The NHL All-Star Game isn't broken. It's actually a ton of fun. We just don't realize that on television, and the league can apply a few quick fixes to make sure that changes.
Jan 30, 2012 - NHL All-Star Weekend 2012 in Ottawa has come and gone without a ton of fan fare, as it does every year. The weekend has greatly improved over the last two years, thanks to the NHL's brilliant change in format, but it's still not an event with the sizzle and the excitement of the Winter Classic or even the NHL Draft.
The problem with the All-Star Game is that we're never really sure what to mak of it. The theory is that by throwing the best players in the league on the ice at the same time, you'll get a wonderfully entertaining hockey game. You get intriguing matchups on occasion in the game, like the line of Marian Gaborik, Marian Hossa and Pavel Datsyuk that dominated for Team Chara on Sunday night, but when the players aren't playing as hard as they can and they're not taking the game seriously themselves, nothing truly matters from a hockey perspective.
If we want to watch true competition between the best players in the world, we'll tune into the Olympics. The All-Star Game isn't much of a hockey game, and the NHL needs to get away from even the smallest notion of that idea.
The reality is that the game is just a fun distraction. It's no good from a hockey standpoint, but it certainly can be entertaining, like when Gaborik snipes at his teammate Henrik Lundqvist or Claude Giroux tries to trip teammate Scott Hartnell (for charity) or the players run out of the locker room like little kids to sit on the ice and watch the intermission concert.
This is the part of the All-Star Game and the entire All-Star Weekend that the NHL needs to further embrace. Own the fact that the game is dull as rocks from a hockey perspective, but also own the fact that the players are just out there having fun. As fans, if our favorite athletes are out there having fun, we'll certainly watch if we can share in that fun with them.
Locker room access. After each intermission during Sunday night's game in Ottawa, Pierre McGuire would ask a few players "What'd you go over in the locker room just now?" The response typically went something like "Nothing, it's an All-Star Game, you idiot." But obviously, the players aren't just sitting around in silence during intermission. They're getting their pictures taken with Drake and talking with each other and probably having a great time.
After all, it is an All-Star Game.
So why do we have to treat TV coverage of the game like it's a regular season game? Why can't we get cameras in those locker rooms? Why do we have to sit there and ask questions about what's going on in the locker room between periods? There's no strategy to give away here.
As HBO 24/7 showed us, all-access is king, and when you have it, you'd be amazed at what you'll find.There's no intruding on the sanctity of the All-Star Game, so why aren't there about a million more cameras stationed the arena, including in those places fans never get to see?
In that same vein...
Mics on every player. The most entertaining portion of the telecasts on Sunday night were when we'd get to hear what was going on at ice level. We don't care about the game, and no offense to Doc Emrick, but I really don't care about his half-hearted call of an All-Star Game. That's not to say the announcers are meaningless, considering they're essentially our hosts for the evening, but why not give more air time to the actual players on the ice?
And why did only a handful of players have mics strapped to them during the game? Again, this isn't a serious game. If a player refuses to wear a mic during an All-Star Game, he's an asshole. There's literally no reason why he shouldn't -- or why he shouldn't want to, for that matter.
Give them all mics, tell the players the keep the cursing to a minimum -- live TV is on a delay, they can work around a swear word as long as it's not every other sentence -- and give us a real glimpse into what's going on at the benches and on the ice.
But it's not all about access. These two tweaks, I believe, would go a long way towards making the entire viewing experience more exciting for fans on television, but the game can use some tweaks as well. Remember, this thing ain't serious. So why do we have to be so serious?
No offsides, no icing, no trapezoid. When you play hockey out on the pond or in a pick up game, do you have offsides? Do you have icing? No, you don't. That's because whistles take the fun out of everything. Did you hear the audible groan from the Scotiabank Place crowd when Team Alfredsson went offsides early in the first period on Sunday night?
The play comes down the ice, it's a three-on-one, the crowd gets excited for the scoring opportunity, and then... whistle.
It's not a regular season game. It doesn't matter if they score or not. Let them play.
