Yes! Hockey! it really does exist and tonight is the All-Star Game. Since I’ll be watching anyway, why not live blog it? (And fittingly enough, my heat went out in my apartment.)

8:20pm: Okay… Robert Randolph and the Family Band? I dig their music but… wahhhhh? Does not compute.

Seeing Brendan Shanahan playing for the New York Rangers is just weird. Now I know how Blues fans felt when he went to Detroit.

I’m kinda liking the new uniforms. They’re alot sleeker and really don’t look that bad. The real question comes when we see the actually team jerseys (and heaven forbid changes to some of the classic designs) but that won’t happen until late spring or summer.

Okay so my router power is out while the guy works on the heater. So much for “live” blog.

God damn the East is loaded on offense. But the West seems to have the best defensemen. Could be an interesting matchup in that regard.

8:25pm: I love the Canadian national anthem, but whoever they got to sing it is making it into a funeral dirge. And yes, you can sing high. Wonderful. Of course nothing can top the fans in Edmonton singing it without any accompaniment. heh now she just about fell flat on her face walking off.

Wow, and the American anthem is pretty shitty too. And the mics are going out too. Classy production.

Speaking of classy, gotta love the Dallas fans (where the game is being played) shouting out “STARS!!!” and “STAR!!!” at that point of the song. Yeah. Super classy, Dallas fans.

First Period
8:35pm: Who know hockey players were that skinny! These new unis really are alot sleeker.

Some nice shots on goal so far. Wish all games were this wide open.

SCOOOORRRRRRRRE. Daniel Briere (Bufallo) for the East. Beautiful pass across the crease by Danny Heatley (Ottawa).

8:37pm: And the West ties it up already!! Yanic Perreault (Phoenix) with the great deflection. This looks more like Olympic hockey.

8:39pm: Another goal. West up 2-1. Two on one Teemu Sellane (Anaheim) with the great wrister. Wow. You should be watching. if you can get the Vs. network that is. All 12 of you.

8:50: Woah, one weird thing about the new jerseys that’s really obvious in the white jerseys.. the back pad that come sup from the pants to about mid-back is REALLY obvious under the slimmer jerseys and looks sorta … funky, especially when they are bending over or reaching for a puck.

8:53pm: Holy cow, great save by Luongo on Crosby.

How awesome is it to see Alexander Ovetchkin and Sidney Crosby on the same line. These guys are going to be All-Star linemates for years.

And another goal, ties 22. Beautiful pass from Lacavlier to Marton St. Louis to put it up from a shallow angle over Luongo’s shoulder.

And now it’s 3-2 East almost right away with a great 5-hole(?) shot by Eric Staal.

8:57pm: This is the kind of hockey that reminds me why I love hockey. Crisp passes, not an over-reliance on dump passes and forechecking, beautiful wristers and fast action. Even without the scoring this would be a beautiful game so far. Does make me think more that retraction would be good for the league… put more skill on fewer teams. Not a ton of teams, maybe just eliminate 4-6 teams that struggle in their markets.

9:00pm: Did I just hear that Chuck Norris will join them at intermission? Chuck Norris?!!

9:01pm: Yup. That’s Chuck Norris. What. The. Fuck. Seriously. they are interviewing him about the “World Combat League”?! “A team of 6 fighters, 5 men and 1 woman, on each team…” oh god this is what you get when your league is on Vs. Ugh. And Norris just talked over a goal by the West to tie it up 3-3. Plugging the time for his ridiculous World Combat League is more important than a beautiful goal by Rick Nash off a shot from the circle. This is why people make fun of hockey.

9:04pm: End of first period, 3-3 tie. Some great goals, great shots and solid saves so far. But I’m still pissed about Chuck Norris talking over a goal while pimping some ridiculous fighting show. Time to catch up the Tivo.

9:10pm: Ahh Hail Brian Engblom’s Mullet! I miss him on ESPN with Barry Melrose. Now THAT was Hockey Mullet Power.

Ummmm Red Jumpsuit Apparatus? That’s the first intermission entertainment? I hate to admit this, as a hockey fan, but wow has this sport fallen.

Second Period

9:23pm: Damn you Mythbusters for being on at the same time as the game. But thank you Tivo! Someone needs to dig up some hockey myths for the Mythbusters.

9:26pm: New goaltenders for the second persion. Since 1992 three goaltenders have been used. East: Martin Brodeur (New Jersey). West: Miikka Kiprusoff (Calgary). Oh, and there’s nothing like interviews with Eastern Europeans who barely understand English. Ahhhhhh hockey.

