Well, the Sens have been stinking it up lately, so forgive me if I'm already looking past tonight's game vs. Tampa Bay to the All-Star weekend.
Yes, that's right. I'm jumping from Stink Fest to Snooze Fest.
(Actually, I spent most of the week getting all primed for the Super Bowl, only to find out that it's not until next weekend. Which is something I can't figure out. In the NHL playoffs, if a team has a week-long layoff, people worry about the team losing it's mojo. In the NFL, a two-week hiatus is required to hype the game and give injured players time to rest. But that's really not important to this Blog, so moving right along...)
So everyone knows how lame the NHL All-Star game usually is. The elite of the NHL (or the guys who aren't injured, or decide not to just take a vacation) playing head-to-head in the East vs. the West, with absolutely no defence, guys laughing all over the ice, goalies getting bombarded, and the final score usually resulting along the lines of 14-13. For me, however, the more intriguing part of the weekend has been the Skills Competition, but even that has grown stale in recent years.
Thankfully, the NHL has decided to re-vamp the Skills Comp this year. There's going to be a shoot-out competition similar to the NBA's Slam Dunk contest, to see who can score the prettiest goals doing the sweetest moves, and there will be judges to give them scores. There are also other tweaks being made to the regular old drills to hopefully make things a little more splashy and exciting.
Now, as usual, one of the biggest problems with the All-Star game is that some of the league's biggest stars opt out to rest and relax, or they come up with some convenient "injury". This year, the leading vote-getter in the fan ballot, Sidney Crosby, will be absent. I'd be ready to crap all over Sid for being a sissy, but apparently he really is hurt, and is expected to miss 6 to 8 weeks. So I guess I have to lay off him a bit. I was a little pissed when I found out that Roberto Luongo had asked permission to skip the All-Star festivities after being voted in as the West's starting goaltender to spend the weekend relaxing with his wife, who is expecting a child in the Spring. Since then, I've heard the Mrs. Luongo has had complications with her pregnancy, so no one can blame Roberto for wanting to spend time with her instead of taking part in the All-Star Farce.
Last week, it looked like the Sens were also going to be seriously decreasing their number of All-Stars when both Dany Heatley and Daniel Alfredsson went down to injury. Fortunately for me, it looks like Alfie will be ready to go, along with Jason Spezza, and only Heatley will be missing out with his separated shoulder, that should keep him out of the line-up for another month at least. Truthfully, without any Sens at the All-Star game, I probably wouldn't even pay attention to it, but I'm sort of interested to see how my boys fare out, and I hope they do us proud!
Yes, that's right. I'm jumping from Stink Fest to Snooze Fest.
(Actually, I spent most of the week getting all primed for the Super Bowl, only to find out that it's not until next weekend. Which is something I can't figure out. In the NHL playoffs, if a team has a week-long layoff, people worry about the team losing it's mojo. In the NFL, a two-week hiatus is required to hype the game and give injured players time to rest. But that's really not important to this Blog, so moving right along...)
So everyone knows how lame the NHL All-Star game usually is. The elite of the NHL (or the guys who aren't injured, or decide not to just take a vacation) playing head-to-head in the East vs. the West, with absolutely no defence, guys laughing all over the ice, goalies getting bombarded, and the final score usually resulting along the lines of 14-13. For me, however, the more intriguing part of the weekend has been the Skills Competition, but even that has grown stale in recent years.
Thankfully, the NHL has decided to re-vamp the Skills Comp this year. There's going to be a shoot-out competition similar to the NBA's Slam Dunk contest, to see who can score the prettiest goals doing the sweetest moves, and there will be judges to give them scores. There are also other tweaks being made to the regular old drills to hopefully make things a little more splashy and exciting.
Now, as usual, one of the biggest problems with the All-Star game is that some of the league's biggest stars opt out to rest and relax, or they come up with some convenient "injury". This year, the leading vote-getter in the fan ballot, Sidney Crosby, will be absent. I'd be ready to crap all over Sid for being a sissy, but apparently he really is hurt, and is expected to miss 6 to 8 weeks. So I guess I have to lay off him a bit. I was a little pissed when I found out that Roberto Luongo had asked permission to skip the All-Star festivities after being voted in as the West's starting goaltender to spend the weekend relaxing with his wife, who is expecting a child in the Spring. Since then, I've heard the Mrs. Luongo has had complications with her pregnancy, so no one can blame Roberto for wanting to spend time with her instead of taking part in the All-Star Farce.
Last week, it looked like the Sens were also going to be seriously decreasing their number of All-Stars when both Dany Heatley and Daniel Alfredsson went down to injury. Fortunately for me, it looks like Alfie will be ready to go, along with Jason Spezza, and only Heatley will be missing out with his separated shoulder, that should keep him out of the line-up for another month at least. Truthfully, without any Sens at the All-Star game, I probably wouldn't even pay attention to it, but I'm sort of interested to see how my boys fare out, and I hope they do us proud!
Let the All-Star festivities begin! Oh, wait...Dammit...There's still that pesky game tonight.
GO SENS GO!!
