Held in Montreal to commemorate the Canadiens’ 100th anniversary, festivities began on Saturday evening with the Super Skills competition and Young Stars game. In the Young Stars game, Rookie and Sophomore NHL players competed on 9 person teams in 3 on 3 play with abbreviated periods. The rookies won 9-5. Captials forward Nicklas Backstrom was invited to play but declined, saying he preferred to remain in Washington to prepare for the second half of the regular season.
The Skills Competition was divided into 5 events: Fastest Skater, Hardest Shot, Accuracy Shooting, Elimination Shoot-Out, and Breakaway Challenge. Boston Defenseman Zdeno Chara set a new record after recording a blistering 105.4 mph slap shot. Alex Ovechkin successful defended his title as reigning champion of the Breakaway Challenge. Style is the priority in the Breakaway Challenge. All NHL rules are revoked as players have one minute to take as many shots as they can against a goaltender in the most visually stimulating manner possible. After two less than stellar efforts, Ovechkin skated over to Pittsburg star and fellow Russian Evgeni Malkin. Malkin gave Ovechkin a splash of Gatorade and then adorned him with sunglasses, a bucket hat with a Canadian flag protruding from the top, and a second stick. Handling the puck with both sticks, Ovechkin eventually dropped the one is his right hand to shoot and successfully scored.
The 2009 NHL All-Star Game was held Sunday evening. In what was most likely the highest scoring game of the season, the Eastern conference won in a shootout. The final score was 12-11. Ovechkin scored the first goal for the East and had 2 assists later on. Regulation play ended with the score tied at 11 all. Despite all of the goals in the first 3 periods, a scoreless overtime period gave way to a shootout. Following the initial score by Montreal’s Alex Kovalev, Ovechkin’s shootout goal sealed the victory for the East.
-Joe Lewis
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