Forget the Super Bowl, this is one of the biggest weekends in sports for me. It’s the annual celebration for NHL dorks like me. Saturday night features the skills competition, which is my favorite part. Players compete in categories like “fastest skater”, “hardest shot”, and “most accurate shot”. To me, this competition highlights the players personalities and some important skills that might not get top billing during regular play (unless you’re Dion Phaneuf, and then it makes the national news). I know it’s a giant popularity contest and the game on Sunday isn’t as rough and tumble as we’ve come to expect, but that’s no reason not to like it for what it is. Some bloggers are bitter that the All-Star game is a “pass and lay-up” game, not me. It gives the fans access to the players that they don’t normally get. Last year they put a microphone on Dallas Stars goalie Marty Turco and got sound bites that we’ll never forget. Let’s look forward to getting chance to know the guys that play our favorite game and even getting glimpses at Alex Ovechkin’s sense of humor, not the usual body-checks and hard hits. We will return to our regular NHL programming next week, I think we’ll all survive.
Posted in Hockey |
