This weekend, Ottawa played host to two days of NHL mirth and merriment, as the 2012 All-Star Game, and the Skills Competition, both took place. This year, it was Team Alfredsson versus Team Chara. Unsurprisingly, as a Canadian city, Ottawa has a fervent hockey fanbase, so obviously the locals were enthused. However, here's a look at how things unfolded in Canada's capital.
First up was the Skills Competition on Saturday, an event that is ever more of a lark than the game itself, and evidently players were encouraged to use Twitter during the event, although I do not know how many partook as I don't follow any hockey players on Twitter because none of them worked on The Simpsons or Mystery Science Theater 3000. Anyway, the first event, as usual, was the fastest skater competition. This year, the players didn't go all the way around the rink, instead just skating around some pilons. I don't think this was the case last season, but I could be wrong. In the first rookie, rookies Colin Greening and Carl Hagelin had the fastest times, giving them a rematch in the finals. There, Hagelin won for Team Alfredsson. Also, and more importantly, Jonathan Quick beat Jimmy Howard in the goaltending matchup.
The next competition was the breakaway challenge, the NHL's answer to the dunk contest. Unfortunately, as with the dunk contest, style won over substance. Corey Perry finished in second due to using a miniature stick. Patrick Kane won because he put on a Superman cape and Clark Kent glasses, which makes no sense... like getting in a drunken fight with a cab driver. Remember, only fight cab drivers when sober. Granted, Kane did score a nice diving goal, but then he did an exploding puck gag. The real star was Carey Price for having no reverence for the event. Way to be, Carey.
In the accuracy shooting competition, rookie Matt Read had the fastest time for Team Alfredsson, while Jamie Benn was the fastest for Team Chara. In the finals matchup, Benn had the best time of the day, a mere 10.204 seconds, three seconds faster than the second quickest time, which was also Benn's.
Next up was the skills challenge relay, which saw relay team four win for Team Alfredsson with a time of 2:08. Then came hardest shot, where four players broke 100 MPH. This included Zdeno Chara, who broke his own record with a staggering 108.8 MPH slapshot. In the finals, where he met Shea Weber, he won again, putting up a 107.0 MPH shot to Weber's 106.0. Finally, we finished up with the best competition, the elimination shootout. It only went three rounds, but in the end Steven Stamkos bested John Tavares and Jason Pominville to win. Stamkos' three goals were all impressive as well, including a great spin-o-rama. Also, Team Alfredsson won the Skills Competition 21-12, so there's that.
Then, the next day came the actual All-Star Game. The game got off to a slightly slow start, what with rust and the general lack of intensity in the game, but eventually Marian Gaborik opened the scored for Team Chara about four and a half minutes into the game. Team Chara then proceeded to get a goal from Evgeni Malkin and another for Gaborik to make it 3-0. Also, after his first goal Gaborik, who scored against Henrik Lundqvist, proceeded to ape Artem Anisimov's controversial gun firing goal celebration, which was kind of amusing. Team Alfredsson would not go down without a fight, however, as they tied the game by the end of the first thanks to goals from Jason Spezza, Henrik Sedin, and John Tavares. Still, all in all, starting goalies Jimmy Howard and Henrik Lundqvist had to be fairly content with their performances.
Early in the second, Team Chara got the lead again thanks to another goal from Gaborik, giving him a hat trick. Team Chara then got a goal from Joffrey Lupul. Jason Pominville cut the lead down to one goal for Team Alfredsson, and then the game hit a bit of a lull. That lull was eventually ended with a goal from Daniel Alfredsson himself, which obviously made the home crowd quite happy, as they even gave him a standing ovation. He then proceeded to score the next goal to give his team the lead, but Patrick Kane tied it up 6-6 before the second period ended.
After a performance from the noted Canadian rapper who isn't Snow, Drake, the game was back on. The team exchanged goals early, as Phil Kessel scored for Team Chara, then Milan Michalek scored, then Jarome Iginla lit the lamp, followed by a goal from Claude Giroux leaving the game 8-8. Team Chara then went on a three goal run, as Marian Hossa, Zdeno Chara himself, and Corey Perry all found the back of the net. Daniel Sedin got Team Alfredsson back within two goals, but Lupul scored again for the final score of the game, making it a 12-9 victory for Team Chara.
Gaborik, who led the game in goals with three and points with four, won the MVP. Iginla, Pavel Datsyuk, Kessel, Hossa, Alfredsson, and Henrik Sedin all had three points. Tim Thomas had the best game in net, stopping 21 of the 18 shots he faced. He also got the win, his fourth consecutive win in an All-Star game, which is a bizarre little turn of chance.
All in all, it was an All-Star Game. It was sloppy at times, but there were moments of excitement and brilliance you only get from having a group of supremely talented players on the ice all at once. A couple of the goals, like Hossa's, were quite nice, and Thomas had a particularly notable save. Steven Stamkos got a penalty shot, which Jimmy Howard saved. I was watching CBC's coverage, and they had Alfredsson, Lupul, and Scotty Hartnell all miked up. While they didn't talk to Alfredsson much, Hartnell and Lupul both got a ton of time to talk. In fact, it was probably too much. Both guys were pretty amiable and kind of funny, but I could have used a little less of them. At least I got to hear Hartnell talk jive to Dion Phaneuf. Somewhere, Sean Avery was smiling.
The NHL All-Star weekend is always fun to me. As usual, it was a nice respite in the middle of the season. Now, it is time for teams to hunker down and get ready for the playoff chase. I like the All-Star Game, but they can't match the intensity of a game of great importance.
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