All Star Thoughts:

Well, despite my misgivings and bitching about the All Star game, I still watched it.

Or at least the intros, first period, part of the second and the final minutes.

Here's some thoughts:

The intros:

-Former Devil, Oiler, Bruin, and Dallas Star Bill Guerin gets a real nice ovation from the Dallas crowd. He didn't do so well in Dallas, or at least not as well as he did on a line with Joe Thornton in Boston, but the crowd really gave it up for him. I suspect this is becuase he was always the kind of player who'd skate hard, provide offense, throw a hit or two, drop the gloves if the time was right and provide leadership. It was a class act by the Dallas fans and the grin on Guerin's face showed he wasn't expecting it. I know Billy G won a cup with the Devils way back when, but I hope he can get out of St. Louis and get back into the playoffs one more time.

-During the National Anthem, the Dallas fans shout "STARS" really loud when the lyric "Stars" or "Star" is sung during the "Star Spangled Banner." I love this. Organic, fan based chants are one of the things that make this league great. The fact that they treated Billy Guerin the way they did, and really got into the singing of the national anthem that way is a pretty strong argument to the folks who say hockey will never work in non-conventional hockey cities.

-Wow, Ed Jovonoski is still in the league? I had no idea.

-I'll tell you, no offense to the guy, but it's really nice to hold an All Star game and not see Eric Lindros. After all the hype, after all the noise, that guy had exactly two good years, and was never dominant. Come to think of it, it was great to have an All Star game that doesn't end up with half the guys pulling on Rangers jerseys the next fall, and skating about as hard as they did at the All Star game.

-Ovechkin is introduced and we cut to the crowd. Two people are clapping, the rest look bored.

-Joe Thornton gives up #19 in deference to Joe Sakic. I'd like to say this is a class move by Joe, but I wonder if it was regulation, that the older player gets the number. Either way, the right decision was made. We all should be appreciating Joe Sakic these days. Also, I hear the announcers say that Joe doesn't take many warmup shots, but does take pictures with Bill Guerin and Brian Rolston. Jesus, that was a good Bruins team.

The game:

-Where the hell is Sidney Crosby? Seriously- what gives?

-A Deflection goal ties the score. Wow- so the NHL cooks the books to prevent Rory Fitzpatrick from taking a few shifts, but they're cool with their showcase of the elite featuring a puck bouncing in off fucking Yanic Perrault?

-Luongo gets his mask knocked off. This reminds me of the last fifteen minutes of the movie Predator "You are one ugly motherfucker."

-Wow- When is the last time you've watched 10 minutes of NHL hockey without a penalty? It takes you 15 games to see that these days.

-Looks like the officials are also being lax on offsides calls. If they aren't going to call it, why don't we just let a fan be the ref? Or fuck it, get Paul Newman. We know he can skate, and if you miked him up, it'd be awesome. Plus, you know Brendon Shanahan would skate up to him and tell him that he was "too fuckin' old to play this game." It'd be great.

-Great job by Emerick bringing up the Al Mcinnis quote on why he brought three sticks instead of five to the hardest shot contest back in the day: "You only bring three becuase the sticks might get jealous."

Where's Crosby? wow.

St Louis just scored on a pass from Lecavlier. So fast I couldn't see it. Jeez, you'd think that guys who've played together before are more fun to watch.

Justin Williams to Staal and another goal. What did I just say?

Again, they ignored an obviously offside play.

Brian Rolston just scored and it looked like he split the puck in half- it turned out he just broke Brodeur's microphone. That'd be great if the last thing they heard on the mike was Brodeur saying "Awww Fu-"

Well, I've lost interest. I kept an eye on the game throughout, but with apologies to Blues and Flyers fans, it ain't much fun to watch two hockey teams that aren't trying very hard. I was talking to my brother about this, and we came up with a neat idea.

Why not have the best Powerplay in the league face off against the best PK? Who would that be, I wonder? San Jose vs. Montreal, maybe? Perhaps the Forechecker will come to my aid again.

Anyway, there'll be some real hockey on Saturday.

See you then.