9:29pm: West is really on the attack. Damn, two shots to hit the post within a couple minutes. Nothing like that “ding!” when a shot hits the post. If your team is shooting it’s the worst sound in the world, but it’s the best sound there is if it’s a shot against your team.

And now the West goes up 4-3 on a Patrick Marleau (San Jose) rebound goal to make up for his shot off the post just a bit ago.

9:32pm: Since that goal, Brodeur has been on fire and Kiprusoff has been stellar the whole period. Of course as soon as I write that the East ties it up off a shot by Justin Williams (Carolina) after a beautiful cross-ice pass by Jason Blake from the Islanders.

9:36pm: This is nice, they have Martin Brodeur miked in his helmet and talked to him right before the face-off. I hope this is something that the NHL can do more of in the future. Great way to bring th efans into the game…

and yet another goal, this time for the East. Zdeno Chara (Boston). Wow. This is already only one goal away from the All-Star goal total from last year (10).

9:43pm: I really feel sorry for goalies in All-Star games. They can make a series of great saves but when you are facing that level of offensive skill combined with far less checking due to it being an all-star game you’re kinda hosed.

Speaking of.. Brian Rolston had a HUGE slapshot from the top of the right circle that went right by Brodeur, breaking off his microphone they used earlier to talk to him. So much for that!

9:46pm: Oh Holy cow… Rick Nash (Columbus) with an absolutely GORGEOUS move in front of Brodeur for a goal. That was beautiful. I need to take a trip to Columbus to see that guy in person. 6-5 West.

9:47pm: An East turnover at the blue line leads to a Nash assist and a Martin Havlat (Chicago) goal after a little back and forth passing right in front of the net. Seriously, if you don’t watch hockey this is what you should watch to see the real skill and beauty in the game.

9:48pm: what I was saying earlier. This game can make great goalist look silly but they will still flash the glove on some amazing saves. Brodeur just made a CRAZY spinning-on-his-back save.

9:51pm: Who is this woman doing the interviews in the crowd and all. First Chuck Norris and now some jackass from WWE? Ugh. At least it didn’t cover up a goal like the Norris interview did.
Speaking of goals, Yanic Perreault, who didn’t even have a job at the beginning of the season, now has his second goal of teh night to put the West up 8-5.

9:54pm: FInally the East gets a good shot on goal and Ovechkin gets a goal to make the score 8-6 West. Nice rebond goal off a Briere shot after Ovechkin had just passed to him. That dude is all over the ice!

10:00pm: I really don’t get why hockey isn’t bigger than it is. It’s got the relentlessness and skill of soccer, the speed and athleticism of basketball, the violence and hard hitting of football… so the scoring isn’t all that high (although better the last two years since the lockout)… it really does seem like a sport that, once people learn the rules, should be more popular than it is. Maybe that’s it… maybe it’s just that people need to take the time to learn the rules to get into the game. It’s how I got into it back in ‘96. A bunch of guys on my floor freshman year in college were all Red Wings fans from Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Watching hockey with them taught me the rules and got me hooked.

10:01pm: Brian Rolston again, HUGE HUGE slapshot that went off a defender’s stick to go past Brodeur. That guy’s got quite the slapshot. Didn’t realize that 20 players are making All-Star debuts this year. Really shows the youth movement in the league and some of the amazing skill the young players have. Oh, 9-6 West.

10:04pm: Off to the intermission, complete with a band you’ve never heard of (The Wreckers?) and more of Engblom’s spectacular mullet.

Taking a break, should be back in time for the start of the third. Let me know if I missed [heartwarming story A]/[bad segue #12]/[badly mic’d performance by band no one has ever heard of].

10:17pm: Not hockey, but … oh damn the NHL needs a new network. Vs. is having the Dale Jr. (yes, Dale Earnhardt Jr.) PBR (Pro Bull Riding) Challenge. Wuhhhhh?

10:22pm: Interview with Comissioner Bettman, talking about the schedule emphasising geographic rivals. He’s giving the company line about the schedule but I don’t like it. I don’t like that some teams won’t face each other for a long time and some East/West matchups might happen once if you’re lucky. But he’s right that possible re-alignment (especially with rumors of the Pittsburgh Penguins moving somewhere west like, I think I’ve read, Vegas) should put any schedule adjustments on hold until that is all put to bed.

Third Period

10:31pm: New goalies for the third. East: Cristobal Huet (Montreal). West: Marty Turco (Dallas). They’ve got Turco mic’d, hopefully a shot doesn’t knock it off like it did Brodeur’s.

