Tonight marked the second event of All-Star weekend in Ottawa, as we saw the All-Star take on each other in a skills competition. The players were definitely creative this year in the Breakaway Challenge, and we had some serious speed in the Fastest Skater.

Overall, it was a great night along with some good laughs and comedy plugged in as well. Tomorrow will be the actual 2012 NHL All-Star game started at 4:00 PM. In case any of you missed the Skills Competition tonight, we won't spoil it for you.

Follow after the jump for the full list of winners, along with a short analysis of each event. Highlights will follow shortly after as they come available from the National Hockey League.

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Things started off tonight with the traditional puck toss, that ended up leaning in Zdeno Chara's favor. Daniel Alfredsson passed the choice over to Chara being the great host he is. There were definitely some surprising picks this year, including the first overall pick Pavel Datsyuk.

In case any of you haven't seen it, I will save the anticipation. Follow below the jump for the entire rosters for both Team Chara (Blue) and Team Alfredsson (Red).

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Brendan Shanahan and the Department of Player Safety announced that defenseman, Andrew Ferenence has been suspended for his on on Ryan McDonagh. In overtime, Andrew Ference laid a vicious hit on Ryan McDonagh that propelled him into the boards in an awkward position.

On the play, Ference received a five-minute major for charging accompanied by a game misconduct. McDonagh remained on the ice for several minutes before being escorted off by medical trainer Jim Ramsey. Shanahan states that McDonagh was in a defenseless position, and the onus was on Ference to let up.

As Shanahan stated, this was a "textbook example" of the re-written boarding rule that was put in place prior to this season. However, there was some good news coming out of all this as Shanahan states that they have heard there was no apparent injury to Ryan McDonagh as a result. Definitely comforting to hear that.

If you wish to view the suspension video from Shanahan, it will available for your viewing after the jump.

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Today it was announced that Zdeno Chara and Daniel Alfredsson are the two captains of the All-Star Game teams. I, for one, think they are two terrific choices for a terrific event.

I love the "fantasy" all-star draft, the mocking of the "Mr. Irrelevant," the possibility of the Sedin twins being on separate teams and all that jazz.

The NHL did not turn the event into something bigger than it has to be, like the MLB did by making the winner of the game get Home Field Advantage in the World Series. Instead, the NHL turned the All-Star Game into the exact opposite: a pickup game between the best of the best in hockey, and Alexander Ovechkin, (Zing!)

The only flaw in the NHL's handling of the game is that the fans get to choose the first six in. Instead, the fans should be allowed to choose the Captains out of the pools, or the Alternates, or something minor.

Regardless of said flaw, the game is nothing more than a fun exhibition. Like many here, I like the skills competition just as much, if not more, but for all that has been said about the NHL's mistakes, this is something they got almost right.

The NHL released it's finalized All-star game roster this afternoon, and three New York Rangers' players appear on that roster. First we have Marian Gaborik representing the forwards, and well deserved it is. Marian Gaborik currently leads the Rangers with 23 goals, and 11 assists. Marian Gaborik has been lights out this season, bouncing back from his disappointing 2010-2011 season.

Next up we have Dan Girardi representing the Rangers on the defensive end of the game. Girardi has been amazing this season, and stepped up big time in the absence of Marc Staal. We also saw a bit of offensive flash from Girardi early in the season as well, notching three goals, and 12 assists.

Finally, Henrik Lundqvist will be representing the Rangers between the pipes, and it is VERY well deserved. Henrik Lundqvist has always been carrying the Rangers, but this season is by far his best performance. Hank leads the Rangers with an impressive 19-7-4 record this season, and even single-handily won the Rangers games this season.

The National Hockey League announced that the proposed realignment for next season has been put on hold. The NHLPA would not give it's approval for the proposed realignment, which was the reason why it was denied. Of course, this doesn't look very good for the NHL, as the current CBA expires after this season.

This means that the current format of six divisions will remain the same through next season. As a result, it looks like the Winnipeg Jets will remain in the South East division for at least one more year, along with a rugged travel schedule.

This is obviously great news for the Rangers as they were opposed to the idea of having a very tough division. The proposal would have the Rangers division consisting of the entire Atlantic division, with the addition of the Carolina Hurricanes, and the Washington Capitals.

We will continue to keep on this, and update anything that we hear.

I'm not too sure if you guys are aware of this, since it's going on in Minnesota, but Jack Jablonski, a high school hockey player, was paralyzed during a game.

It's an incredibly sad story, one which truly makes you realize how lucky you are to live your life and do it the way you want to live it. Now Jack is fighting for a shot to do just that.

The outpouring of support Jack is receiving is amazing. Not just from friends and family, but total strangers. Not just from Minnesota Wild players, but players from all over the NHL. Not just NHL players, but players from all different sports. Seeing the messages and notes these people have written to Jack make you feel good about humanity.

SB Nation's fantastic Wild blog, Hockey Wilderness, has compiled a list of those messages and notes on their website. I urge you to check it out.

I will also figure out information for donations to make to Jack if you feel so inclined. But for now, take a few minutes to see just how close-knit the hockey community (and the sports community) really is as they rally around this brave young man.

This is a new feature which will run on Blueshirt Banter. Anytime you see an author's take in the headline it's a column from that specific author. All stories posted as columns are the views of the author and not necessarily anyone else on the site. Enjoy ...

Derek Boogaard took punch after punch after punch after punch. The head, the face, the chest, the punches hit just about everywhere. Derek Boogaard took those punches because that was his job at the time. For the best interest of his health, however, those punches should not have been taken. Boogaard should not have fought, and Boogaard should not have had to deal with the post-fight affects of the fights.

On a personal note, a friend of mine was playing in a College hockey game three years ago. He's not the best hockey player out there, so a lot of times his coach will send him out with one mission, "give the team a lift." He knew what that meant the day he suffered his first concussion. Trying to duck from a punch to the face, the punch instead hit my friend square in the forehead, as his helmet was off. As far as I'm concerned, my friend has never been the same.

Join me after the jump for more.

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