1. Columbus is a very underrated hockey city: The home of the expansion franchise, the Blue Jackets, has not often made the same lists as Chicago, Boston, Toronto and even, increasingly, Los Angeles, but it thoroughly deserves to join those other great hockey cities of North America.
The fans in Columbus have waited a long time for their turn at hosting All Star Weekend. It’s been three years since the last All Star Weekend – 2012 in Ottawa – thanks to Olympics last year and the lock-out in 2013. Based on the great interest and attendance at pretty much every event across the weekend, Columbus’ turn hosting the All Star festivities can only be described as wildly successful.
Except, of course, if you’re the Nationwide Arena PA announcer, who had multiple attempts at pronouncing Johnny Gaudreau’s name correctly, failing miserably – Gad-row, Good-row, what’s in a name, right? – but humorously each time.
Oh yeah, and there’s that cannon, which apparently is fired each time the Blue Jackets score a goal, or when the hometown Team Foligno scored on this occasion. It’s preceded by a few lines from the AC/DC song “For Those About To Rock” and then, no matter where you are in the arena, you’re deafened. Out-of-town players and media hated it.
Pronunciations and artillery aside, overwhelmingly great reviews from out-of-town players, coaches, media and fans alike will have people wanting to add Nationwide Arena to their hockey road trips. Most notably known as a football town, thanks to the Ohio State Buckeyes, the Blue Jackets are doing their best to make Columbus famous for hockey, too, and with the loyally-followed franchise definitely on the rise, we’re going to be hearing a lot more from this city, which has proven that the concept of the All Star Weekend isn’t a dated one.
2. Hockey players have great personality and are great people: We see it day to day, we see a lot of it during the HBO/EPIX documentary series around the Winter Classic, and we see it on All Star Weekend, too.
From involving children in their breakaway contest during the Skills Competition – Ryan Johansen has set the bar high – to plenty of ironic humour – the fantasy draft trade of Tyler Seguin and Phil Kessel, who have gone opposite ways in real life hockey; Seguin was the compensation for Toronto snaring Kessel – through the sheer amount of time each player spent with fans on the Red Carpet and elsewhere across the weekend, the down-to-earth nature of the top tier of hockey players was on full show. The sport is better for it.
Special mention to Chicago’s Jonathan Toews who, during the fantasy draft trade of Kessel and Seguin, quipped that Kessel was definitely coachable in reference to rumours swirling in Toronto around the time that Randy Carlyle was fired from the top gig with the Leafs. It was a highlight reel moment from a weekend full of them.
3. Shea Weber is just as powerful as Zdeno Chara: If there’s one guy who must’ve been happy to know that Chara, captain of the Boston Bruins, wasn’t a part of the All Star Weekend festivities – he’s out injured at the moment – it had to be the big gunner from Nashville, who was clear winner of the Hardest Shot event during the Skills contest.
Chara famously rocketed a shot at a stupefyingly fast 108.8mph in Ottawa three years ago and might well have gone even faster had injury (and a poor start by most Bruins to this 2014-15 season) not stopped him from participating. Worry not, because Shea Weber stepped to the plate and, man, did he give us something to remember. A standard blue line bomb from the Nashville Predators defenceman measured in at 108.5, which was by far the fastest shot of the competition, though not quite enough to beat Chara’s world-beating mark.
Still, can you imagine getting in the lane when Weber tees up a bomb that’s all hard, frozen rubber spinning through the air, coming at you at about 174 kilometres per hour? No wonder these guys get paid like they do. No wonder, universally at Nationwide Arena, were players admitting to not being particularly excited about shot-blocking Weber come playoffs. You can’t blame them!
4. Columbus fans don’t like it when their favourites leave town: They made their displeasure with Rick Nash’s decision to depart Columbus for New York City and the Rangers quite clear every time Nash either touched the puck, was mentioned on the PA system or was shown on the big screen, booing him mercilessly.
Interestingly, former Blue Jacket draft pick Jakub Voracek, currently dominating the league with Philadelphia, didn’t receive the same treatment but then, when he left Columbus there was little to suggest that he’d come the player he is now.
Nash, on the other hand, was a legit star, who wanted out because he didn’t think the Jackets had the horses to get to a Stanley Cup Final. His appearance there for the Rangers last year and his huge season thus far in 2014-15 validate his move. I guess Nash didn’t mind being the villain of the weekend, and he did it – importantly – with a smile. Oh, and he scored two goals.
5. Being selected as an All-Star Goalie is the game’s most poisoned chalice: Yes, it means you’re either a fan favourite or one of the best between the pipes in the National Hockey League, which is certainly something to be proud of. That is, until you arrive at the All Star Game and proceed to be scored on a ridiculous number of times.
Goalies must almost dread this weekend, because it’s hard work, and you know you’re going to get lit up. The 2015 edition featured 27 goals, a record number, as Team Toews beat Team Foligno 17-12. Toews’ team accounted for 47 shots and Team Foligno 45. With no defensive checking to prevent players getting in on goal, and having ample opportunity to create some offense.
As fans, we love – well, most of us do; the ‘no physicality’ concept of the All Star Game has it’s detractors, but I think it’s just a fun celebration of hockey – the offense created, but you’ve gotta spare a thought for the men between the pipes.
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