With the NHL bye week upon us, fans are sad that they won’t be able to see their favorite teams play, but never fear, an exciting weekend will soon be upon us.
That exciting weekend is the annual NHL All-Star game.
Every year, the NHL brings players all across the league to compete in a series of competitions and games.
This year, the event will occur in Toronto, Ontario at Scotiabank Arena from Thursday, Feb. 1 to Saturday, Feb. 2.
On Thursday, they will begin at 6 p.m. by announcing the NHL Alumni Man of the Year, commencing the Tim Hortons NHL All-Star Player Draft, honoring the 1967 Toronto Maple Leafs and concluding with the PWHL 3-on-3 showcase.
On Friday, the skills competition will begin at 7 p.m. with eight events. It will consist of twelve stars that will compete for the most points, with the winner going home with $1 million.
This year, the skills competition will have three rounds. The first round will have preliminary contests such as the hardest shot, the fastest skater, stick handling, one timers, a passing challenge and accuracy shooting. Those who win each of these competitions will move on to the next NHL One-on-One round. Each player will get to select the player they want to go up against. After this shootout, the top six will make it to the third round where points are doubled. The player who notches the most amount of points after all these events will be crowned the winner!
On Saturday, it’s the NHL All-Star game, the game that most NHL fans look forward to besides the Stanley Cup final. It will begin at 3 p.m. and there will be four teams with 11 players (nine skaters and two goaltenders). Each team will have one captain and one celebrity captain.
Some of these players and celebrities include Auston Matthews, Justin Bieber, Quinn Hughes, Jack Hughes, Michael Buble, Nathan Mackinnon, Tate McRae, Connor McDavid and Will Arnett. During the All-Star Draft on Thursday, each team will get to draft which players they want.
The jerseys for this game were also designed after Ontario native Bieber’s “Drew brand,” since the events will be taking place in his home province.
All in all, fans should not be disappointed that we can’t watch hockey for a week. Fans should be excited for this weekend where we get three days to see the best players in the NHL compete.