What a weekend! I don’t ever think I have been so proud of my city. You have to say one thing… this town knows how to throw a party! All-Star weekend wrapped last night and no matter what the typical nattering nabobs of negativism will tell you… credit the NHL for an excellent adjustment to the event. Now these same individuals will try and tell you how terrible the whole thing was, how it has no integrity, no respect, blah… blah… blah… news flash to these folks…
The event is supposed to be fun.
I know… it’s shocking… an all-star event that is supposed to be fun… and contrary to popular belief… the NHL
did get it right. Did they do everything perfect? No, of course not… last time I checked there was one perfect person who walked the face of this earth… and I don’t believe he writes for The Sporting News or Grantland. Most people learn from their mistakes, and frankly, as JR Lind tweeted last night, the John Scott story wouldn’t have been as much fun if the NHL had embraced it… then you would’ve heard these same solemn scribes talk about how the NHL exploited it and still sucks.
But I am in too good a mood this morning to be grumpy… getting to be PA Announcer for All-Star Weekend introduced me to some incredibly talented behind the scenes production folks that put on the show. It was long hours and a lot of work, but intensely satisfying.
Some things that I will take with me…
- The roar in Bridgestone Arena when the Predator All-Stars were announced… Smashville was certainly in the house!
- Dylan Larkin flying as he broke the 20 year old Fastest Skater record.
- P.K. Subban really showing his personality, and giving me a chance to pull out an old call of mine!
- The creativity in the Breakaway Challenge was unbelievable. Brent Burns with Lil’ Burns and Lil’ Pavelski… and his Chewbacca routine. James Neal getting Dirks Bentley to join him… Subban’s winning Jagr impersonation.
- The storybook weekend of John Scott… warmly received, enthusiastically supported and boy did he deliver on the ice! An amazing moment when his teammates picked him up and put him on their shoulders…
- James Neal putting on a show, scoring two in the tournament and obviously enjoying every second of it.
- Shea Weber… blasting another 108+ mph shot that had the crowd chanting “One More Shot” on Saturday night, which the Preds captain gladly provided. Weber seemed to really enjoy the weekend and was certainly proud of the way the city was represented.
And Smashville itself… Pred Nation came out in force… two sellouts that exceeded capacity of Bridgestone Arena on both nights. 17,006 on Saturday and 17, 346 on Sunday.
Now hold on there, Paul… I hear you say… that’s only one sellout, isn’t it? After all… official capacity of the Rink is 17,113. Well, the seating in sections 312, 311, 310 and 309 was eliminated to accommodate the additional media, taking out almost a thousand seats… so yes… they were sellouts… and if you do the math, you can see that they were oversold.
The crowds were loud, boisterous and into it. Pred Nation showing the intense rivalry growing with Chicago, booing Patrick Kane every time he touched the puck… until he and John Scott staged a little fight in the Pacific vs. Central game… that softened the crowd a bit… and boy did Smashville embrace John Scott… expressing their displeasure at his being left off the MVP vote and taking matters into their own hands, instantly trending on Twitter as a furious write-in campaign had #MVPVoteScott explosively trending almost immediately, leading to a thunderous roar when he was announced as the MVP.
What a weekend indeed.
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Here are some of the best tweet I could find on the weekend…
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