Hockey Whooha

With

Wingnut

Of

Pepee's Pornn Palace

I would be remiss if I let this weeks issue go by without writing about the upcoming all-star game. Held in Los Angles, this weekend's all-star game is really all about the hockey fans. They get to see the leagues favorite and usually the best players in several types of formats.

The actual all-star game is probably the least exciting game to watch, as the players tend to "pull up" when it comes to defense and checking. So the games tend to be high scoring "run and gun" style of game, goalies almost despise going because of this very fact. Several top goaltenders have been injured in past games. The one thing that has changed the game to at least appear to be more competitive was the change of format to the World vs. North America. Previously the format was the East vs. West and that always seemed to produce a very one-sided game.

Now the activity that most fans love to watch (present company included), is the skills competition. This includes activites ranging from the fastest skaters, the most accurate shot, the hardest shot, to the ever-popular goalie one on one penalty shot. This year's hardest, and most accurate shot competition will be wide open, as the dominant winner in that category, Ray Bourque, retired this past off-season.

The activity that I am most interested in watching this year is the Young Stars game. This is a game of players in their first contract in the league, most of which are actual rookies. There are a few players that are in their second year in the league but most are first up and coming stars of tomorrow. This is the first time for many of these players to receive some notoriety and a small taste of the limelight that the NHL superstars receive today. It should be an exciting game, as it will be played 4 on 4 (as the current regular season overtimes are) with 3 twelve-minute periods. I have watched many of the players selected for this year's team and agree that they should have been selected, but I also wondered where one quiet Russian rookie was. The selections for players were made sometime ago and I can understand how some players can be overlooked, especially if they are part of a team already filled with superstars.

That is, until today when I read the announcement that Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk will replace the injured Phoenix Rookie Krystofer Kolanos. Datsyuk (or Dat-suuky as he in called the Wingnut residence) is the Wings' latest soon-to-be superstar player. He doesn't speak English and must have one of his Russian teammates translate for him, but that has not impacted his ability to be called "the best player on the ice tonight", by the coaching staff and his superstar teammates. I think one of the best goals of the year was scored by Pavel, when he went end-to-end in a recent game, skating by or through 4 of the 5 players on the ice. If you get a chance to watch the game this weekend, look for player who is making amazing moves with the puck. You can't miss him. He will be a name to remember in future seasons.

Wingnut