The same can be said for icing and the trapezoid. Let the goalies come out into the corners again in the All-Star Game. If Carey Price was chasing pucks into the corner with that mic on yesterday, and players were barreling down on top of him, it'd be hilarious. And if you think players are just going to ice the puck every eight seconds just because they're allowed to, well... you're wrong. That's just as much fun for them as it is for us.
Every year after the All-Star Game, people always talk about how boring it was and how it's time to scrap the event for good. It happens like clockwork, and it's become cliche at this point. But the All-Star Weekend isn't broken. It's actually a phenomenal event, and if you've had the chance to attend at some point, especially in the last two years, chances are that you enjoyed yourself and want to go again.
We get bored on television because we're not there experiencing the game and everything that surrounds it live and in person, and the NHL needs to do a better job of conveying the excitement that's felt in the arena and the city over through their TV partners. It's not that hard. All it'll take is a little outside the box thinking and execution.
3 comments
Travis Hughes:
Minor Fixes Could Add Excitement To NHL All-Star Weekend
3
Jan 30
Travis Hughes:
Minor Fixes Could Add Excitement To NHL All-Star Weekend
3
Jan 30
Comments
100% agreed on no offsides/icing
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Co-Manager/Writer for Pinstripe Alley, Editor/Writer for Blueshirt Banter
by Brandon C. on Jan 30, 2012 4:59 PM EST reply actions
AHL All-Star Game
The AHL All-Star Game is broken. John Stevens sat in front of me, and even he couldn’t pay attention to the entire game. State Senator Jim Whelan left after one period, much of the crowd evaporated as the game went on. The hockey All-Stars didn’t even look like they were skating hard, barely seemed to care, and enough has already been said about these games having no entertainment value. However, the coordinator of the event needs to be changed, the audio system in the building stunk, the timing of the game was hideous, with TV time outs going on forever, then with an interview before the puck was stopped, and the players on the ice were clearly bored waiting to get the game over with. Oh, and the 20 minute intermissions were painfully too long, after the intermission, there was a 5 minute interview we had to wait for (not kidding).
The best hockey game on Monday night was the AHL All-Star Mascot Hockey game, by far. The Bruiser had a dozen open ice checks, scored a penalty shot and got into a fight. The Grif had the best hits of the entire evening, putting the Penguin and the Ice Hog into the boards (the only time the boards rattled all night).
Seriously, the AHL All Star Game needs to either end, or be completely over hauled. How about some sort of re-entry claiming event during the skills competition, (like some horse races) for the various players getting traded to different teams, teams could send anybody they choose and let the players try and get claimed, Phantoms could have sent Leighton and Kalinski, and don’t tell me they wouldn’t have shown some skills.
How about an All-Star game between Entry Level Players and the Re-Entry Waiver Players. Each team sends one of each. Entry level players, if their team wins, get a trip to the NHL for a three games with out counting against the NHL cap. Re-entry Waiver Contract players, if their team wins, all go through Re-Entry Waivers, except they original NHL team doesn’t get the 50% Cap Penalty (Flyers would be actively rooting for the Old Guys (Leights) to win). This would give players like Lieghts a chance to get on an NHL team. Plus, it would make for an exciting game. Teams could trade AHL All Star spots in order to send more than one player on each side, the implications are limitless, but it would make the game more interesting, a way to the NHL instead of a FBI Terrorist Torture method.
The 16 oz. beers were $8, what a rip. Whatever, this event stunk.
by NickFotiu4HOF on Jan 31, 2012 11:32 AM EST reply actions
More ways to watch the game
I agree completely with this article. However, my biggest addition would be to allow me to watch the All-Star events in their entirety on the NHL Gamecenter Live app. We gave up cable, so we were left out in the cold all weekend. I’ll never understand why the NHL wouldn’t have these games available through their own licensed app. I’d even be fine with them showing up a day later.
The same goes for the Winter Classic and the Alumni game. I really wanted to watch Big E make his return, but I couldn’t.
by diznella on Jan 31, 2012 12:22 PM EST reply actions
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