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The ASG Is Not Going Away But Changes Needed
by Paul on 01/25/09 at 09:40 PM ET
Comments (2)
from Scott Burnside of ESPN,
The All-Star weekend isn’t going away, though, as much as some reporters might grumble about having to cover things such as the trick shooting event. It’s an important date on the NHL calendar when it comes to corporate schmoozing. And if you’d seen the way the city of Montreal embraced the event—the Bell Centre was packed to watch practice, along with the rest of the events—even the skeptics among us would’ve had to say there’s still a place for it.
But if the All-Star Game is to have its place, the league must deal with problem areas, and chief among them is the players and how they end up there.
If fans want to vote like crazy for their hometown heroes, as they did in Montreal by selecting Carey Price, Mike Komisarek, Alexei Kovalev and Andrei Markov to the starting lineup for Sunday’s game, fair enough.
But let’s stop rewarding the undeserving when the rest of the rosters are filled out.
added 9:46pm, from Jeff Blair of the Globe and Mail,
Those of us who grew up watching hockey couldn’t have thought anything less of Gary Bettman than we already did before this past weekend.
But it was remarkable, nonetheless, to see the NHL commissioner turtle on the topic of fighting, give a Canadian player a pass for skipping the all-star game and then turn around and give paying customers a slap in the face by suspending Nicklas Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk for not taking part in Sunday’s glorified afternoon skate?
added 10:24pm, from Adam Proteau of the Hockey News,
In future, before anyone bitches, moans and characterizes the All-Star Game as a Mel Brooks-caliber farce and near-total waste of perfectly good eyesight, they ought to attend one in a real hockey city like the home of the Habs.
Filed in: NHL Talk | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: All-Star+Game,
Comments
It might not go away, but it should.
I didn’t watch the game or skills comp. live, but watched the 10-15 minute recaps on NHL Network. And it was pretty embarrassing how quiet the arena was, how stale the game was, and how little the players on the ice cared. Every goal was followed by, at most, a pat on the back from a teammate or two. No raising the sticks, yelling in celebration, nothing.
The ASG was never intense, and never should be. But I remember watching games in the ‘90’s where the players at least appeared to enjoy the game (Owen Nolan calling his shot, for instance). You would think bagging two goals in Montreal would mean something to Sheldon Souray, but he looked about as excited for those tallies as Hillary Clinton did stumping for Obama.
I think it is just the natural evolution of sport. Winning is worth more in all sports now than it has ever been. As such, players can’t afford to waste energy and effort on preseason tilts, mid-year exhibition games, etc. etc. So, let this thing run its course. Just let the game die. The players don’t appear to like it. The coaches and GMs can’t be anything but apprehensive about their players getting hurt in it. And the fans weren’t exactly lighting the arena on fire with their chants and cheers.
Posted by Nathan from the scoresheet! on 01/26/09 at 09:54 AM ET
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It’s tremendous to have the all-star stuff in a “real hockey city,” and I don’t doubt that the Montrealers (Montrealites?) had a fantastic time and enjoyed the events immensely - but the problem is that most NHL cities aren’t such devoted hockey markets, and the all-star events are more likely to go to whoever has the newest flashy arena or whichever non-traditional market could use the publicity the most at the time. Thus the environment is rarely that hockey-crazy and the all-star events are not always as well-attended or publicized as in Montreal.
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 01/25/09 at 11:37 PM ET