NHL SCORED BIG TIME IN LOS ANGELES
From all-time greats to celebrity glitz to on-ice fun, weekend was a winner
A group of scribes had just finished gulping down some fine Mexican chow in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday night and were just leaving the establishment when a patron waved hello. It was Mark Messier.
Walking out onto the street a couple of minutes later, one member of our group almost walked into a pedestrian strolling down the street. It was Patrick Roy.
Shortly afterward, in the lobby and lounge of the all-star headquarters hotel, hockey royalty was everywhere you looked.
Roy and Raymond Bourque were sitting with their respective significant others near the bar. Serge Savard walked past, his gait a bit slower than during his playing days but still looking as if he could throw a crushing check if need be.
About a slapshot away, Alex Ovechkin and his entourage slipped through the front doors and darted through the elevators. Not long afterward, a buzz spread through the room as Sidney Crosby walked by, much to the awe of a nearby gaggle of excited kids who began following him as if No. 87 was the Pied Piper.
Everywhere you looked, the pulse of the NHL’s 100th anniversary was alive and well and vibrant. Stars of today and yesteryear were sprinkled throughout, mingling with fans, telling tall tales and embracing the game they all love.
If ever there was a weekend of name-dropping, this was it. And if ever there was a time when that was OK, this was it.
For a three-day span in which the area surrounding the Staples Center was known as Hockeywood — spelled out in front of the arena in large white blocked letters similar to the famed Hollywood sign — we all were transformed into 12-year-olds, embracing this festival of hockey heroes that spanned generations.
As Wayne Gretzky articulately put it: “For these few special days, we’re all kids.”
Well done, National Hockey League. As much as we’ve found legitimate reasons to criticize and carve you over the years, this 100th birthday party truly was an experience the sport has never seen before — and, maybe, when all is said and done, will never see again.
Certainly the ceremony Friday honouring the top 100 players of all time was the highlight. The sight of 19-year-old Auston Matthews and 20-year-old Connor McDavid sitting in the crowd gawking in admiration as the likes of 68-year-old Bobby Orr and 78-year-old Bobby Hull walked across the stage spoke to the timelessness of the game.
At the same time, what does the league do for an encore? If the NHL decides to let its players go to South Korea for the 2018 Winter Olympics, there will be no all-star game. If, however, the decision is made to take a pass on the Olympics, there will be.
Commissioner Gary Bettman would like to put one of these games in Las Vegas, a city that can jazz up even the most mundane of events. But when it comes to the actual product on the ice, there still are issues.
Adopting a three-on-three format last year injected life into the all-star weekend, but it’s already beginning to wear off. Certainly the three-game tournament held Sunday at Staples Center was, in a sense, an anticlimactic ending to a truly memorable number of days, although the final between Crosby’s Metropolitan Division and McDavid’s Pacific Division certainly was a bit more spirited than the two contests before it.
But any criticism of the all-star weekend pales in comparison to the positives that came out of these festivities. Indeed, if you didn’t enjoy this weekend, you simply don’t like hockey.
BEST ON-ICE MOMENT
During the all-star celebrity shootout Saturday, the hulking Chris Pronger crushed Justin Bieber into the unforgiving Staples Center wall. Who among us hasn’t wanted to do that?
The photo of Pronger crushing Bieber into the glass went viral all over social media. Toronto Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan, a member of the top 100, went on Twitter and called it the third-best hockey picture of all time, trailing only Bobby Orr flying through the air after scoring the 1970 Stanley Cup-winning goal, and Maurice Richard shaking the hand of Boston Bruins goalie Sugar Jim Henry.
Bieber missed two penalty shots but did score as time expired, causing actor Cuba Gooding Jr. to chuckle: “Twentyfive shots later, thank God he made it.”
As for the Edmonton Oilers’ budding superstar McDavid, who took part in the event, Gooding said: “I was shocked at how good the kid can play. He really has nice skills, and he’s a real sweet kid, too.”
GO CANADA
Just nine months after all seven Canadian teams missed the playoffs, the star power from franchises north of the border has been impressive, to say the least.
Vancouver’s Bo Horvat and Calgary’s Johnny Gaudreau set up the opening goal of Sunday’s three-on-three tournament and wore smiles throughout the weekend, as did McDavid, Matthews, Winnipeg’s Patrik Laine, Ottawa’s Erik Karlsson and the Montreal duo of Shea Weber and Carey Price. During the skills competition Saturday, McDavid won the fastest skater event while Weber had the hardest shot.
“There’s some pretty impressive young talent on the roster of Canadian teams right now,” Weber said. “We saw some of it this weekend. They’re just going to get better and better too.”
That’s music to the ears of the Canadian television networks — not to mention Canadian hockey fans.
THE WORLD ACCORDING TO P.K.
In the spotlight of Hollywood, Pernell Karl Subban was front and centre. No surprise there.
On one hand, there were groans among fans who wanted to see him go up against Weber in the hardest shot competition.
The matchup, between players who were traded for each other in the Montreal Canadiens-Nashville Predators blockbuster last June, was scheduled to take place on Saturday. Then, suddenly, Subban pulled out. He wouldn’t say why.
Later in the day, there he was, giving hugs to a pair of wide-eyed kids on a tour with the Make-AWish Foundation.
The many layers of P.K. Subban, there for all to see. We’ll say this about the Predators defenceman: He’s never boring. For example, Subban was asked which he preferred: Montreal poutine or Nashville barbecue.
“Nobody is saying poutine isn’t good. It’s great in Montreal,” Subban replied.
“But the barbecue would be better for you, so it depends on what you want. Is it a cheat day or are you looking for the healthiest meal?”
Asked if the coaches in Montreal ever cracked down on the players’ poutine intake, Subban had a classic response.
“It depends on your metabolism,” he said. “Some guys can eat poutine and burn it all off the next day. If you’re like me, you eat poutine and have to go get a new bra the next day.
“I’m a poutine fan, just all in moderation.”
CROSS CHECKS
It’s great that John Tavares, whose contract expires in 2018, said Saturday that he’d like to start talking extension with the New York Islanders after July 1. After all, the loyalty he’s shown to that organization is stronger than most players would have to a franchise that has the reputation of shooting itself in the foot. All that said, it’s time for owner Jon Ledecky to provide Tavares an upgrade of talent around him. The Isles owe him at least that much … It’s the same case for the last-place Colorado Avalanche, who obviously are proving their issues of last season cannot be solely dumped on former coach Patrick Roy. With Nathan MacKinnon stating he’d rather stay an Av than be traded to a Stanley Cup contender, Colorado has a solid building block in place. Now it’s time to see what they’ll do about it … One of the weekend’s best moments came when Ryan Kesler’s son Ryker, 6, scored on Price in the shootout portion of the skills competition. “That’s his favourite goalie,” Kesler said. “He knew who he was going up against.” The proud papa said his boy wasn’t nervous either. “He’s got ice in his veins,” Kesler said with a laugh. “I was more nervous than he was — I’m never going to forget this, and he won’t either.” … In closing, what’s the big deal about Snoop Dogg playing an uncensored song that featured a curse word during his gig as DJ of the skills competition? While the networks freaked out, should anyone have been surprised an obscenity was involved? If so, they didn’t do much research into the artist.