Recapping The 2012 NHL All-Star Skills Competition
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.
Bridgestone NHL Fastest Skater Winner: Carl Hagelin (NYR): 13.218 seconds
This year's event was slightly different than the traditional lap around the rink, from blue line to blue line. Each player still started at the blue line, but would instead, make a quick turn in the corner for a full sprint through center ice. Again, they would make another turn in the corner, which would result in a final sprint back to the starting line.
Things were slightly different when it was two defensemen going head to head. Following the first turn, both players would need to turn backwards and skate into the next turn. Following the next turn, they would turn forward once again for a final sprint.
Carl Hagelin and Colin Greening went head to head in the final round, as they race was time based. They were so close, they had to do over their heat. Hagelin took the final spring with a bang, and came away with the win for Team Alfredsson in the fastest skater event.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All-State NHL Breakaway Challenge Winner: Patrick Kane (CHI): 49% in fan voting
Probably the most anticipated event of the evening was the Breakaway Challenge. The first round of the event was a bit sluggish, as all the players adapted to the ice. Patrick Kane came away with the best creativity as he brought in a Superman cape along with some glasses. In the third round he brought in a "exploding" puck that broken in several pieces.
However, my vote went to Corey Perry who brought him some surprising props. Perry threw off his stick and gloves, lifted up his jersey and brought out a mini hockey stick. Tavares had some great moves where he juggled the puck lacrosse style, along with Sean Couturier. The goaltenders also got involved in the creativity department as well, Carey Price even Tebow'd.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Canadian Tire NHL Accuracy Shooting Winner: Jamie Benn (DAL): 4-for-4 in 10.204 seconds
Finally we came to the third event of the evening, which was the Accuracy shooting contest. Jamie Benn took this by a landslide, going four-for-four in just over ten seconds. Matt Read was the other finalist but was unable to beat Jamie Benn's time.
Probably one of the biggest disappointments in this event was Steven Stamkos, who had a tough time hitting the targets, and even exceeded 30 seconds. Next up we have the Relay Challenge.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
G Series NHL Skills Challenge Relay Winner: Team Alfredsson (Red): 2 minutes, and 8 seconds
This event was dead even at 6-6 heading into this event, but Team Alfredsson took a 9-6 lead at the conclusion of the Relay Challenge. In this event we finally got to see Marian Gaborik take part in the Target Shooting, who did a fairly good job, but wasn't able to get it done for Team Chara.
The hardest part of the this event had to be the passing drill where the players had to score on the mini-nets. Henrik Sedin probably had the quickest start to that part of the event, but fell off near the end. However, that was the part of the event that won the final heat for Team Alfredsson, along with a strong finish from Jason Pominville.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Blackberry NHL Hardest Shot Winner: Zdeno Chara (BOS): 108.8 MPH
Zdeno Chara came in once again to defend, and if not, break his old Hardest Shot record. Once again we saw a final face-off of Shea Weber and Zdeno Chara to decide tonight's winner. However, the closest Weber got to beating Chara was hitting 106.0 on the nose.
Chara followed up with an absolute bomb of a shot, clocking in at 108.08 for a new NHL record. Chara stated before the Skills Competition that changed his stick this year, and it obviously showed. Chara took home the win for yet another hardest shot competition, along with another NHL record.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tim Hortons NHL Elimination Shootout Winner: Steven Stamkos (TB): 3 goals
We took to the ice for our final event of the evening in Ottawa with the NHL Elimination shootout. Steven Stamkos took the shootout with three dazzling moves that beat the goaltenders. The other finalist Stamkos was competing with was Jason Pominville.
Henrik Lundqvist also only allowed a single goal following eight shots between the pipes. This was a great finish to a great evening, hopefully tomorrow is even better!
Overall Team Winner: Team Alfredsson (Red): 21 Points to 12 Points