Bruins’ Thomas left to wait for selection after All-Star fan vote ends
Thomas/By S. Bradley
Well, I guess my moratorium on blogging about All-Star voting had to end at some point.
Today, the league’s popularity contest finally came to an end with the selection of the six men that will start the All-Star Game in Raleigh Jan. 30.
Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin of Pittsburgh and Chicago’s Jonathan Toews were selected as forwards, Chicago’s Duncan Keith and Pittsburgh’s Kris Letang as defensemen and Penguins netminder Marc-Andre Fleury was picked to start between the pipes. Congrats to fans of the Penguins and Blackhawks for being technologically savvy enough, and for having enough free time, to get their players elected to the game.
Obviously, the one slight related to the Bruins is NHL league-leader in goals-against average and save percentage Tim Thomas. But that was to be expected. Thomas finished respectable fourth in the balloting with 139,182 votes. However, Fleury collected 311,623 votes to earn starter status.
Next week, the NHL will announce the 36 other All-Stars who will join the starters in the draft pool. And then in around two weeks, the captains will be picked by the pool of players.
The sides will be chosen for the game Jan. 28 during the NHL All-Star Player Fantasy Draft, which will be as riveting a television experience as the aftermath of the JFK assassination, the season finale of “Lost” and the Beatles on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” Or maybe better. With Versus televising it, it has to be sensational.
Anyway, expect Thomas to be among the 36 players announced next week. Zdeno Chara and Milan Lucic also have a chance, while Tyler Seguin should be among the 12 rookies selected to compete with the All-Stars in the Honda NHL SuperSkills Jan. 29.
no more fan votes. lame. so lame.
While the game itself is a bore, I always enjoy watching the skills competition, and the fantasy draft thing is a fun idea, albeit a bit of a silly gimmick.
Not sure I get the 6 starter thing, won’t there be 12 starters? I assume these guys won’t all be on the same team? Kind of weird.
And here I thought the most obnoxious fans in hockey lived in Montreal….
In the first episode of 24/7, I enjoyed how the narration highlighted Marc-Andre Fleury as one of the “best goaltenders in the game”, for all those watching who were unfamiliar with hockey. As Jack Edwards would say (in the case of Randy Jones getting checked head-first into the boards):
HA. HA HA HA HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.
The All-Star Game is a gimmick. I grew up playing and loving basketball, but the NBA has become a circus and that is the only type of place where an “All-Star Game” belongs. Taking arguably the consummate team sport and turning it into jircle cerk is ridiculous… might as well invite Rob Schrempf and Frans Nielsen and Mike Ribeiro to the All-Star Game every year to showcase the backyard tomfoolery that they’ve become so famous for on their way to establishing themselves as mediocre NHLers.
no regular season or individual awards this year and that includes the conn smythe trophy. win that cup thing instead.
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Fan voting is stupid in all sports