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New All-Star format, same old game
Source: Agencies |
February 1, 2011, Tuesday
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A NEW format added some glitz to the NHL All-Star Game but in the end it was the same old story as Team Lidstrom out-gunned Team Staal 11-10 on Sunday in a showcase still looking for an identity.
A capacity crowd at the RBC Centre in Raleigh, North Carolina, seemed to enjoy the free-wheeling contest but whether the wider hockey world embraced the revamped game will be revealed by television ratings. Since the end of the 2004-05 lockout, the NHL has shown a willingness to try new ideas such as the Winter Classic outdoor game, which has become the league's signature event.
Like the Winter Classic, the new All-Star format is not so much about looking forward as it is a throw back to hockey's past when kids lined up on the rink and picked sides.
The fantasy draft held on Friday, with Carolina Hurricanes center Eric Staal and Detroit Red Wings defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom dividing the NHL's 40 best players upped the fun quotient for an event that had grown stale. But while the game had a new twist, the show on the ice featured the standard mix of negligible defence and lots of scoring.
"I don't think there's any reason to change the format (again)," said Team Staal forward Patrick Sharp, who skated away with All-Star most valuable player honours. "It did seem to generate a lot of interest.
"I had fun with it, I was a little nervous going into the draft. There was a lot of talk about who would be the last guy (picked). "But all in all I think it was a good weekend."
Gimmick or innovation, the format change generated unprecedented interest in the buildup to the game with networks in Canada and the United States both carrying the draft live.
Still the contest has been unable to capture any of the magic associated with NBA's dunk-fest or Major League Baseball's mid-season classic, which has a competitive edge with the winner gaining home field advantage for the World Series.
A capacity crowd at the RBC Centre in Raleigh, North Carolina, seemed to enjoy the free-wheeling contest but whether the wider hockey world embraced the revamped game will be revealed by television ratings. Since the end of the 2004-05 lockout, the NHL has shown a willingness to try new ideas such as the Winter Classic outdoor game, which has become the league's signature event.
Like the Winter Classic, the new All-Star format is not so much about looking forward as it is a throw back to hockey's past when kids lined up on the rink and picked sides.
The fantasy draft held on Friday, with Carolina Hurricanes center Eric Staal and Detroit Red Wings defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom dividing the NHL's 40 best players upped the fun quotient for an event that had grown stale. But while the game had a new twist, the show on the ice featured the standard mix of negligible defence and lots of scoring.
"I don't think there's any reason to change the format (again)," said Team Staal forward Patrick Sharp, who skated away with All-Star most valuable player honours. "It did seem to generate a lot of interest.
"I had fun with it, I was a little nervous going into the draft. There was a lot of talk about who would be the last guy (picked). "But all in all I think it was a good weekend."
Gimmick or innovation, the format change generated unprecedented interest in the buildup to the game with networks in Canada and the United States both carrying the draft live.
Still the contest has been unable to capture any of the magic associated with NBA's dunk-fest or Major League Baseball's mid-season classic, which has a competitive edge with the winner gaining home field advantage for the World Series.
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