Every year (except for the Olympic years), the NHL's brightest stars come out to shine at the NHL All-Star Game. This year the festivities kicked off with the newly, revamped SuperSkills competition in Atlanta, Georgia. It was a night, while maybe lacking some of the biggest stars due to injuries/unable to participate, certainly packed a lot of punch with some huge performances and great moments for everyone. The first event was a new relay/obstacle course. It featured some cool new tasks including a return of the goalies trying to score from the other side of the rink. Some of the favorite events returned, including the Fastest Skater, Shootout, and the Hardest Shot which saw Zdeno Chara's 103.1 MPH blast edge Vinny Lecavaleir's 101.9 MPH shot. In the Accuracy Shooting challenge, the 4 for 4 Club of knocking four targets in four shots got a new member in Tommy Kaberle of Toronto, who's accurate shot earned him a place in all-star lore among Ray Bourque, Mark Messier, and Jeremy Roenick. One of the more interesting events of the night, however, was the Breakaway Challenge. This event was the NHL's try at a dunk contest, and saw player's supposedly try to score a shootout goal in a creative manner. They even had celebrity judges in dunk guru Dominique Wilkins and former Thrashers captain Scott Mellanby, among others. However, I think that something was missed along the way. Not all of the participants really got the memo on the being creative part as most of them just skated toward the goal with a couple of dekes thrown in and took a shot. It started to get a little more exciting later as a few guys put in some between the legs and behind the back moves, but in my opinion the only three guys who actually tried to make this a competition were Marty St. Louis, Marion Gaborik, and Alex Ovechkin. Marty, unfortunately couldn't elevate the puck to execute what looked like some pretty good moves, and Ovie tried to do some pretty cool puck juggling, but kept whiffing on the shot. They both had great ideas though. Marion Gaborik's attempt didn't receive much attention, unfortunately, as it probably deserved. He revved up his engines and skated full speed with the puck, before spraying DiPietro and going around the back of the net to try and sneak the puck in around the other side. This move, while amazing, was also met with an amazing scissor save by DiPietro. So this event, in my opinion, needs to be explained a little more in future all-star games to make sure the players know to be creative...oh, and Sidney Crosby being included probably won't hurt either. The event, however, that most caught my attention was the amazing YoungStars Game. This game featured the best rookies in the league playing 3-on-3 hockey for two, 6-minute periods. The game had an ongoing clock and vets Legace, Vokoun, and Osgood in goal. It was a really fun game, which saw the rookies showcase their amazing youth and talent. What made it even more fun, however, was the fact that Western goalie Manny Legace was mic'd up and talking to Emerick and Olzyck in the booth while he was playing. It was entertaining to hear his commentary and reactions as it was all happening on the ice. The highlight came when Legace made a save and then skated out of the crease to make a long pass to Kane who was flying up the ice where he proceeded to score his second goal of the game. So overall, it was a really fun night where all fans of hockey could just enjoy the festivities and the players could just have some fun. In the future of course, this event can only get better as more of these young players improve and join the elite ranks, and many of the stars who were absent tonight (Sakic, Crosby, Luongo, Broduer, Lundqvist, Jagr, Towes, Sharp...)have improved health or hopefully choose/are chosen to participate. By the way, the East won by final score of 9-6 in the SuperSkills...the All-Star Game is tomorrow night (Sunday, January 27, 2008 @ 6ET/5CT).
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