NHL All-Star Game

Once again, the All Star game is in the bag for 2012, and what a game it was. Team Zdeno Chara in blue VS Team Daniel Alfredsson in red (white/red?). Still don't quite understand since the event was held in Ottawa, Alfredsson's home arena where he plays solidly for the Ottawa Senators, but hey, I probably missed something.
As always, the skills competition was an entertaining watch. This year featured several amusing scenes such as Patrick Kane donning a Superman cape and scoring, Corey Perry taking out a goalie ministick and scoring his goal and Carey Price Tebowing after stopping a goal. Of course there were several amazing scenes also, such as Zdeno Chara proving he's still the man to beat, breaking his previous record of a 105.9 mph slap shot by nearly a whole 3 seconds, going 108.8 mph this time. Team Alfredsson beat Team Chara in the end though with a 21-12 win in the skills competition.

But then we come down to the actual game. As the skaters came onto the ice one-by-one to line up with their teams, I was anxious to once again watch a hockey all-star game. The puck dropped and the game was on. for the first few minutes the game featured solid defence as each team was getting a feel for the game. However soon would follow a cluster of goals by both teams and the 1st period would end 3-3. Marian Gaborik ended up with two goals in the period and scored his 3rd in the 2nd period for a hatrick. This included taunting at the goalie he scored on the 1st two times - his teammate Henry Lundqvist.
As the second period got underway, it was all about one man - Daniel Alfredsson. He scored two goals and ScotiaBank Place came alive with the chants of "Alfie, Alfie!" All-in-all the 2nd period would close and the teams would once again be tied at 6-6. This had a feeling like another 9-8 game coming, however this was not the case. The 3rd period started and Team Chara scored a nice 6 goals, with Tim Thomas only allowing 3 and extending his winning All-Star games steak to four, and Team Chara blasted to a 12-9 victory over Team Alfredsson. Alfredsson was denied his hatrick by Tim Thomas, and Zdeno Chara scored the game winner with 7:40 remaining in the 3rd.

Of course, an ending note is one thing - Capitals Forward Alex Ovechkin was picked as an All-Star this year but opted out since he was suspended in the league for a hit on Penguins Defenseman Zbyněk Michalek. This was clearly a protest against his suspension since the All-Star game doesn't count as a regular season game and thus his suspension doesn't count for it. He was replaced by Pittsburgh Penguins Forward James Neal.