NHL All-Star Skills Competition 2015 Results: Winners and Twitter Reaction

On the eve of the NHL's All-Star Game, the top stars in the sport gathered in the Nationwide Arena for the annual Skills Competition. This is often more fun than the actual game because it provides a unique opportunity to see what makes the stars so great in a different setting. 

Jonathan Toews and Nick Foligno, the All-Star captains, picked the teams in all six Skills Competition events. These included fastest skater, breakaway challenge, accuracy shooting, skills-challenge relay, hardest shot and a shootout. 

Foligno has embraced the role of ambassador for Columbus this weekend, telling Craig Merz of NHL.com that it's great to see hockey become the main interest in the city:

"It's so great seeing hockey being the main focal point in Columbus the whole weekend," he said. "It's pretty impressive."

In addition to showing off these hockey players' talent, it was a chance to cut loose on the ice while keeping the spirit of competition in full force. Here are the results from the Skills Competition, as well as reaction from around the Internet. 

Event	Winner
Fastest Skater	Jonathan Drouin (Tampa Bay), 13.103 seconds
Breakaway Challenge	Ryan Johansen (Columbus)
Accuracy Shooting	Patrick Kane (Chicago), 13.529 seconds
Skills Challenge Relay	Relay 1: Team Foligno (1 minute, 37.979 seconds) Relay 2: Team Toews (1 minute, 38.789 seconds)
Hardest Shot	Shea Weber (Nashville), 108.5 mph
NHL Shootout	Team Toews, 15-10

The first event of the evening was the Breakaway Challenge, which consists of six competitors creating their own unique scoring chance. It was won by the hometown kid, Columbus Blue Jackets star Ryan Johansen.

Johansen got an unfair advantage from the Columbus crowd by donning an Ohio State jersey on his first attempt, per the NHL on NBC:

Making the moment even more perfect was Braxton Miller, the Ohio State quarterback whose jersey Johansen was showing off; he issued a response on Twitter:

Things would only get better from there for Johansen, as his second attempt saw him get a little help from a friend, via NHL on NBC:

Even though Johansen did show the most creativity, Alex Ovechkin deserves a mention for trying to hit the puck like a baseball by having it lofted in the air. The only sad part was Washington's superstar was unable to make contact on three tries. 

The accuracy shooting saw Team Foligno jump out to a commanding 10-1 lead, thanks to Patrick Kane posting the lowest time at 13.529 seconds and Foligno right behind him at 13.674 seconds. 

Making matters worse for Team Toews was the fact that Toews had to endure the humiliation of being bested by his teammate, via Chris Kuc of Chicago Tribune:

It wasn't all good news for Team Foligno in the accuracy event. Bobby Ryan needed over 30 seconds to hit all four targets. No one will complain given how far ahead the team was after the round, but it wasn't a banner moment for the Ottawa star. 

In the relay challenge, neither one was particularly close. Team Foligno won the first round by nearly 30 seconds, thanks to Kane's dazzling display of puck control. The second relay saw Team Toews win by more than 40 seconds, despite Roberto Luongo's awkward shooting. 

It was noted on the broadcast that Luongo isn't a strong shooter, though he looked so awkward trying to fire a puck from one goal to the next. However, the Florida goaltender won the day with this tweet before the competition began:

Just as deflated footballs really had no bearing on New England winning the AFC Championship Game, Luongo's attempt to gain an advantage with deflated pucks didn't seem to provide him with an advantage. 

Moving to the hardest shot event, which often draws the biggest gasps from the crowd, it was no surprise to see Nashville's Shea Weber come out on top. Widely regarded as one of the hardest shooters in the league, he also had the advantage of not going against Zdeno Chara. 

Weber tried to play things cool before the festivities started, telling Josh Cooper of Yahoo.com that "there’s probably someone that’s going to surprise a lot of people."

That turned out not to be the case, as Alex Prewitt of The Washington Post noted Weber's 108.5 mph shot nearly set a record:

ESPN.com's Pierre LeBrun also noted that all the equipment in the world isn't going to help you once Weber decides he wants to shoot:

For the record, no one else came close to Weber. Ovechkin was the only other player to break 100 mph at 101.4, so Weber could have eased up on his shot and still won comfortably. 

The final event of the evening was the shootout competition, though it was basically a coronation for Team Foligno. It entered with a 15-4 lead and would have no problem holding onto it, even though Toews' group did close the final gap to six at 25-19. 

Luongo did redeem himself for the awkward shooting earlier with a gorgeous save against Jiri Sekac in the second round, via Fansided GIF on Twitter:

"

VINE - incredible Luongo save in the #NHLSkillscompetition http://t.co/s7WAg5NTUL

— FanSided GIF (@FanSidedGIF) January 25, 2015"

Overall, this was exactly what the NHL needed before its showcase game on Sunday. The players were having fun and engaging fans, both on and off the ice. The fans were eating up every move being made, always on the edge of their seats. 

It was also fitting that the home team, led by Foligno, got the overall victory. Columbus has been an outstanding host for this event. All the city has to do is keep the momentum going for one more day.