Sunday, January 27, 2008

Loving the Limelight

Alex Ovechkin, the Capitals' lone All Star, was a hit in the skills competition the night before the 2008 All Star Game. He stood by for the first four skills events (which included a new, much worse version of the faster skater competition) and the YoungStars Game (featuring teammate Nicklas Backstrom) before taking the stage in the hardest shot competition.

Ovechkin's two tries registered 98.3 and 95.6 mph, far below Zdeno Chara's winning shot of 103.1 mph -- second all-time behind former Cap Al Iafrate's 105.2 set back in 1993.  But Ovechkin was about to steal the show -- without actually succeeding. Huh?!?

The new gimmick designed to "spice up" the shootout was a bit of a letdown.  They had to do something to change it since we see it all season long, but they really ought to restrict the goalies to the crease (or better yet, blindfold them) since none of the fancy moves resulted in a goal. As it turned out, however, no one was as spectacular as our very own Ovechkin.

While I was mildly disappointed that he didn't fall on his back spinning away from the goalie in an attempt to recreate "The Goal," he was the only skater of the six in the competition to successfully play with the puck.  On his first try, he juggled it four times before whiffing on a baseball swing.  The next try saw him juggle it much higher in the air as he spun around, only to fan again.  But the moves, which were by far the most creative of any competitor, drew the approval of the judges and crowd as he won the event.

All in all, the skills competition was more uninteresting than I can ever remember it being -- if you missed it, your life will definitely go on.  If you watched it, at least you saw Ovechkin enjoying all the attention.

It's a damn shame, though, that the Sunday All Star Game is sequestered on Versus and couldn't even make it to NBC.  The NHL has got to figure out a way to market itself to the masses. One outdoor game is not enough.

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