NHL Skills Competition: Running Diary

It's been a while since I posted a running diary, so I figured that tonight's NHL Skills Competition is as good a time as ever to shake off the rust before I break it out again in a week's time for the Super Bowl.

It's the annual precursor to the NHL All-Star game: the NHL Skills Competition!

The weird thing about it, though, is that most people prefer watching the Skills Competition to the actual game—and seeing as I'm on the road at game time tomorrow, we'll get some quality time in with the Saturday night extravaganza...

7:05: It's time for the player introductions! This is probably the lamest part of the entire weekend because it happens twice in two days. I'm not sure it's even necessary once, as everyone who cares about this game should be familiar with who's in it, but there's some fresh faces this year so I'll play on the side of forgiveness. Some notes from the intros:

1. There's fire and neon lights. I think the NHL is an army of midgets away from declaring itself eligible for the WWE Championship with Gary Bettman calling the action ringside:

"Well, you know JR, we have a lot of strong teams that are battling against the odds, which makes it all the more enticing for the fans. What's even better, is that we hate Canada about as much as Montreal hates Shawn Micheal's; It's like bashing the Maple Leaf with a steel chair every time we expand to somewhere like Nashville for South Florida!"

2. For the All-Star Skills Competition (I might slip up and call it the All-Star Game from time to time) there are a lot of empty seats. Ladies and Gentlemen, coming to the NHL in 2012...the New Mexico Black Panthers! We're just another place that shouldn't really have a team!

3. The music is a techno remix of James Bond. I want my N64 and Goldeneye back.

4. The announcers voice may possibly be a reason for number two.

5. It really must suck to be Marian Hossa. Constant trade rumors, a horrible track record in the playoffs, and you have to skate in before Ilya Kovalchuk so you know your cheer will sound like nothing compared to his.

7:17: Wouldn't it be awesome if we could have 11 representatives from one team like in the NFL? The game would be full of Detroit Red Wings and Ottawa Senators....wait....forget that...

7:19: Jim Hughson is God.

And with that, it's time for the first event: The revamped Obstacle course. This year there are four sub-skills included:

    1) The first competitor stick-handles through a line of pucks.

    2) The second competitor has to hit three saucer passes over a barrier, trying to score on a mini-net.

    3) One-timers. This is exactly how it sounds, but with a target.

    4) The goalies get an opportunity to score! This is my new favorite event.

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