The National Hockey League took a very different approach to All-Star weekend. Instead of the game being Eastern versus Western conference it was Team Lidstrom versus Team Staal. On Friday evening the two team captains were in charge of picking their team alongside their assistant captains. How so? Just the way we do our fantasy team drafts!
They went round for round picking any one of the All-Stars for their team. There were a few rules for the draft like how many players of each position a team must have: three goalies, six defensemen and 12 forwards. The three goalies for each team needed to picked by the 10th round and the six defensemen needed to be picked by the 15th round.
Although this years All-Star weekend was completely different, I thought it was a great idea and so much fun. Hockey is obviously not at the top of the list of most popular sports. I thought this was a great way for people who do not really like hockey to become interested and acquainted with the sport and its best players. The draft was entertaining and something very different for a professional sport to do. I think because of how 'out of the box' it was is why it was so enjoyable.
The draft was only a great start to the weekend. On Saturday the Super Skills competition took place with all the fun competitions. Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara won the hardest shot competition with a record breaking 105.9 MPH shot! Then on Sunday Team Lidstrom beat Team Staal 11-12 in the All-Star game.
The weekend was a lot of fun for players and fans alike. I loved the whole concept of the draft and hope the NHL continues with it every year from here on out!
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