The older I get, the less I like the NHL all-star weekend. In recent years, I've skipped the entire thing, even the skills competition which I used to love.
This year, I got tricked into tuning in to the skills competition because they were holding a breakaway event that would give points for creativity. I envisioned something like the slam dunk competition during the NBA all-star weekend. It piqued my interest so I made sure I was in front of the tv at 9pm to watch the sparks fly.
As usual, it was disappointing. There were a few attempts to do something funky and different, but they failed. By the end, it was no more exciting than a regular shootout in a regular season game. If anything, the regular shootout is more exciting because the players actually care if they score.
Won't get fooled again.
Watching on & off, that might have been the worst ever skills event night I can recall.
-A mess of a multi-player course with skating around ordinary plain pucks and flipping a pass over a lame ad banner;
-then a rookie/young stars game that ended before I noticed;
-then a phantom punch target event where hitting half the white foam targets didn't show;-
-then a slap shot radar contest from "too d*mn close to the net" - after recent compaints about goalies getting lined-up during shootouts;
-and finally an under-tested fancy penalty shot contest to mimic the NBA's slam dunk event against goalies who challenged the shooters' approaches.
-And afterwards: a chat with Commissioner Bettman.