Wednesday, January 10, 2007

All Star Balloting is in-

And as much as I normally hate the All-Star game, I gotta say, the NHL did one thing right on their website, allowing you to click individual players and see examples of their recent goals and highlights.

Sidney Crosby's page is particularly great, as it really shows off his extraordinary ability to just not quit on a puck, and Alexander Ovechkin's is similarly amazing, especially in the way you really get to see, over and over again, how fluid and lightning quick his shot is.

But perhaps most extraordinary, is Daniel Briere's page, which is different from Crosby's and Ovechkin's in that his highlight reels, over and over again, feature at least 3 or four teammates touching the puck, moving it around and creating chances.

While Crosby and Ovechkin are world-class players, the Buffalo Sabres are a world-class team. That's not to say that Briere is going to do badly at the All Star game- I could skate on a line with Ovechkin and Crosby and finish with 4 points. But I do think it's interesting that the NHL still feels the need to promote itself on the single player NBA superstar model and not by promoting the electrifying lines, and most effective special teams units.

Also, it's sad that Rory Fitzpatrick didn't make it in. For those conspiracy theorists out there, who think that the NHL put in the fix, you think the fact that it might be difficult to put together a highlight page for Rory along the lines of Crosby's and Ovechkin's above?

I think they could have done it.

In fact, it's probably a matter of time before one of those nutty Vancouver hockey bloggers puts one together. Lemme know if you see one, I'll link it up.

Anyway, I'm off to play some real hockey tonight.

It's a chilly one tonight in Central Park- time to find the longjohns.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Well, I'm not sure people would really get off on a video of Rory Fitzpatrick taking a bunch of hooking and obstruction penalties. Well, except for Kerry Fraser

Anonymous said...

A Rory video would probably be him loading hockey bags on the team bus and hssleing his ass off during a timeout when the coach forgot the dry-erase marker in the locker-room. still- I'd like to see it- he's the best at what he does.