B's NewsBlast! - 3 Bruins Named as Eastern All Stars!

From BostonBruins.com;
Chara, Savard and Thomas are All-Stars & will play in the 57th All-Star Game in Montreal, Jan. 25

Marc Savard, Zdeno Chara and Tim Thomas will represent the Boston Bruins at the All-Star game again in 2009.Boston, MA - The NHL announced today that Boston Bruins Zdeno Chara, Marc Savard and Tim Thomas have been named to the Eastern Conference All-Star roster for the 2009 NHL All-Star game, which will be held on Sunday, January 25 at 6:00 p.m. ET at the Bell Centre in Montreal (National TV: VERSUS).

This marks the fourth all-star appearance for Chara, the second for Savard and the second for Thomas. All three players represented the Bruins at last year's all-star game.

The Bruins captain has posted 7-15-22 totals, a +17 rating and 48 penalty minutes on the year. Chara is also the two-time defending Hardest Shot contest winner at the NHL All-Star game, having recorded blasts of 100.4 MPH in 2007 and 103.1 MPH in 2008. The 2009 Cisco Hardest Shot contest will be held as part of the Honda/NHL All-Star SuperSkills Competition on Saturday, January 24 at 7:00 p.m. ET (National TV: VERSUS)

Savard has tallied the fourth most points in the NHL with 49, trailing only Evgeni Malkin (63), Alex Ovechkin (53) and Sidney Crosby (51). His 36 assists rank third behind Malkin (48) and Joe Thornton (36) and he owns the best plus/minus rating in the NHL, along with teammate Dennis Wideman (+25). Savard scored the game-winning goal in last year’s All-Star game during an 8-7 win for the East.

Thomas, who has compiled a 16-4-3 record on the season, is among the league leaders in all major goaltending categories. He ranks fourth in Goals Against Average (2.13), tied for fourth in Save Percentage (.932), and tied for fifth in shutouts (3). Thomas played a key role in last year's All-Star game, as he played the entire third period and earned the victory for the East. For more information on the All-Star game, and the weekend festivities, visit www.nhl.com.

Eastern Conference All-Star Roster:

STARTERS:Goaltender: C. Price (MTL) Defensemen: A.Markov (MTL), M. Komisarek (MTL) Forwards: S. Crosby (PIT), E. Malkin (PIT), A.Kovalev (MTL)

RESERVES:Goaltenders: H. Lundqvist (NYR), T. Thomas (BOS) Defensemen: J. Bouwmeester (FLA), Z. Chara (BOS), M. Streit (NYI), T. Kaberle (TOR) Forwards: I. Kovalchuk (ATL), M. Savard (BOS), T. Vanek (BUF), E. Staal (CAR), Z Parise (NJD), D. Heatley (OTT), J. Carter (PHI), V. Lecavalier (TBL), A. Ovechkin (WSH)

Western Conference All-Star Roster:

STARTERS:Goaltender: J.S. Giguere (ANA) Defensemen: B. Campbell (CHI), S. Niedermayer (ANA) Forwards: P. Kane (CHI), J. Toews (CHI), R. Getzlaf (ANA)

RESERVES:Goaltenders: N. Backstrom (MIN), R. Luongo (VAN) Defenseman: N. Lidstrom (DET), S. Souray (EDM), S. Weber (NSH), D. Boyle (SJS) Forwards: J. Iginla (CGY), M. Hejduk (COL), R. Nash (CBJ), M. Modano (DAL), P. Datsyuk (DET), D. Brown (LAK), S. Doan (PHX), K. Tkachuk (STL), J. Thornton (SJS)