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Vancouver Canucks Bo Horvat Clicks with Johnny Hockey in NHL All-Star Game
January 30, 2017, 3:13 PM ET [224 Comments]
Carol Schram
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If Bo Horvat's final blog from All-Star weekend is any indication, the experience of mingling with the NHL's top names from the past and present has been a life-changing experience for the 21-year-old.




Bo certainly wasn't the youngest player to participate in this year's event—rookies Patrik Laine and Auston Matthews represented their teams, as did second-year player Connor McDavid. But Horvat was a standout during his two 3-on-3 games, picking up two goals and adding two assists while skating with Johnny Gaudreau of the Calgary Flames and Cam Fowler of the Anaheim Ducks.

Even the intros were special this year, as many of the players named to the #NHL100 stuck around to greet the All-Stars as they were announced to the crowd at Staples Center.




Sunday's mini-tournament kicked off with the Pacific-vs-Central Division matchup. Coach Peter DeBoer rolled his three lines pretty evenly through the 20-minute period as the Pacific dominated by a score of 10-3. Horvat played five shifts for a total of 6:38. He went 1-2-3 and was on the ice for four goals for and one goal against. All nine Pacific Division skaters scored in the first game; Horvat's linemate Gaudreau was the only player to score twice.

Horvat got the secondary assist on the first goal of the game, by Fowler, at 2:57.




Horvat was also awarded the primary assist on Gaudreau's first goal, which put the Pacific up 6-2 at the 2:33 mark of the second half.




Bo lit the lamp himself on this sweet move on Devan Dubnyk at 6:29, after Fowler put him in all alone.




The goal came on Bo's only shot of the first game. Here's how he described it in his blog:

My first one I got in the one breakaway and wanted to get it over Devan Dubnyk's shoulder as quick as possible. I kind of just flicked it at the last moment, it's a move I've never tried before and might become my go-to!


Fowler led the Pacific Division team with four points in the first game. Horvat was one of five players to collect three points, along with Gaudreau, Jeff Carter, Connor McDavid and Drew Doughty.

In the second game, the Metropolitan Division beat the Atlantic Division 10-6. John Tavares and Cam Atkinson both went 2-2-4 for the Metro, while Wayne Simmonds also scored twice. The firepower for the Atlantic came from the Florida teams—Nikita Kucherov and Vincent Trocheck had four points each.

That set up the final between the Metropolitan Division and the defending champs from the Pacific, with the $1 million prize on the line for the winners.

The Metro triumphed by a score of 4-3 in a tightly contested game. After the Pacific fell behind 2-1 early in the first period, Horvat scored the go-ahead goal that put the Pacific up 3-2. It came against Sergei Bobrovsky at the 7:52 mark of the opening frame, after Gaudreau circled behind the net, then passed to a wide-open Horvat in the slot.




"I wanted to get it off as quick as I could because I knew someone would be closing in on me," said Horvat in his blog about the second goal. "Johnny has such great vision and speed and Cam has great hands; they were very fun to play with."

Believe it or not, the game was basically decided by a Coach's Challenge at the 3:20 mark of the second period. It looked like Ryan Kesler had put the Pacific Division up 4-2, but coach Wayne Gretzky challenged the goal on the offside call—and he was right. Speedy Connor McDavid was in the zone a millisecond too soon.

Even the Great One could barely believe his own audacity.




Gretzky stepped in as a last-minute substitution for John Tortorella, who missed All-Star weekend to care for his son's ailing dog.




I bet Wayne wishes he'd had this kind of coaching success when he was behind the bench with the then-Phoenix Coyotes between 2005 and 2009. He was 143-161-24 in four full seasons with the Coyotes and never made the playoffs.

After Kesler's goal was disallowed, Atkinson and Simmonds stepped up once again with two quick goals to secure the win for the Metro team. With the game-winner, first-time All-Star and former L.A. King Simmonds was named MVP, but did not get the shoulder-hoist that John Scott famously enjoyed last year.




Even though Gretzky's impressive coaching cost Bo Horvat his share of the $1 million prize, the Great One was still the No. 1 "get" for Horvat over All-Star weekend.




From Bo's blog:

I also couldn't believe it when I walked into the dressing room lounge between games and Wayne Gretzky was standing there. I knew it was my chance to meet him, so I got my phone and Connor McDavid actually took the picture for me. I was really excited. I asked him how he was doing, that's the first thing that came to mind! I told him my dad was at the game where he set up Lemieux for that goal with Team Canada, I'm not sure what year it was and he talked about that a bit. To hear old stories from The Great One was great.


I think the young players and first-timers tend to try a little harder on the All-Star stage, which is part of the reason why we saw players like Atkinson and Simmonds stand out over the likes of Crosby and Ovechkin on the Metro roster. It's probably also part of the reason why Horvat showed so well but hey—good for him! He acquitted himself nicely in front of national audiences in both Canada and the U.S. that may not be aware of the giant strides that he has taken with his game this year.

It sounds like the weekend served as a great affirmation for Bo that he truly belongs among the best players in the game. Hopefully this weekend will mark the first of many All-Star appearances for Horvat.
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