East or west?

I'll set my bet on East. A lot of young talent. Brodeur as goalie and Ovechkin/Crosby up front.....

My tip 5-3 to to the East Conf.

I thought it was Wednesday?!?! I'll have to double check my schedule.

I think East will take it... Western Conference has dominated for years now but finally the East has majority of the players w/the most points, etc. Crosby and Ovechkin playing together will be like Lemieux and Gretzky. BTW, did you guys see the new jerseys? Pretty sleek... no more wool, 100% synthetic.

Hmmmm I say the West going to win!!!!

It is wednesday. Tonite is skillz comp. I'll be bartending both nites near the AAC. Hopefully it will bring a good crowd. Saturday morning was the kick off with celebrity crap going on and "test your slapshot" type things. It was in the parking lot of the arena. It rained and was in the low '30's. LOL! Hopefully everything else will go smoothly.

Weren't they doing it N. America v. World for a while?

Yeah, N. America vs the World was introduced before the Olympics years ago... I wasn't a huge fan. Atleast you have some kind of control what side you're playing w/when it's East vs West, changing teams and all that. Still going to say East has it... Broduer, Ovechkin, Heatly, Crosby, Lecavalier, Hossa, Briere... just too bad no Jagr this go around. Only guy on the West that is consitantly putting in goals this season is Selanne. Next guy on the scoring list that's playing in the All Star game is Bill Guerin who is in 30th place in goals scored. Yep, N. America should dominate this game... better goalies too. I know Loungo is streaking, but to start him over Kiprusoff and Turco is mad. Broduer eats Luongo for breakfast.

You mean they still play hockey?

The skills competition is awesome. Everyone needs to watch.
&
Go eastern all stars (captained by Mr. Shanahan)

Everyone knows our beloved Ryan Smyth is going to win the hardest shot contest.
That 60 mph slapper is unbeatable.

Young stars game is tonight along with the skills comp. The Allstar game is Wednesday night.

Classic comment from a buddy I was discussing the hardest shot competition with. I asked him if he thought Jim Hughson's man-love Dion Phaneuf would win the hardest shot contest (for those of you who don't watch HNIC Jim Hughson is one of the CBC morons who is in love with the Calgary Flames)
He replied that Jim Hughson would have the hardest shot once Phaneuf took to the ice.

Anyhoo, since the All star game is all about offense with little consideration given to D I'd have to go with the East on this one

Speaking of hardest shots, I miss Al Iafrate.

MacInnis > Iafrate

Damn, I thought Iafrate still held that record?

*more*

Who has the world's fastest slapshot?

Officially the fastest slapshot belongs to Chad Kilger who managed an icy 106.6 mph on December 3rd, 2006 during the Toronto Maple Leafs skills competition.

Unofficially Bobby Hull is said to have let one rip that reached a chilling 118.3 mph.

*even more*

At the yearly NHL all-star "hardest shot" skill competition, the winning slapshot typically propels the puck at around 100 miles per hour (160 kilometres per hour). Al Iafrate holds the record during an NHL All-Star skills competition at 105.2 mph. The hardest slap shot on record is 106.6 mph set by Chad Kilger on December 3rd, 2006 during the Toronto Maple Leafs skills competition.

I think Boucher and Chara each hit 100 mph tonight, but nothing near Iafrate's or Kilger's records. Pretty entertaining competition, especially with all the shootouts.

I'm in the "Wharehouse Restaurant District" less than a quarter mile from the arena. This area has been dying over the last 5 years. There are people from all over the world at this event (a fellow bartender has tickets to all the events and told me about all the people in attendence).

I had very little business. A couple of reporters, a couple of fans...
God, this part of town is cursed.
I saw all the cars in the lots before getting to work. I know the hotels are packed...

I got friggan NADA!

Seriously. Me and the other top bartender usurped this nite. We went out of our way to make sure nobody but us got all the HUGE amnts of money that would be in town.

NOTHING!!!

Suck Pile all the way.

Sigh...

