NHL SuperSkills Recap: Kaberle Goes 4-for-4 in Accuracy Challenge

Last night, the NHL’s best talent was on display in the SuperSkills Challenge.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was Toronto Maple Leafs lone representative, the smooth skating defenseman Tomas Kaberle in the accuracy event.

The accuracy event is when a target is set up in all four corners of the net, and the objective is to hit all the targets in the lowest amount of shots and time. Then the best shooter from each conference chooses one corner to shoot at, with three seconds to hit the target. 

Kaberle went 4-for-4 moving on to play Nashville captain Jason Arnott in the final. Arnott missed the target, while Kaberle aced it, winning the event. 

Upon hitting the target, Kaberle threw up his hands smiling, receiving congrats from his fellow Eastern All-Stars. Maybe this says something about the competitiveness of the All-Star Game. We could be in for a treat. 

Kaberle becomes just the fourth player in the history of the accuracy shooting drill to go 4-for-4, joining an exclusive club made up of only Ray Borque (who did it twice), Mark Messier and Jeremy Roenick. 

This is good news for the Leafs. Head coach Paul Maurice will likely influence Kaberle to shoot more. 

Some notes on the rest of the SuperSkills Challenge: 

-The celebrity-judged shootout was over-hyped. We need to see goals, not just creative moves. New goal tending rules must be in place to make this the spectacle it is meant to be. Goaltenders can not come out of their crease to take away the puck for example. If that was a rule we might of seen something out of Marty St. Louis. This rule would allow for more shots, and therefore, more goals (or at least big saves) out of the competition.  

 -Whoever works the stop watch in the fastest skater competition should be replaced 

-Islanders fans are likely holding their breath on the status of goalie Rick DiPietro. When the network had DiPietro on the mic during the last competition you could overhear him telling Tim Thomas to get back out on the ice because he "f****d up his hip again". 

-The Youngstars Game was a thing of beauty. Best game of shinny ever.

Overall, the SuperSkills Competition was a success, and a good start for the 2008 All Star Game, one which every NHL fan has high hopes for.