Garrett Hoffman
Staff Writer
On Jan. 26 and 27 the NHL All-Star games took
place at the SAP Center in San Jose, CA. Every season, there are all-star games
and skill competitions held in January where the best players in the NHL can
show off their skills. Each NHL team submits one or two players to be selected
on a roster for the four all-star teams, the Central, Pacific, Metropolitan,
and the Atlantic. There are four teams because there are four conferences in
the NHL. Last week, the rosters were revealed.
In the skills
competitions, there was the fastest skater round, where players race around the
rink and see who gets the fastest time. Connor McDavid won the fastest skater
competition, completing a full lap around the entire ice in 13.454 seconds
skating 40.9 km/h. No one has beat last year's record completed by Dylan Larkin
getting 12.894 seconds.
Next, there was best passer
competition where competitors have to sauce pucks into different mini-nets.
Johnny Gaudreau won the puck control competition. Then there was save streak
which is when there is a shootout and players try to show off their best moves
on goalies. Henrik Lundqvist, known as the king won the goalie competition. He
made 12 shootout saves in a row. After that, there is a puck control
competition. In this competition, players will have to skate through cones with
a puck and keep control of it, after they make it around the cones they have to
stickhandle through a line of pucks. On top of that, there was the most popular
competition, which was the NHL’s hardest shot. This year, Washington Capitals,
John Carlson wins with a 103 MPH slapshot. Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara
still holds the world record with a 109 MPH slap shot. Lastly, they have the
shooting accuracy competition. In this competition, players have to shoot pucks
in all four corners of the net hitting targets, fastest time wins. When a
player wins one of these competitions, it adds points to their team. Boston
Bruins player David Pastrnak wins the shooting accuracy.
After the skills
competitions, they had the games. The first game was Central vs. Pacific, then
Atlantic vs. Metropolitan. The winners of the games went on to play in the
championship game. The Metropolitan won, beating the Central division 10-5.
Pittsburgh Penguins Captain Sidney Crosby got the league's MVP. The entire
Metropolitan team got a $1 million check which was divided amongst the players.
There was a carnival
in San Jose on the Friday, Jan. 25, before the competitions. There, people and
fans met players and participated in many fun games.
