So the All Star Weekend is thankfully over and we can get back to some hockey.Thoughts on the weekends and our Blackhawks representatives . . .

Skill Competition

NHL Bridgestone Fastest Skater

Skater	Time
Zach Parise	14.59
Jeff Carter	14.43
Brian Campbell	14.90
Jay Bouwmeester	14.59
Mason Raymond	15.14
Andrew Cogliano	14.31
		Winner: Andrew Cogliano	14.31

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None of these guys looked slow, including Soupy. I would like to have seen Duncan Keith in this event.

Scotiabank NHL Fan Fav Breakaway Challenge

Shooter	Fan Vote %
Patrick Kane	6.8
Martin St. Louis	15.7
Ryan Getzlaf	11.5
Alex Kovalev	19.7
Steven Stamkos	3.5
Alex Ovechkin	42.8
Winner: Alex Ovechkin	42.8

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This event needs to be changed. Instead of a timed event, make it more like the NBA’s Slam Dunk Competition. Kane’s breakaways were ok, but missed on some of the execution. All breakaways were overshadowed by the showmanship from Ovechkin. My vote would have been for Getzlaf and his behind the net pick up and tuck in just under the crossbar. Sweet move. Made me a Getzlaf fan.

Upper Deck YoungStars Game

	1	2	3	FINAL
Rookie YoungStars	3	4	2	9
Sophomore YoungStars	1	3	1	5
MVP: Blake Wheeler (BOS), 3 goals
FULL BOXSCORE

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Bolland looked good, had 1G and 1A. Kris Versteeg attended the game but sat out.

McDonald’s Accuracy Shooting

Qualifying Round
Shooter	Hits/Attempts	Shooter	Hits/Attempts
Jonathan Toews	4/8	Evgeni Malkin	4/4
Ilya Kovalchuk	3/8	Dany Heatley	4/4
Mike Modano	4/5	Marc Savard	3/8
Jarome Iginla	4/7	Tomas Kaberle	3/8
Passers		Passers
Keith Tkachuk		Patrick Marleau
Joe Thornton		Scott Niedermayer
Tiebreaker:
Shooter	Hits/Attempts
Evgeni Malkin	3/4
Dany Heatley	2/4
Winner: Evgeni Malkin	3/4

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Toews did ok, but didn’t realy benefit from going first in this competition. Malkin wins in a tie-breaker after there were 2 perfect scores. Four perfect scores, ever, and now 2 in a year.

Cisco Hardest Shot

Shooter	MPH
Mark Streit	98.3
Shea Weber	103.4
Mike Komisarek	98.5
Vincent Lecavalier	97.0
Sheldon Souray	102.3
Zdeno Chara	105.4
Winner: Zdeno Chara	* 105.4

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.* NEW RECORD

The Al Iafrate record goes down, it took long enough. How about the hair Iafrate was sporting back then – wow.