That's sucks BG.. hope you guys can pick up more business tonight.

I thought the young stars game was so entertaining. The 4-4 format is really good and it was just goal after goal after goal. The skills challenge was a bit yawn... I like the shootouts and the offense zone 3 vs keeper... although the latter seemed a bit boring cause they didn't seem to be trying too hard. The final shootout was great when Crosby and Selanne kept shooting back to back. Crosby has a gift that I'm sure we've seen 20% of so far in two seasons, he's amazing.

12-9 to the West......O'boy. Brodeur let in 6 goals...Must have had a bed day

I guess Barkmann was the only one who guessed right in this one

I loved how they had the goalies mic'd up. So I guess wisdom and training beats out youth and speed. I was surprised Ovechkin and Crosby didn't get much done, especially since they were out so much. Ovechkin fanned on a few shots and made some bad passes... also, his role in Washington is to just shoot. I think he didn't want to be greedy at an all-star game and shoot alot so he was forcing passes. I thought Yanic P would get the MVP, oh well.

Once again, no business. I listened to a reporter from out of state talking on his cell phone after the skills comp on Tuesday nite. I believe he was talking to his boss. He was amazed at the local fan knowledge of hockey, and the intramural leagues and the highschool teams. Who would have thought they'd have that in Dallas. However, there was very little coverage of the all-star game locally. The guy was practically screaming into the phone at this point. "The season just ended for the Cowboys and all they are talking about is Parcells leaving and what are they gonna do about T.O.!"
It's true. On Monday after the AFC and NFC championship games, my favorite sports radio show talked for the first TWO HOURS about Parcells and Owens. It wasn't until the 3rd hour they talked about the Colts.
Anyway, we didn't even get the kind of rush we normally get for games. It was just sad.

Sucks man. Did you guys do any flyers around the arena or anything?

We never needed to in the past. I guess the problem is that they built up all around the arena, so we aren't really the closest restaurant/bar area anymore. There are a couple of hotels right outside the arena, including a W hotel with the 3rd Ghost Bar in it. There are a bunch of upscale bars and restaurants. I guess if you can afford to travel around the country/world to get to the all-star game you can afford to eat at the high end places, lol.
Also nearby the arena is the worlds largest Hooter's.
I've made some of the W security guys into regulars and one of them is going to help me get a job at the Ghost Bar. I'll be talking to them on Saturday.

The lack of business was a shock to everybody. There were news crews walking around looking bewildered because the West End (where I work) has always been where people go before and after Arena events. There were lots of business doing promos. There were guys walking around in all black with flat panel TV's in their shirts doing a promo for some new Hyundi or something. It was very surreal. All that money to promo to bums and my drunken regulars (who took me out for a beer and a shot after work for my birthday. Thanks guys!).

This is Victory Park: http://www.victorypark.com/index_flash.html
In the West End, most restaurants and bars are closing down...

hey kleerance im from southern IL and im a Bears Fan also
im with you 100%

GO BEARS!!!!!!!! STOMP THE COLTS!!!

i was shocke that the west won, but the young guns really didn't do as much as i had thought they would. Especially Ovechkin.



Go bears, Izzy gonna get his ring!

Well........
I am from Norway. Here we don't even know the rules about American football so we actually don't care
But whatever.....Go Bears! I guess Nothing shares your enthusiasm.

Heard an interesting stat on Mike and Mike in the morning. The NHL Hockey All Star game got 85% FEWER viewers than The Andy Griffith Show on T.V. land. Keep in mind Andy Griffith was a 40 yr old rerun. Guess we see why they have Bowling on ESPN now.

Junkie

Yeah, I think there's a lot to do with that though.

First All Star game after the lockout.

Wasn't on the weekend like it usually is.

It was on Versus, which I'm sure most people don't even know about. It's usually on ESPN or regular network channels.

Not too much advertising, even on VS.

Then there's always the fact that hockey isn't too strong in the States when it comes to watching on television. They sell a lot of seats but hockey on tv isn't a good market like football, nascar, basketball.