Turco just came up with a great save. Love this mic’d goalie thing. Really gives some insight to the goalie position with the questions they are able to ask. Apparently he can hear the commentary the whole time and they are joking about it being distracting. Cue goal on Turco by Heatley that leads to him ribbing the East players about “Celebrating somewhere else.” As much as it may be distracting him that’s fun to hear the goalie like that. But they’re giving him a break now.
You know maybe they could do a thing where they could at least listen (not transmit) in live to the goalie as play goes on. That would be great for hockey on TV. Oh, 9-7 West.

10:34pm: I really love goalie mask art. Just saying.

10:36pm: They’ve got Turco’s mic back on. This is GREAT to hear his own commentary as the play goes on right in front of him. I really want to see more of this. Right now he’s giving insight on how much goalies communicate with defensemen. Brilliant stuff.

10:37pm: Beautiful goal by Rick Nash (his second) off a great pass by Joe Sakic. Huet had no chance on that shot. 10-7 West.

10:40pm: Crosby, Ovechkin and Shanahan on one line. Daaaaaaamn.

10:41pm: Zdeno Chara with his second of the game, beat Turco to his right after a great pass across the crease from Hossa. Turco tried to kick save it. Right now Turco is talking about how it hesitated as Hossa held onto it for a moment and didn’t get there with the legs in time. 10-8 West.

10:45pm: After the commercial break, they’re asking Turco if he watches replays on the on the board to learn anything. He said sometimes but you don’t wanna get caught watching the video for another goal.

No defenseman has scored a hat trick in an All-Star game. Chara has two and Turco is ribbing them for bringing it up.

10:47pm: I can’t talk enough about how great it is they have Turco mic’d and almost as another commentator during the game from the ice. hearing his comments not only to the guys in the booth but to his teammates really gives a great perspective on the game. While this would be tough to do in a ‘real’ game, I hope they can do more of this in future All-Star games. Maybe even do one-way where it’s just live feed from the goalie or other players as play goes on. Yeah, there’s the question of watching for profanities and stuff but there’s gotta be a way to make this work.

10:52pm: Brilliant save by Huet. I haven’t watched any Canadiens games but this guy is solid.

10:57pm: I’m officially a Marty Turco fan now. He just made a great save while having a conversation wit the guys in the booth. Marvelous. Now he’s making commentary on what he saw of a save across the the ice at the other end that the guys in the booth missed.

11:00pm: Martin Havlat just scored the 11th goal by the west off a great backhand shot to pretty much seal the game with 1 minute left.

or not? Sheldon Souray (Montreal) just scored on a blast from the top of the right circle that went off a defenseman’s stick. 11-9 West with 34.1 seconds to go, East pulled their goaltender.

11:03pm: HOLY SHIT! Dion Phaneuf just scored a goal after clearing it from behind the West net that just rolled into the East net. Game over 12-9 West. Great game, very fun to watch.

MVP: Daniel Briere. They gave it to an Eastern Conference player even though they lost by 3? Not sure of his final stats but hm. That seems odd.
Observations:  Versus certainly has it’s problems. It’s a crap network (Bullriding? World Combat League?). The poorly timed Chuck Norris interview was bad. They should broadcast it in letterboxed widescreen even on standard def feeds. Wide screen makes hockey so much better even if it makes the screen a bit shorter. But the broadcast crew is pretty solid as is the pregame/intermission/postgame crew. The best part of the broadcast (if you couldn’t tell) was the having the live mic on goalie Marty Turco for the third period, even during gameplay.
13 players scored their first ever All-Star goals. Lots of shots on goal, very entertaining game. But Sidney Crosby had no points, which shocked me. Not even an assist on that line with Ovechkin and Shanahan.

Rest Of The Season:

So the NHL goes into the second half of the season. Buffalo’s hot start to the season has helped them remain at the top of the Eastern conference at 70 points with no other team really close (New Jersey is the closest at 63 points) and their closes division foe (Montreal) at 59 points. If they keep it up they’ll wrap up the 1 seed in the East.

Out in the West, Nashville (yes, Nashville!) leads the way at 71 points for the best record in the league. The Red Wings trail behind at second in the Central with 65 points for third in the conference and fourth in the league. Should be a great end to the season and I look forward to doing a little more hockey talk than the sports blogosphere normally gets (especially without the level of mockery that most sports blogs tend to treat it with).

Oh, and Go Wings!