More and more people are turned off by the annual All-Star Game and to be fair, I don't really care much about it myself. That being said, I do watch the skills competition every year. It's always interesting to see who will win those classic contests; the hardest shot, the more accurate shot, the speediest skater and in the later years, the breakaway challenge in which the goalies have to stop the most shots. I couldn't care less about the gimmicky stuff like the obstacle course but you know, not everything can be to everyone's taste.
Tonight, the Habs captain will be taking part in one of my favourite event, the hardest shot competition. I remember watching it when it was a never ending battle between the Als (Iafrate and MacInnis) and wondering which one would win it that year but nowadays, Weber is normally the biggest threat in that one. In fact, he's won it three years running in 2015, 2016 and 2017. A couple of Caps' players won it for the last two years, you know that not very well known player Alex Ovechkin in 2018 and John Carlsson in 2019 but to be fair, Weber wasn't at those edition so they didn't beat the king to grab the title. Tonight, Weber will be squaring off against the following players:
Mark Giordano, Calgary Flames
Seth Jones, Columbus Blue Jackets
Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning
Elias Pettersson, Vancouver Canucks
John Carlson, Washington Capitals
I'll admit that I'm also looking forward to seeing the elite Women's 3 on 3 challenge. While most ASG are deemed boring because there is next to know contact, that's actually normal for the women's game and even though there is no actual prize on the line, the animosity between the USA and Canada should be there are usual and that should give us a good show much like in the Olympics or the World Championships. Most of the big names in the women's game will be there for the 2 10 minutes periods and I'm looking forward to it:
American All-Stars (hometown):
D Kacey Bellamy (Westfield, Mass.)
F Alex Carpenter (North Reading, Mass.)
F Kendall Coyne Schofield (Palos Heights, Ill.)
F Brianna Decker (Dousman, Wis.)
F Amanda Kessel (Madison, Wis.)
F Hilary Knight (Sun Valley, Idaho)
F Jocelyn Lamoureux-Davidson (Grand Forks, N.D.)
F Annie Pankowski (Laguna Hills, Calif.)
G Alex Rigsby Cavallini (Delafield, Wis.)
D Lee Stecklein (Roseville, Minn.)
Canadian All-Stars (hometown):
F Meghan Agosta (Ruthven, Ont.)
F Mélodie Daoust (Valleyfield, Que.)
G Ann-Renée Desbiens (La Malbaie, Que.)
D Renata Fast (Burlington, Ont.)
D Laura Fortino (Hamilton, Ont.)
F Rebecca Johnston (Sudbury, Ont.)
F Sarah Nurse (Hamilton, Ont.)
F Marie-Philip Poulin (Beauceville, Que.)
F Natalie Spooner (Scarborough, Ont.)
F Blayre Turnbull (Stellarton, N.S.)
Meanwhile, the rest of the Canadiens players are enjoying their holiday. The Price and Petry family have escaped to sunny Jamaica and they sure do look like they are enjoying themselves:
The Habs should be back in town soon though since they have a practice scheduled on Sunday before taking on the Washington Capitals in Montreal on Monday. Chances are Weber will get the day off since he's not had the whole break off. Until then, enjoy the skills competition and the ASG if you are into those...
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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