HabsWorld.net -- 

The Skills Competition, often the most talked about and enjoyed part of NHL All-Star weekend (although now CBA debates seem to be creeping closer to the most talked about aspect).  For several years now, the top players in the NHL put their pride on the line and go head-to-head in the Skills to put on a show for the fans, as well as to try to get their name in the record books.  The most recent one, held Saturday night, was no exception.  Although there were no records broken, there was a new winner in every competition, something that hasn’t been done in quite some time.  We’ll now run through the various events of the Skills, to see where our winners fit in compared with the results of years past.  We’ll also see what conference has been the most dominant over the years of the competition (see scores after each chart.)

First, let’s start with the Puck Control Relay.  In 2003, Tampa Bay’s Martin St. Louis ended then Anaheim’s Paul Kariya’s 4 year winning streak.  But would St. Louis begin a winning streak of his own?  Well, no, not officially, that honour goes to Columbus’ Rick Nash.  But it was clear to all that watched on Saturday that St. Louis was indeed the fastest, but was unable to win because he was not involved in the individual race.  Now, let’s look at the results from prior years:

Year	Winner	Team/Conference
1994	Russ Courtnall	Dallas-Western
1995	NO ALL-STAR GAME	N/A
1996	Pierre Turgeon	Montreal-Eastern
1997	Geoff Sanderson	Hartford-Eastern
1998	Teemu Selanne	Anaheim-Western
1999	Paul Kariya	Anaheim-Western
2000	Paul Kariya	Anaheim-Western
2001	Paul Kariya	Anaheim-Western
2002	Paul Kariya	Anaheim-Western
2003	Martin St. Louis	Tampa Bay-Eastern
2004	Rick Nash	Columbus-Western

Note:  These are the winners of the individual race, held after the 3 on 3 team races.

Winner:  Western Conference, 7-3.

Score through 1 event:  West 7, East 3

Now, let’s move on to the Fastest Skater challenge.  This is the only event in the history of the Skills competition to not have the same player win back-to-back times.  There have been multiple winners, but never the same one 2 years in a row.  Minnesota’s Marian Gaborik was the defending champion, however, he was not invited to the game this season, so there was a “new” champion, Scott Niedermayer of New Jersey.  Here are the results from years past:

Year	Winner	Time	Team/Conference
1992	Sergei Fedorov	14.363	Detroit-Western
1993	Mike Gartner	13.510	New York R.-Eastern
1994	Sergei Fedorov	13.525	Detroit-Western
1995	NO ALL-STAR GAME	N/A	N/A
1996	Mike Gartner	13.386	Toronto-Eastern
1997	Peter Bondra	13.610	Washington-Eastern
1998	Scott Niedermayer	13.560	New Jersey-Eastern
1999	Peter Bondra	14.640	Washington-Eastern
2000	Paul Kariya	13.649	Anaheim-Western
2001	Bill Guerin	13.690	Boston-Eastern
2002	Sami Kapanen	14.039	Carolina-Eastern
2003	Marian Gaborik	13.713	Minnesota-Western
2004	Scott Niedermayer	13.783	New Jersey-Eastern

Note:  The time in bold represents the all-time record in this particular competition.

Winner:  Eastern Conference, 8-4          

Score through 2 events: East 11, West 11

On to event #3, the Hardest Shot contest.  Again, last year’s winner Al MacInnis, was not invited to participate, so there was going to be a new winner.  However, there were a pair of new winners.  Who?  The chart below has it all…

Year	Winner(s)	Speed (MPH)	Team/Conference
1990	Al Iafrate	96.0	Toronto-Western
1991	Al MacInnis	94.0	Calgary-Western
1992	Al MacInnis	93.0	Calgary-Western
1993	Al Iafrate	105.2	Washington-Eastern
1994	Al Iafrate	102.7	Washington-Eastern
1995	NO ALL-STAR GAME	N/A	N/A
1996	Dave Manson	98.0	Winnipeg-Western
1997	Al MacInnis	98.9	St. Louis-Western
1998	Al MacInnis	100.4	St. Louis-Western
1999	Al MacInnis	98.5	St. Louis-Western
2000	Al MacInnis	99.9	St. Louis-Western
2001	Fredrik Modin	102.1	Tampa Bay-Eastern
2002	Sergei Fedorov	101.5	Detroit-Western
2003	Al MacInnis	98.9	St. Louis-Western
2004	S. Souray, A. Aucoin	102.2	MON, NYI-Eastern

Notes: The speed in bold represents the all-time record in this particular competition.  In 1990, Toronto was a Western Conference team.

