What's Up, Ya Sieve

Introducing Mike Green, All-Star Game alternate captain for Team Staal.  I control the universe!!  This could not wait for Mikey Monday.

Now I'm going to have to buy a jersey!

From the NHL.com article, I just loved this part:

Green has been the NHL’s most dynamic offensive defenseman the previous two seasons, but he has also steadily improved his work at the defensive end. He has eight goals and 21 points this season for the Capitals, and he is fourth in the League in time on ice at 26:02 per contest.

The 25-year-old Green is a two-time finalist for the Norris trophy and a two-time NHL first-team All-star. He’s lead all defensemen in goals and points in each of the past two seasons and in goals for three straight years.

If you don't want attention, don't drive an orange Vespa.

And from the Capitals website:

Green, a two-time member of the NHL’s end-of-season NHL First All-Star Team and a two-time Norris Trophy runner-up, has led NHL defensemen in goals for three years in a row.  He has also been tops among NHL defensemen in points for the past two seasons and is one of only two active defensemen with a 70-point season in his career – the other being Lidstrom, the opposing Captain.  Green this season ranks fourth in ice time per game among NHL defensemen.

To top off today’s lovefest, the chairty organization Sporting Generosity has named Mike their January Player of the Month for doing good things for lots of people. [Link]  No sad puppy face for Greener today!

Our hero.

The NHL announced the Skills Competition format for this year’s All-Star Game.  This has always been our favorite part of ASG weekend, because there is lots of skating without helmets.

Lunchtime poll: Will Letang wears a helmet or not? He’d need a headband for sure but it’s a sin to cover up that hair.  Maybe a baseball cap?

Exactly how I sleep on a plane.

The All-Star Skills Competition games are:

Bridgestone NHL Fastest Skater
Is a race! 6 players from each team compete in heats.

BlackBerry NHL Breakaway Challenge™
3 players from each team compete to deliver the most creative shootout attempt.  They get 4 shots a piece and we get to vote via text.

McDonald’s NHL Accuracy Shooting™
Like Crosby’s puck pyramid and Ovi’s weird Russian dressing mess, six players per team will shoot at foam targets in the four corners of the goal.

G Series NHL Skills Challenge Relay™
New event and it’s a big one!  16 players from each team in four relays.  Each skill must be completed before the team can move on to the next.  Two relay groups per team.

• One-timer: shoot over an 8″ obstacle
• Passing: put a pass into each of 6 nets set up around the ice
• Puck control: Slalom cones while keeping the puck on the stick
• Stick handling: Keep the puck on the stick through a series of obstacles
• Accuracy shooting: Knock out four targets.

XM NHL Hardest Shot™
If you can’t figure this out, Chara gets to shoot at you.

Discover NHL Elimination Shootout™
Musical chairs for the shootout, like the Penguins have mastered.  Only they make people grow mustaches and run to the top row of a football stadium.  In this, it’s 1 point per goal and a lot of bragging rights for whoever makes it to the end. [Graphic from NHL.com]

We kinda hope Tanger and Tazer end up on opposite teams so they can showdown in the shootout challenge!

Mine. Mine. Mine.

EStaaaaaaal and Nick Lidstrom are the 2011 All-Star Game Captains and I have to say WELL DONE, NHL.  This is so fun already.  And Eric is smiling.  I haven’t been this excited about a Captain since Malcolm Reynolds.

Team Staal, all the way.

This is the ultimate olive branch because even if you hate the Wings (slowly raises hand), you love Lidstrom. The man is 40, classy as all get out and just about as awesome now as he ever was.   In this video, EStaal jokes about MStaal (boo) and Patrick Sharp (yay) telling him they want to be picked early in the draft.  Because Thunder Bay looks out for Thunder Bay.

“Staal is from my hometown, so he better be drafting me,” Sharp said. “But I have a feeling he’s going to make me wait it out.” [Chicago Tribune]

Sweet Carolina

No surprise in these selections.  Hometown Hero and the Gentleman Jockey.  Could be Lidstrom’s last season and it could be a while before Raleigh gets excited about hockey again.  We love the players for choosing these guys.

I’m all Team Staal, since he’s my fantasy hockey team captain too!  Chuck is Team Lidstrom.  Eric better take my calls on draft day because there is some strategy to be discussed.  And I will even let him pick Ginger Staal so long as he picks Letang or Green first.

