All-Star Weekend notes and thoughts

Skills Comp

-The smoke intro thing looked pretty bad ass.

-I’m not sure what song they played for the Hawks guys, but it sucked.

-That goalie skating thing was some of the dumbest shit I've seen in a long time.

-The backwards skating contest is going to get someone killed, cut that dumb shit out.

-Sharp beat Toews BADLY in his first accuracy matchup. Toews didn't hear the whistle so there was a do-over, which Toews won.

Fastest Skater
Backwards
Duncan Keith
Kris LeTang Winner
Rookies
Michael Grebner Winner
Taylor Hall
Goalie
Tim Thomas
Cam Ward Winner
Regular
Martin St Louis Winner
Ryan Kesler
Steve Stamkos winner
Mike Green
Matt Duchene Winner
Marc Staal
Finals
Taylor Hall
Michael Grabner Winner

Breakaway Challenge
Pk subban had a couple of good ideas but didn’t cleanly pull off any moves
Evgeni Dadonov was lame.
Corey Perry had a nice lacrosse move and hit the crossbar
Anze kopitar was fairly lame as well
Alex Ovechkin was a shade of two years ago and had one decent move, but won
Louis Erikson circled the net and really had nothing else.

Accuracy Challenge
Brad Richards
Ryan Kesler Winner
Logan Coture
Stepan
Patrick Sharp
Jonathan Toews Winner under protest
Phil Kessel
Rick Nash Winner
Patrick Kane Winner
Eric Staal
Dan Sedin Winner
Martin Havlat
Final
Dan Sedin Winner
Pat Kane

Skills Challenge Relay
Just one huge clusterfuck, and I couldn't care less about this stupid circus

Fastest shot
Shea Weber and Chara went to the finals, and Chara won. Buff took third and showed well.

All Star Game

-Well, At least Duncan Keith is being consistent with his play in tipping the first goal into his own net.

-Right after his first All-Star breakaway, Sharpie fed Paul Stasny for a pretty 2-on-1 goal.

-Sharpie had his second assist on Claude Giroux’s goal, that put Team Staal up 4-0.

-Kaner made a great feed to Dustin Byfuglien for the second Team Lidstrom goal.

-Jonathan Toews picked up a fancy pants turnover by Kris LeTang and fed Louis Eriksson for a wide open back door goal.

-Giroux returned the favor in the second period as he took a turnover and fed Sharpie for a one timer. Goal and 2 assists for Sharpie, and that just about cemented the MVP, even though he didn't do much after the first few mins of the second.

-The jerseys looked surprisingly nice. I'd buy one.

All-Starpalooza Snubs and Flubs

"Patty Cake, Patty Cake"

Yesterday it was announced that Tomax and Xamot (Patricks Kane and Sharp for those that aren't up on their 80's G.I. Joe characters) were selected to the All-Star Extravaganza and Pig Roast. Sharp CERTAINLY deserves to be there, but I could go either way with Kane. He's been hurt and not necessarily All-Star worthy. I'm a hometown guy, but I can assure you there are at least half a dozen guys that have played more consistent hockey that should be out there, and if I wanted to be a real Debbie Downer I would further point out how Duncan Keith should be watching it home on TV too, but he was actually voted in by the fans. I guess if it keeps the axis of evil, Datsyuk and Zetterberg, out I'm copacetic.

Whenever something like this comes about there will always be debate about selections and snubs. This is no different. I have one major gripe, and two snubs.

Now, you could make cases for Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Stastny, Suter, and a few others, but really, the list could go on forever. My major gripe is with the selection of Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury from the Pens, and I'll tell you why. For at least the first quarter of the season, Fleury wasn't even the starting Goalie on his own team. Veteran Brent Johnson would have been listed as the #1 netminder, and Fleury couldn't stop a beach ball rolled at him. Tomas Vokoun, of the Florida Panthers, should have easily beat him out. Fleury's stats aren't even all that spectacular either, but I guess the small market teams have to suffer somehow. Apparently, once you get your Stanley Cup gold jacket you're given all the special considerations.

The snub really isn't on the radar, but it has to do with the rookie selections, for whatever silly horseshoe throwing competition they have planned. There are two Blackhawks rookies that deserve a look; One-Trick-Bick, and CrawDaddy. Bickell has fairly quietly put together a very impressive first half. He's 4th in the league overall, 5th in goals, 5th in assists, and 1st in shooting percentage. If that doesn't warrant a rookie selection, I don't know what does. CrawDaddy is in the same boat. He's right behind Philly's Sergei Bobrovsky in just about every rookie goaltender category and first overall in GAA. Unfortunately, the fab 4 took up the quota of All-Star slots for the Hawks, and I don't think goaltenders can be included in this complicated rookie jarts tossing competition.