This past weekend marked the NHL’s 58th All-Star weekend.
Raleigh, North Carolina; home of the Carolina Hurricanes, hosted the events that all lead up to an exciting all-star game Sunday evening.
On Friday, the first ever NHL All-Star Fantasy Draft took place. The NHL departed from its past formats (East vs West and North America vs World) and instead went with a fantasy draft/backyard pickup game type draft to select sides for the weekend. Detroit’s Nick Lidstrom and the Hurricanes Eric Staal were named the captains of the teams and along with their alternate captains (Lidstrom-Patrick Kane and Martin St. Louis) (Staal-Mike Green and Ryan Kessler) took turns selecting some of the biggest names in hockey to their teams. The draft was a nice departure from earlier all-star game formats and it did allow for some interesting story lines. Vancouver’s twins, Daniel and Henrik Sedin were split up for the first time in their careers. Stanley Cup Champs and Chicago Blackhawks’ Dustin Byfuglien, Johnathan Toews, Patrick Kane, and Duncan Keith were all reunited on team Lidstrom. Philadelphia’s Danny Briere and Claude Giroux were split up, and captain Eric Staal was able to keep Carolina Hurricanes on the same team with his selection of goalie Cam Ward and forward 18 year old Jeff Skinner. Staal also selected his brother New York Ranger defenseman Mark Staal. Toronto’s Phil Kessel was the final selection of the draft and was given a brand new car and $20,000 dollars to his favorite charity for being a good sport.
Saturday night the stars brought their skills to the ice in the NHL Skills Competition. Highlights from the night can be seen below. Some of the highlights were Zdeno Chara breaking his own slap shot record with a 105.8 mile per hour blast. Sedin showed off his accuracy and Tim Thomas’ slip up will be remembered.
Sunday night was the grand finale. Team Staal and Team Lidstrom faced-off for the all-star game. Team Staal jumped out fast to a 4-0 lead but saw it diminish as fast as it was built up. The rest of the game was a back and forth odd-man rush, no hitting, affair and in the end team Lidstrom pulled ahead and held on for a 11-10 victory. Team Staal’s Patrick Sharp was named MVP for his 1 goal and 2 assists. Anze Kopitar, Danny Briere, Loui Eriksson, Eric Staal, and Kris Letang all gave 2 goal efforts. Shea Weber and Nick Lidstrom combined for a +13, and Tim Thomas got his third all-star victory in as many tries.
Game Footage and Full Highlights can be seen here
All in all it was a good weekend for the NHL, which now gears up for a playoff push in what should be an exciting race to the finish. The NHL returns Tuesday Night.
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