Los Angeles Kings Ready to Host Fantastic All Star Weekend
By Ian Smith
It’s the perfect year for Los Angeles and really the Los Angeles Kings franchise to host the NHL All Star Game. The weekend is going to be filled with memorable entertainment as the league celebrates its centennial birthday.
On Friday January 27, a ceremony will be held at Microsoft Theater to reveal the 100 greatest players in NHL history.
Jon Hamm will be hosting, and it’s safe to say that the Kings will be well represented on that hallowed list. The big unveiling begins at 6:30 PM Pacific Time.
On Saturday January 28, the action shifts to the ice. At 2:15 PM Pacific Time at Staples Center, the 2017 NHL Celebrity Shootout will be held.
The two captains for the legends/celebrity teams will be Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux, and stars like Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Tim Robbins will lace up their skates to benefit Echoes of Hope, a non-profit organization founded by Luc and Stacia Robitaille that assists at-risk and emancipated foster children.
Saturday also features the skills competition beginning at 4:00 PM Pacific Time. Six events in total are held over the course of the night: Skills Challenge Relay, Four Line Challenge, Accuracy Shooting, Fastest Skater, Hardest Shot, and Shootout.
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The captain from each division team will determine which players from their squad will participate in each event. Every All Star will compete in at least 1 of the 6 events.
Carey Price captains the Atlantic Division, Sidney Crosby captains the Metropolitan Division, P.K. Subban captains the Central Division, and Connor McDavid captains the Pacific Division.
The division that secures the most points throughout the skills competitions will get to choose both their first opponent in the All Star 3-on-3 tournament as well as when their semifinal matchup would be played: first or second.
My favorite event in the skills competition is probably Accuracy Shooting. I remember being a kid and taping cardboard circles in each of the 4 corners of my net and trying to replicate what guys like Ray Bourque and Jeremy Roenick were able to do, to varied success on my part.
The main event happens on Sunday January 29 beginning at 12:30 PM Pacific Time, as the division teams consisting of the very best players in the world will battle for supremacy.
Carly Rae Jepsen will sing the Canadian national anthem while Fifth Harmony will sing the U.S. national anthem. Nick Jonas will perform during the second intermission.
The actual All Star Game will be a 3-on-3 tournament with teams representing the four NHL divisions.
There will be three 20 minute games. The winners of both their semifinals will play in a final match for a $1 million prize.
Nobody puts on a show quite like Los Angeles. New York City is really the only other place that can realistically compare, and this is shaping up to be a fantastic weekend for the NHL and its fans.
To predict the winner of any All Star game, you might as well pick a name out of a hat. It’s hard to separate squads that feature the very best players the league has to offer.
The safest pick would probably be the Metropolitan Division, just because of how many dominant teams have established themselves this season. They have 5 teams with 56 points or more. No other division has more than 3 teams that fit that criteria.
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The NHL does a terrific job of giving back to its fans and celebrating the great game of hockey. As we reflect on 100 years of the league, and all the friends and loved ones we’ve gotten to share hockey memories with, I just wanted to say congratulations to the NHL, and thank you for enriching the lives of so many people.