Winner:  Western Conference, 10-4

Score through 3 events:  West 21, East 15

Time for event number 4, the Accuracy Shooting contest.  Last year’s champion Jeremy Roenick of Philadelphia, hit 4 of 6 targets, and was eligible to win again, as he was named to the Eastern team.  But did he repeat?  In a nutshell, yes, but did he improve?  Look below for your answer…

Team	Winner(s)	Results	Team-Conference
1990	Ray Bourque	4/7	Boston-Eastern
1991	Mark Messier	4/4	Edmonton-Western
1992	Ray Bourque	4/4	Boston-Eastern
1993	Ray Bourque	4/4	Boston-Eastern
1994	Brendan Shanahan	4/5	Detroit-Western
1995	NO ALL-STAR GAME	N/A	N/A
1996	Mark Messier	4/4	New York R.-Eastern
1997	Ray Bourque	4/7	Boston-Eastern
1998	R. Bourque, P. Forsberg, B. Shanahan	4/6	BOS-East, COL, DET-West*
1999	R. Bourque, J. Roenick, K. Tkachuk	4/6	BOS-East, PHX-West (x2)*
2000	R. Bourque, V. Kozlov	4/5	BOS, FLA-East
2001	Ray Bourque	4/6	Colorado-Western
2002	M. Naslund, J. Iginla	4/6	VAN, CAL-West
2003	Jeremy Roenick	4/6	Philadelphia-Eastern
2004	Jeremy Roenick	4/4	Philadelphia-Eastern

Note: The score in bold represents the all-time record in this particular competition.  Where there are multiple winners, the “goal” is awarded to the conference with the most winners.

Winner:  Eastern Conference, 8-6

Score through 4 events:  West 27, East 23

Now, on to the final event of “this” competition, the Breakaway Relay, or as I like to call it, a goalie’s nightmare.  The winners in this events are the goaltenders, based on the number of goals that they allow.  Last year’s winner, Patrick Roy, has since retired, meaning that there would be a new winner, like many of the other events.  There were a pair of winners this season, both from the East.  Who were they?  Look below…

Year	Winner(s)	GA	Team-Conference
1991	Mike Vernon	1	Calgary-Western
1992	M. Richter, D. Beaupre	1	NYR, WAS-East
1993	J. Casey, M. Vernon, E. Belfour	1	MIN, CAL, CHI-West
1994	Curtis Joseph	0	St. Louis-Western
1995	NO ALL-STAR GAME	N/A	N/A
1996	Dominik Hasek	0	Buffalo-Eastern
1997	D. Hasek, G. Hebert	1	BUF-East, ANA-West*
1998	Dominik Hasek	0	Buffalo-Eastern
1999	Dominik Hasek	1	Buffalo-Eastern
2000	Tommy Salo	1	Edmonton-Western
2001	E. Nabokov, S. Burke	1	SJ, PHX-West
2002	D. Hasek, P. Roy	1	BUF-East, COL-West*
2003	Patrick Roy	1	Colorado-Western
2004	R. Luongo, M. Brodeur	1	FLA, NJ-East

Note: The number of goals allowed in bold represents the all-time record in this particular competition. Where there are multiple winners, the “goal” is awarded to the conference with the most winners.  *When there is a tie, 1 goal is awarded to each team.

Winner:  Western Conference, 8-7

Final Score:  West 35, East 30

(Only 5 events were counted, as the 6th event – this year the “In the Zone” event, changes too fequently to be counted in this particular competition.)

So, the West has won, no surprise there, considering the East seldomly wins in the Skills competition. However, it all could change as early as next season, if the East wins 5 of 6 events as they did on Saturday.  That being said, the real winners here are the fans, as they get to see the stars of the league all at the same time.  And isn’t that what the All-Star weekend is for anyways, the fans?

Questions/comments?  E-mail me at [email protected].

Statistics courtesy of NHL.com

For those of you wondering what the answer to the trivia question was last week, it was B – Andrei Markov.