Gatorade NHL Elimination Shoot Out

Elimination Round 1
Skater	Goal/Save	Skater	Goal/Save
Jonathan Toews	Save	Shane Doan	Goal
Zach Parise	Save	Dustin Brown	Save
Shea Weber	Save	Stephane Robidas	Save
Scott Niedermayer	Goal	Andrei Markov	Save
Sheldon Souray	Goal	Zdeno Chara	Goal
Marc Savard	Goal	Keith Tkachuk	Save
Patrick Marleau	Goal	Jeff Carter	Save
Dany Heatley	Save	Rick Nash	Save
Ilya Kovalchuk	Save	Vincent Lecavalier	Save
Goalie: Niklas Backstrom		Goalie: Henrik Lundqvist
Skater	Goal/Save	Skater	Goal/Save
Thomas Vanek	Goal	Eric Staal	Save
Milan Hejduk	Goal	Mark Streit	Save
Tomas Kaberle	Save	Brian Campbell	Save
Dan Boyle	Save	Jay Bouwmeester	Goal
Mike Komisarek	Save	Mike Modano	Goal
Joe Thornton	Save	Ryan Getzlaf	Goal
Jarome Iginla	Save	Evgeni Malkin	Save
Martin St. Louis	Save	Alex Ovechkin	Save
Patrick Kane	Save	Alex Kovalev	Goal
Goalie: J.S. Giguere		Goalie: Tim Thomas
				Elimination Round 2
Skater	Goal/Save	Skater	Goal/Save
Shane Doan	Goal	Scott Niedermayer	Goal
Sheldon Souray	Save	Zdeno Chara	Save
Marc Savard	Goal	Patrick Marleau	Goal
Milan Hejduk	Goal	Jay Bouwmeester	Save
Mike Modano	Save	Ryan Getzlaf	Goal
Alex Kovalev	Save
Elimination Round 3
Skater	Goal/Save	Skater	Goal/Save
Shane Doan	Goal	Scott Niedermayer	Save
Marc Savard	Goal	Patrick Marleau	Save
Milan Hejduk	Goal	Ryan Getzlaf	Save
Elimination Round 4
Skater	Goal/Save	Skater	Goal/Save
Shane Doan	Save	Marc Savard	Save
Milan Heduk	Save
Elimination Round 5
Skater	Goal/Save	Skater	Goal/Save
Shane Doan	Save	Marc Savard	Save
Milan Heduk	Save
Elimination Round 6
Skater	Goal/Save	Skater	Goal/Save
Shane Doan	Goal	Marc Savard	Goal
Milan Heduk	Save
Elimination Round 7
Skater	Goal/Save	Skater	Goal/Save
Shane Doan	Goal	Marc Savard	Save
Winner: Shane Doan

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This event was the most exciting. The process of randomly drawing and trading matchups was interesting. Who would have thought, with all the star power in the competition that an underrted Shane Doan would win. Toews went first in this event as well, and was out in one shot, He really didn’t make much of a move. Kane and Campbell were also out in the first round.

That wraps up Saturday.

All Star Sunday – 57th All Star Game

East 12 – West 11 in a Shoot Out

Before the game we were treated to what every hockey fan wants to see – Cirque du Soleil. Dudes in tights and an orchestra. There’s NO violins in hockey. Where are the snipers.

This was a typical All Star game, with some great goaltending. But when there are over 100 shot in the game and the usual All Star theme, NO D, the scoring was still up. A goal by Toews, 1G 1A for Kane and 1A for Campbell marked a Hawks  presence in Montreal this weekend. Toews rips a quick wrister that was labeled for top shelf – great shot. Kanes goal was a simple little break away, wrister from the slot.

Glad the All Star weekend is over. Lets get to some meaningful hockey.

St. Louis Blues (18-23-4) @ Chicago Blackhawks (25-11-8)

2 – 0 Loss

This evening, the Hawks played host to the St, Louis Blues in the last game before a much needed All-Star break. Though the teams are at opposite ends of the conference standings, all 3 games between these two teams have been fairly evenly matched and in all 3 meetings this season, 60 minutes weren’t enough. St. Louis comes in off a big OT win against Boston. The Hawks look to break a 2 game skid at home. With the intensity of the last few games between these 2 teams – we should have seen some entertaining hockey.

Unfortunately, the slumping Hawks continued their offensive and special team woes. The Blues out skated and out worked the Hawks in this one sided matchup. The Hawks are still struggling to generate scoring chances. A good number of their shots were from the perimeter and really didn’t test St. Louis goalie Chris Mason. Through 30 minutes, the Hawks were out shot 20-4.

After a questionable 5 minutes major-interference call on a Barker hit, the PK looked good on the kill. They took away passing lanes and stifled the Blues PP, which has been red hot as of late. On the 5 minute disadvantage, the Hawks only allowed 3 shots on goal. The PK looked to be back on track, but late in the 1^st, Blues scored a PPG on a shot from the point. On the man advantage, the Hawks PP didn’t look bad, but didn’t get much to the net.

