Re: NHL 2015 - Trouble Bruin! Ranger Leaf jumped the King Shark! Just Ducky!
Reflections From the 2015 NHL All-Star Game
NHL Jersey Watch
Walking the concourses at Nationwide, I spotted jerseys from 28 of the 30 teams. Only the NY Islanders and Ottawa Senators lacked representation. That's really a shame in the Islanders' case, as John Tavares put on an excellent show. With 4 goals for the winning squad, he really should have been the game's MVP. More on that below. Also:
- Impressive variety of LA Kings jerseys from over the years. If all those people really traveled from LA, that's a nice showing by the reigning champs' fanbase.
- More North Star jerseys than Wild jerseys
- Older jerseys from Vancouver and Calgary that appeared to be gamers. The Vancouver group was actually asked to stop and pose for photos.
- Surprising number of Tampa jerseys.
International Jersey Watch
USA, Canada, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Iceland. OK, Iceland was a T-Shirt. Thought I'd see a Latvia jersey, (think Girgensons) but no luck there.
EDIT: I forgot the Slovenia jersey! (think Kopitar)
Spirited Jerseys
Seagram's and Labatt's
Defunct Team Jerseys
North Stars, Nordiques, Whalers, Rockies, Columbus Chill and of course the obligatory Chiefs jersey.
Crowd Composition
About a 50/50 split between visitors and locals. Lots of Penguins, Red Wings and Blackhawks fans, as you'd expect. Great to have all of the visitors, but it did lead to a more laid back crowd. The CBJ chant never really gained any traction. But maybe that's as it should be at an All-Star Game.
Love The Cannon, But...
29 Cannon Blasts? I'm told 29 Goals is an All-Star Game record. So, we were part of history. But that much offense isn't so much awesome as it is overkill.
EDIT: On further review, the Cannon only went off for Team Foligno goals. And apparently the cannon brigade missed one of those. Still, counting an additional explosion during both the pre-game and the post-game, we had a minimum of 13 blasts.
Oh, and that #@!% foghorn went off for every goal. So while I'm guilty of exaggerating on the cannon, we were very much under audio assault all. night. long.
Hockey or Basketball?
Not sure, but in today's competition goaltending was apparently illegal.
Leo!
The Blue Jackets regular anthem singer combined with two Canadian Mounties to sing the Canadian anthem. Out-of-the-box thinking, but an impressive result.
Most Popular Number
#91, Worn by Seguin, Stamkos, Tarasenko & Tavares. An Official Scorer's Nightmare!
Least Valuable Player
Gotta go with Marc-Andre Fleury. At one point, by our count, he let in 4 goals on 5 shots. Ouch. When he finally did make a couple of stops, it gave the Columbus crowd a chance to practice the Bronx cheer. Fleury also struggled a bit while here during last year's playoffs. I'll go out on a limb and guess that Nationwide Arena isn't his favorite NHL rink.
Most Valuable Player
Lots of brilliant offensive production, which is of course by design. My take is that Tavares' star shined the brightest. But by letting fans' cell phone votes determine the winner, local favorite Ryan Johansen took home the Honda. Happy ending, yes. Disgrace, no. Johansen did have 2 goals and 2 assists. But a rather obvious case of homers stuffing the ballot box? Yes.
Nice Blackhawks Moment
After the game, the six Blackhawks gathered at Center Ice to pose for a photo. Uh, shouldn't that number be five? Toews, Kane, Keith, Seabrook & Crawford? Nope, go with six. 2010 Alum & Cup Winner Dustin Byfuglien was invited to join the photo op. Nice touch.
Bottom Line?
An enjoyable weekend and a fine celebration of our sport. Glad I participated. But I do have to say that this was my first NHL All-Star Game and that once may very well be enough.
