Monday, January 24, 2011

Short Week for the Wild...

...and the rest of the NHL, as well, as it's the All-Star break. Time for Vegas casinos, and beaches all over the Carribean, to be populated with hockey players (and, in some cases, their families, as well.)

For others, those who are 'lucky' enough to be nominated to play in the ASG, a trip to bleak and chilly (for them, anyhow) Raleigh, North Carolina, is in order to play in the ultimate 'pick-up' game of 'shinny', to be televised on Sunday (Versus, 3 PM Central Time start ).

The new format -- whereby the teams are chosen by the captains from the pool of available players -- is designed to draw interest into a game which has become stale and predictable (as all such exhibitions of this type are). The fact that the players get to pick other players will be the interesting part. Which players will be picked last, will be the subject of considerable debate, much more so than which players will be picked first. The game itself is the culmination of the three-day All-Star Weekend, the de facto lead-in to the stretch drive for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, which will include the Trade Deadline day of Feb. 28th.

The ASG may be the lowest TV-viewed game of the season, but it won't be the lowest watched sports event of the day:

The Pro Bowl, the NFL's All-Star game, begins at 6 PM, live from Honolulu. Just sayin'.

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