2012 All-Star NHL Game

The 2012 All-Star NHL game, an exhibition ice hockey game, which is held at the midway point of the season, will be held on Saturday, January 26, 2012 in Ottawa. The All-Star fantasy draft will be held on Thursday before the Saturday game.

All-Star games began before the modern NHL. The very first game was held on January 2, 1908 in Montreal Arena as a benefit to a player who drowned several months before. Most of the subsequent games were also held to benefit players. The official All-Star game was held during the 1947-48 season for the first time and is continuing to date. The current format of the game, held during the mid-way point of the season, started in 1966.

Ice hockey fan ballots and the NHL Hockey Operations Department select a pool of players to pick for the All-Star game. The captain and the assistant will pick the players from the pool.

The 2012 Team Chara will be captained by Boston’s Zdeno Chara and assisted by Toronto’s Joffrey Lupul. The Team Alfredsson will be captained by Ottawa’s D. Alfredsson and assisted by NY Rangers Henrik Lundquist.

The current All-Star game benefits the player’s pension fund.

Ex NHL player Wade Belak is dead

Former Maple Leaves enforcer Wade Belak was found dead in his hotel room in Toronto on the 31 of August. He was 35 years of age at the time of death. No cause of death was released though foul play was ruled out.

Belak was a popular player in the NHL circuit. He was born in Saskatoon in 1976 and began his NHL career in 1996 with the Colorado Avalanche and continued with the Calgary Flames for two years from 1998- 2001 and played for the Toronto Maples from 2001 to 2008. He played for the Florida panthers for a couple of years and was with the Nashville Predators until his retirement from the NHL in March 2011.

At the time of his death he was in Toronto to take part in The Battle of the Blades, a popular CBS competition he has just signed up to do.

His tragic death follows the deaths of fellow NHL players Derek Boogaard of the New York Rangers who died in May this year of an accidental over dose of prescription medication and alcohol and Winnipeg Jets Rick Rypien who died on 15 August this year from an unknown cause of death, though suicide is suspected.

AARON ROME SUSPENDED FOR THE REMAINDER OF 2011 NHL PLAYOFFS

The Vancouver Canucks’ defenseman Aaron Rome has been suspended for the rest of the year following a hit to Boston Bruins forward Nathan Horton.

Nathan Horton will also miss the rest of the season because the injuries he sustained. He was delivered a late hit by Rome after he delivered the puck. The puck traveled 15 feet and Winger Milan Lucic had time to stickhandle it when Rome delivered a shoulder to helmet hit on Horton who was watching the progress of the pass.

Commentators are applauding this decision as this will be deterrent to future incidents like this. Similar incidents which caused concussions cut short the careers of Eric Lindros, Pat Lafontain and players loke Sidney Crosby and Marc Savard are in danger of facing the same fate and hopefully Horton will not be joining that list.

Rome will miss four games of the Stanley Cup final and this is the first time a player has been given such a harsh penalty and it has come just in time to preserve the honor of the NHL and hopefully a lesson will be learnt from this.

Ponikarovsky heads to L.A.

Alexei Ponikarovsky signed a $3 million deal with the Los Angeles Kings today. However, the Kings will not be jumping for joy over this as the Ukrainian was more or less the second or third choice.

The first choice for the Kings was of course Ilya Kovalchuk. The problem for the team was that Kovalchuk was not willing to settle for any old paycheck. Since Dean Lombardi, the Kings’ General Manager, had decide that he was not going to pay exorbitant salaries to any player, Kovalchuk eventually went off to the New Jersey Devils. The contract with the Devils is an NHL record setter; Kovalchuk is set stay with the Devils for 17 years and will be paid $102 million in that period.

However, a quick investigation by the NHL has concluded that the contract has circumvented the imposed salary caps and therefore has been deemed null and void. Kovalchuk has immediately returned to negotiations with the Devils as the team seems to be his first choice.

Lombardi’s decision to go with Ponikarovsky is not bad in retrospect. The Ukrainian has scored more than 20 goals in the last five seasons and has the potential to give the Kings some bit in their attack. The decision is also solid in the sense that Lombardi wants to spend his resources on getting back homegrown talent who have been signed up by rival teams. But if the Devil’s deal with Kovalchuk does fall through, there is a strong possibility that Lombardi will make a bid for the forward.

The Top Ten Hockey Players of All Time

Ice Hockey (known as just ‘hockey’ in areas where it is played on ice) is a perfect example of how the ‘game of life’ should be played. Known for its fast pace, physicality and the importance of ‘taking your chances’, this game has become one of the four major North American professional sports. The world of hockey has seen many players come and go. Here is a list of the top 10 players that the world has seen and acknowledged. However, this list is not a ranking of hockey players but a list of names that have been instrumental to making the game what it is today.

1. Wayne Gretzky – He is considered one of the best athletes in hockey that lived up to his nickname, ‘The Great One’. Despite his athletic skills not considered impressive, he seemed to have ‘eyes in the back of his head’ and a knack of ‘rolling with a check’, that was crucial to his performance and which led to his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1999.

2. Bobby Orr – He is considered to be a perfectionist of the game whose efforts revolutionized the game with his command over the two-way game that was considered unique for hockey players who played for the position of defenseman.

3. Mario Lemieux – If he is to be described in one word that word would be ‘magnificent’. He was a gifted playmaker and skater and was considered one of the most talented players in the game by many of his peers. If not for his health problems, his on-ice achievements would be greater although his contribution as a player to the NHL and the Pittsburg Penguins was crucial to its success.

4. Gordie Howe – Many would argue Gordie Howe is the greatest hockey player of of all time due to his scoring prowess, his physical
strength that helped him achieve the unique feat of competing in the NHL in five different decades. He is popularly known as “Mr. Hockey” while receiving the first NHL Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008.

5. Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard – Rocket Richard was incomparable while being the most prolific goal-scorer during his era, while being the first player to achieve the feat of 50 goals in 50 games, while representing the Montreal Canadiens during his entire career.

6. Bobby Hull – He hails from a long line of NHL hockey players in his family. During his career, he was known for his quick skating speed, blonde hair and possessing the fastest shot (and a feared slapshot) thus earning him the title, ‘The Golden Jet’. He is regarded to be the greatest left winger to have ever played the game.

7. Terry Sawchuk – Terry Sawchuk is the favorite of veteran fans, and is the greatest goaltender in the history of the game, playing 21 seasons in the National Hockey League.

8. Mike Bossy – He was a true goal-scoring machine for the New York Islanders and arguably was the greatest bona-fide sniper of all time, resulting in his team’s four-year reign as Stanley Cup champions in the 1980s. Despite his career being cut short by injuries, he was among the league’s top goal scorers for the duration of his career.

9. Bobby Clarke – He was both hockeys’ greatest player as well the greatest villain, depending on how you look at him. As captain of the notorious Broad Street Bullies team known for their tireless work ethic as well as a willingness to bend the rules, his infamous slash to the ankle of Valeri Kharmalov in 1972 Summit Series is still a subject of controversy even until today. However, he was a great defensive player, checker and one of the best in the face-off circle, which earned him a place in the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1987.

10. Guy LaFleur – In the six year period he played during the 70′s, his goal-scoring ability and smooth skating style has earned him a reputation of being one of the most gifted and natural players in the NHL. He was affectionately called ‘Flower’ by English fans while the French nicknamed him “le Démon Blond”, and was regarded to be the cornerstone of five Stanley Cup championship teams which was good enough to induct him into the Hockey Hall of Fame.