Out of all of the little added features to All-Star games in any sport, I still think the NHL's skill contest is by far the best.
Tonight you'll have a chance to see players shatter plates, cut corners and shoot above and beyond speeds my Hyundai Elantra could ever dream of going.
Check it out tonight, 7pm, on Versus.
I was going to post a whole breakdown of the event, but the NHL (for once) did such a complete and sufficient job of it, I just figured I'd link them.
Also, be sure to check out our residential fight expert Dunman's latest installment of Tales of the Tape, Flyers vs Penguins edition. He has videos up from Thursday's fights along with commentary on each fight. Definitely worth the read.
[EDIT 4:38pm]
I was just reading around online, and found this great quote from a Canucks blog on hockeybuzz.com
...I do feel that Steve Downie deliberately dove head first into the boards when pushed from behind by Georges Laraque. That was my very first thought when I saw the replay of the incident and after viewing it over a few times, I have seen nothing to dissuade me from that viewpoint.
Here's the link.
Perhaps this is exactly what the NHL saw and why Big Georges wasn't given a suspension.
Lemme tell ya - it takes a rare formed human being to take a dive so much to the point where he opts to go head first into the boards to draw a penalty. Call it grit, call it commitment, call it whatever you want. I'm just going to call it straight up insanity. And when describing the common existence of a human being like Steve Downie, there's no word I can find to be more fitting. Well a few, but not blog friendly ones.