11 All Star Games, 4 Stanley Cups... yes captain.

Last night, the Bruins faced off against the struggling Ottawa Senators and WUYS fave (and Foxy Friday honoree) Patrice Bergeron notched is first career hat-trick in the Bs 6-nil win over the Sens.

Un. Deux. Trois. (photo by @NHLBruins)

The Garden crowd thought that Bergy got the hat trick at 14:07 of the 2nd and launched their caps on to the ice, only to have the official scorer credit the goal to the Little Motorscooter, Brad Marchand.  Celebration fail, folks and everyone goes to the Pro Shop to buy new hats.

But Bergy would not be DENIED.  He kept grinding and hustling and eventually got his hat trick with 5 min left in the 3rd.  Cue hat toss (for reals this time)

Nouveau Chapeau gone to waste...

After this win and their stunning victory over the Pens on Monday – 4 goals in last 3:30 min (sorry Pants) – here’s to hoping that the Bruins can capitalized on the momentum, which unfortunately they really haven’t been able to do much of this season.  The B’s are a talented team with arguable the best goaltending duo in the league (Thomas and TUUUUUKKA Rask) and four solid lines that can all score goals.

While they only boast two all-stars this year, that doesn’t really reflect how good of a team they are.  Keep an eye on the Bruins as this season goes on.  If they continue to spread the point production and stay consistent, they could just be a team to reckon with.

Watch out Pants.  Be aware Dawn.  The Killer Bs are coming for ya.

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Pretty much every team has posted their All-Stars’ reactions to being selected, so there are a ton of videos.  But I like this one best – it’s Team Dawn and Team Pants.  I think these two are the only Capitals NOT in a bromance, despite the enthusiasm of their on-ice hugging. [Video]  PS: I still hate the Caps.

Ovi, who cuts your hair?! Backstrom?

Mike laughs because he'd kinda scared.

Ovi wants to be on Mike’s team so he doesn’t have to check him.  But you know he kinda hopes to, just to see what everyone else is so excited about.

And I randomly picked the Lightning because Squishy made the ASG team.  Chuck and I think he is the besteset.  And I still think of him reading his NHL Awards speech off his PDA – presh.  Stammer is so blond, that could the power of their NHL Guardian.  Invisible due to lack of pigmentation. [Video]

You can't see me.

And the hometown boys, mostly because Eric Staal has a billion points for me this season.  He doesn’t smile once in this interview, while Cam Ward can’t stop.  How fun to play in front of your home crowd. [Video]

Captain Serious

Cam gets bonus points for starring in one of my fave commercials so far this season.  It’s just so southern!

The Pens have an All-Star reaction video up [Video].  It looks like the Grinch snuck in and cleared out their locker room.

Tonight on The Bachelorette...

We can’t get 10 extra seconds to let Tanger talk?  Bonus clip of him licking his lips while Sid talks – he could be thinking what I’m thinking. Apparently The Hat has not been retired.  Better than the ‘stache, though.

Please be captain, so I can get a TEAM CROSBY t-shirt.

Geno’s English is getting really good – he doesn’t look pained to speak anymore and he makes himself laugh.  That’s a lot of hard work!  And Flower looks as happy as ever, plus the greatest accent of all time (“I’ll get you, Ricky Bobby!”).

Merci beaucoup!

Can’t wait to see who the ASG players choose as their captains.  That’s the real popularity contest.

Remember way back on November 15 when I posted my NHL All-Star Game starting lineup?  Well 4 out of my 6 were just named All-Stars by the general fan voting!  Once again, I control the Universe.

3 for 3!

Sorry Mike. ;(

Mikey was not on the list, but I’ll take Duncan Keith FTW! Also, Flower makes me a little, uh… nervous.  But he’s in fine form this season and was selected as the #1 overall goalie vote-getter.  Yay Flower!

In like Flynn.

So the NHL Hockey Operations Dept will choose the rest of the ASG pool, then the players will select their own captains: 2 captains, 4 alt captains.  They’ll take the stage in an ASG Draft on Fri, Jan 28 and the 3 captains for each team will draft their squads.  Each team will have to pick 3 goalies (by the 10th round) and the defensemen must be picked by the 15th round.