Byfuglien must have missed 4 great scoring chances right in front of the net. Havlat continues to skate well and had a few nice set ups on Byf’s scoring chances. In the 3^rd, Coach Q was really working with line combinations and threw a line of Havlat/Kane/Bolland out there. The Hawks also played the 3^rd without Versteeg, who suffers an undisclosed injury (what a surprise). The injury looked to be a hand/wrist related injury after an awkward fall at center ice. The Hawks have not been driving towards the net as much in the last few weeks, and seem to be content with creating traffic in front and relying on shots from the blueline. Where is the offense we had in December? It also seems the Hawks have been resorting to more dump and chase as of late.

On defense, Hjalmarsson looked good. He was a short team call up and will likely be shipped back to Rockford for the expected return of Duncan Keith after the All-Star break. Between the pipes, Huet didn’t have a bad game and only let one soft goal in through the 5-hole. He faced 29 shots and had to content with Tkachuk’s big body in from of the net. Tkackuk was credited with the Blue’s 2^nd even strength goal, a result of Tkuchuk and Boyes crashing the net.

After the Hawks drop a game to a last place, injury depleted (Eric Johnson, Eric Brewer, Paul Kariya and Andy McDonald, Roman Polack and Yan Stastny); the All-Star break couldn’t come at a better time. The Hawks need to rest and regroup. The teams return from break with a road heavy schedule ahead of them, starting an 8 game road trip and playing 2 of the next 14 at home. A road trip may be just what this club needs.

All Star game – good luck 19, 51 an 88.

Positives:

× 23^rd sellout in 23 games at the UC

× Week layoff could not come at a better time for the Hawks

× Duncan should be back after the week log break.

Negatives:

× The Hawks looked like they were on break already. Similar the vacation mode you get in just before vacation – lazy and just looking ahead instead of taking care of business at hand.

× Status of Kris Versteeg. Coach Q said he “didn’t think the condition was serious”. Hopefully we will see him for the All-Star festivities and more importantly in the Hawks line up next Wednesday.

× This was not the way to leave for break, going 1-2-1 in the last 4 and playing far below their ability.

Game Notes:

× Tonight’s game was “Tony Amonte Heritage Night” at the UC

× The winner of the “Million Dollar Minute Winner” was announced tonight – Cary Stolarczyk of Indian Head Park, IL. Indian Head? Coincidence? At the press conference to announce the winner, Martin Havlat was in attendance and gave Stolarczyk the game stick that scored the prize winning goal – autographed. The contest was a very cool idea and I am sure the Illinois State Lottery didn’t think they would have to pay out in just the 4^th game they ran the promotion. The odds of hitting the exact time of 10:00 – 60860 to 1. Factor that with the odds of being “that” guy with the winning seat – 20,500 to 1. I am not a statistician, but I know those are some crappy odds.

× The Blackhawks recalled defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson from the Rockford Ice Hogs of the AHL.

× Duncan Keith’s status: it was reported that Dunc thought he could go for this one, but Coach Q shelved him. He should return after the week long break. Why rush back 1 game early, take the extra week.

× The league takes a break for the All-Star Weekend festivities this weekend (1/24-1/25) in Montreal. Kane. Toews and Campbell will all be starting in the All-Star Game for the West. Versteeg and late addition Bolland will be playing in the Young Stars game, pitting rookies against second-year players.

MVB (Most Valuable Blackhawk):

× Martin Havlat – he was the majority of the Hawks offense last night. He had several great set ups and has been “on a tear” as of late. Coming into this game, Martin has 4 goals in his last 5 games.

Next Matchup:

January 28th, Chicago Blackhawks @ Anahiem Ducks

Record:

25-12-8 58 points

http://www.nhl.com/ice/boxscore.htm?id=2008020698