Well it was NHL All-Star Weekend in Montreal and what's Bruin to do? I guess dominate things much like they have the whole regular season so far... To wit; The four participating Bruins were initially greeted by Fans Les Habs with the totally expected and all too familiar boos but a funny thing happened along the way as it seemed like our Black & Gold stars were able to almost "win" over the capacity crowd at every turn with their efforts as not even the most restless & witless Bruins haters could deny their contributions over the weekend in what turned out to be a great showing by each of the Bruins All-Stars. The weekend got off to a great start for the B's delegation Saturday evening when Bruins rookie Blake Wheeler was named MVP of the YoungStars Game after recording a hat trick and a few assists to led the Rookie Team over the Sophomore Team & Carey "The Messiah" Price, 9-5 (which you'd have to think if David Krejci had been playing would have been a 10-9 win for the Sophomore's but that's another story...)
"Wheels" effort was then followed up by B's Captain Zdeno Chara breaking Al Iafrate's 16-year-old hardest shot record with a blistering 105.4 mph slap shot on the final attempt of the event. All while wearing what I think is the WORST TUK I've ever seen in my life. I mean I can appreciate & get the marketing attempt for Z's favorite charity "Right to Play" (http://www.righttoplay.com/) but that hat's gotta go Z! Yikes!
As for the All Star Game itself, Hab favorite Alexei Kovalev gave the Montreal & Canadiens fans something new to cheer about in their 100th Anniversary season by scoring two breakaway goals and then scoring in the shootout to help give the Eastern Conference All-Stars a wild 12-11 victory over the West on Sunday night. Kovalev, the East captain who had three points and skated off with MVP honors.
However the REAL STORY & REAL MVP winner should have been off the effort of B's Goalie Tim Thomas who entered into a tie game starting the third period and into overtime having to kill a 4-on-3 power play. And then, a shootout.
This was way more than Tim Thomas apparently bargained for by noting: "So much for the just relaxing and enjoying myself," he said shortly after securing the win for the East for the second-straight year. However unlike last season's game in Atlanta, Thomas had to work a lot harder to pick up this "W." He stopped 16 of 19 shots to help the East force overtime, where he was perfect against three shots, including two that came when Montreal DefenseDOPE Mike Komisarek was in the penalty box after he was whistled for hooking, the game's lone infraction (Good to see Komisarek's effort is consistent regardless of the circumstances, Nice work Mike!)
Komisarek, who appreared "stunned" he got called for a penalty, admitted there was one on the play. Thomas said he didn't see it because he was watching the puck."In a way I was happy he didn't order a penalty shot, but in another way I was like, 'Oh no, it's 4-on-3 with the best players in the world for two minutes,' " Thomas said. "Either way, it doesn't look good."Thomas made it look good. And his performance in the shootout was the capper. Like last year, Thomas was picked as the East's third-period goalie. His teammates believe he asks for it because he's got a little showman in him."I knew he'd set it up to get that third period again," Bruins center Marc Savard said."He's the big finisher," Boston defenseman Zdeno Chara added. "The closer."
Probably the oddest but most enjoyable thing about the weekend was that the sellout crowd of Montreal fans, who were chanting "Go Habs Go" earlier in the night, started chanting "Defense, Defense" as the game got tighter and the play a bit chippier. And somehow Thomas, a mortal enemy in this building, became a "Habs fan favorite" through his determined play backboning the Eastern squad to the win. "Going through, shaking hands with Alexei (Kovalev), I said this is probably the last time Montreal will ever be cheering for me," Thomas said."He was a teammate tonight," Komisarek said. "Tomorrow he's the enemy." And so aren't you Mike!
All in all though you have to say the weekend was a success on most levels mostly because of the great work of Montreal's entire hockey organization and dare I say it; their fans for being able to put aside "Blue Blanc Rouge" & simply come across as TRUE HOCKEY FANS and for that I send to them a respectful "Ole"
But now it's back to the business of hating and disrespecting each other which for me is much more natural and at times much more enjoyable! So again I offer; "Great job this weekend Montreal but the Hab's still Suck!" - Let's Go Broounze! KingKrej
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