Reaction videos already up for Tazer [video] and Keith [video].

Awww shucks.

I am really excited now.  The first batch is just a popularity contest, so there are tons of great players to be added.  Still 4 out of 6 are Pens and they didn’t even win the Cup?  Boo-yah.

Hey you, fans of freedom and democracy.  It’s time to vote for the NHL All-Star Game 2011.  Put aside your petty team allegiances and indulge your guilty hockey pleasures by voting for whoever you like.  Log in to vote.nhl.com, page through the lovely headshots and vote for 3 forwards, 2 defensemen and a goalie.  If you don’t see someone, write them in at the bottom.  My team:

Oh Malkin...

Sid looks awfully serious here, almost bird-like, while Toews is just waiting for that stupid popcorn to finish in the microwave.  You can vote as many times as you want, so my interns are spending the day writing in Kris Letang and voting over and over.  Any other requests for my hockey sweatshop?  My defensive pairing looks like it just got paroled and called you for a ride home from the clink.

Your mom warned you about these guys. You didn't listen.

It’s a little early in the season to be deciding who the best players will be 2 months from now.  And what about injuries?  Parise’s on the ballot though he’ll likely be out, and JStaal isn’t though he’ll likely be back.  The fans vote for the starting 5, and the rest of the All-Star rosters will be chosen by NHL Hockey Operations.  I’m all about guys named Tim for big performances this year (I heart Lincecum).  And Thomas looks like that guy from that band.

Timmmaaaaay.

So vote early, vote often and check back next week to see who’s in the lead.  Really, my interns are waiting.  Remember, the ASG team rosters will be selected by playground beat-down this year, so you could get some awesome line mate situations.  Let’s make it count.

So it’s sixth grade and you’re in gym class, wearing itchy cotton/poly-blend elastic shorts and RecSpecs over your glasses.  You stand in the back, behind the awkwardly tall early-growth-spurt kids, hoping no one will notice you.  But they always do.  They always pick you last. It’s the reality of adolescence, the prepubescent torture made famous by after-school specials.

I’m willing to bet that most NHL players never experienced this (except Gionta).  Now they’ll have their chance.

The NHL announced the new All-Star Game format, which will debut this year at Carolina.  Here’s how it will work:

A new format for this year’s festivities will see the conference vs. conference approach replaced by a player draft, conducted by the All-Star players themselves, to determine the rosters for each team.

The 2011 NHL All-Star Fantasy Draft will be Friday, Jan. 28, to kick off All-Star Weekend, which will be hosted for the first time by the Carolina Hurricanes.

Captains for each side will select from a pool of players chosen by a combination of fan balloting and the NHL Hockey Operations Department. The change in format is a joint effort by the League and the NHL Players’ Association. [NHL.com]

After the entire All-Star squad has been chosen by fan voting and NHL Hockey Operations, the players will choose 2 captains per team.  So if Crosby & Toews are chosen captains of one team and Ovechkin & Gionta captains of the other, those four will then alternate picks to draft their respective teams from the remaining 38 players.  We know which side would have blue lightsabres in the battle of good vs. evil!

I'd rather kiss a Wookie.

What do you think of this? Shanahan’s all for it, as is Rob Blake: more excitement, mix it up, invest the players in the fun of the event.  And since there was no All-Star game last year due to Olympics, it’ll be nice to have everyone back.  The Skills Competition is still the highlight – should we call it the Showboat Competition?  The Hockey Hair Pageant?  For my vote, I think the fantasy draft is a cute idea and I look forward to seeing how it works.  Players from the same team could face each other – Ovi’s shot blocked by Green, Getzlaf vs. Selanne on a face-off.

Спасибо. (Spasibo.)

There’s one solution the NHL has not considered here:  Team Cherrie/Pants vs Team CI/Chuck.  The epic battle of choosing good vs. good-looking, sexy vs. scoring ability and the inevitable hug between Sid & Ovi when C/P wins… a sports legend in the making.

PS: @DaveLozo is tearing it up on Twitter with random imaginings of how the draft will go down.  Hilarity -”Alex Ovechkin with his hand-written lists on notebook paper saying, ‘I’m pretty sure I can get Semin later. I’ll take Toews.’”