The Best of the All-Star Weekend

I have to admit, I was strangely interested in the All-Star Weekend this year. I say "strangely" because I can't remember the last time I really watched and had more than a passing interest in either the Skills Competition or the All-Star Game itself. It was probably the 1998 game, which was played in Vancouver and in which then-captain (ugh) Mark Messier scored the winning goal.

Why was this year's event so riveting? I think there are a few reasons. For one thing, it is the centre-piece of the Montreal Canadiens ongoing 100th Anniversary celebrations. No NHL team is as steeped in history as the Habs, no city is as rabid about hockey as Montreal and no organization pulls off large-scale hockey events with style and class as well as the Canadiens.

Secondly, there is an abundance of extremely talented and young players in the NHL right now, led by Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. This year's game also featured youngsters such as Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Thomas Vanek, Jeff Carter, Carey Price and Shea Weber. All these guys are tearing it up right now, and look to be NHL stars for at least the next decade.

Finally, there is the fact that both the Skills Competition and the game were far more interesting than in years past. The NHL has made an effort to make the Skills Competition more fan-friendly, tweaking the breakaway skills challenge and changing the shoot-out to an individual, elimination style event.

The game was its usual high-scoring affair, but players actually seemed to be trying as the game wore on and headed in to overtime - witness the hooking penalty taken by Mike Komisarek to prevent a scoring chance in the extra frame. The shoot-out was exciting, with hometown hero Alex Kovalev and everyone's favourite player Alex Ovechkin scoring to seal the win for the East.

Here is a rundown of my favourite moments from the 2009 All-Star Weekend:

Alex Ovechkin winning the Breakaway Challenge. Just watch the clip, it speaks for itself:



Zdeno Chara in the Hardest Shot Competition. Forget the fact that his shot of 105.4 MPH set a new Skills Competition record, breaking Al Iafrate's record from 1993. Far cooler was the fact that he turned the event into a charity fundraiser. Chara is a huge supporter of Right to Play (as am I!), and last summer climbed Mount Kilimanjaro with the winner of a fundraising auction in support of the charity. At the skills contest he convinced the participants to each chip in $1000, which their clubs matched. The NHL and NHLPA each matched $6000, making a total pot of $24,000 to go towards the winner's charity of choice. On the last shot of the event Chara set his new record, and scored a huge victory for Right to Play:

Montreal Canadiens fans mercilessly booing rival Boston Bruins players throughout the weekend - but having the class to cheer for them when they did something special. I love intense, but respectful, rivalries. The Habs faithful heckled Tim Thomas, Zdeno Chara and Marc Savard throughout the Skills Competition and All-Star Game. They even gave Blake Wheeler heck during the Young Stars game. Yet the fans applauded, for example, when Chara won the Hardest Shot contest and when Tim Thomas made a great save in overtime of the game. Well done Montreal Canadiens fans.

And finally, Ovechkin again providing a moment of levity. As the Jumbotron showed a couple of girls dancing in the audience, Alex paused to took a look - only to have the camera cut away to show him watching the performance: