but may lose momentum taking a week off. At the same time, clearing their minds may help.
The other part of this issue is that when they return to action on the 28th, it's back at home against Nashville. It's too bad the road trip didn't go a little longer so that they could stay away from the slaughterhouse that can be GM Place in recent weeks.

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From TSN:

The NHL says it will enforce an understanding that all players who decline to show after being named to the All-Star teams must miss at least one game before or one game after the All-Star weekend.

NHL vice-president Colin Campbell said that the league pushed for the rule because too many players were skipping the game without good reason.

''We've all got obligations to the fans, the rights holders - this game is being televised around the world,'' Campbell said.

2 players have already been suspended: Pavel Datsyuk and Niklas Lidstrom. There's 2 guys you wouldn't expect, huh?

I'm a little torn on the matter. I do understand the NHL's position on it but...

Tech Tags: Canucks+resting Hawaii surfing NHL+suspends+Datsyuk+Lidstrom+for+skipping+NHL+All+Star+Game