All Stars Weekend

All-Star Teams selected
Starting lineups for the 2009 All-Star Game have been decided according to votes given by hockey fans around the world. The fans voted the starting lineup consisting of 1 goaltender, 2 defenseman, 1 left wing, 1 center and 1 right wing for both North America All-Stars and World All-Stars. Here are the final results of the voting:

North America World
R Jonathan Cheechoo R Alex Kovalev
C Sidney Crosby C Pavel Datsyuk
L Jarome Iginla L Marian Hossa
D Scott Niedermayer D Andrei Markov
D Dan Boyle D Nicklas Lidström
G Martin Brodeur G Evgeni Nabokov

Traditionally, the coaching staff of the two All-Star teams will selected rest of the players to participate in this most profilic annual sports event. The following players have been selected to the All-Star teams by the coaching staff.
North America World
Right wings Right wings
R Cory Stillman
R Martin St. Louis
R Brian Gionta
R Jere Lehtinen
R Daniel Alfredsson
R Jaromir Jagr

Centers Centers
C Joe Thornton
C Brad Richards
C Vincent Lecavalier
C Peter Forsberg
C Milan Hejduk
C Olli Jokinen

Left wings Left wings
L Brian Rolston
L Ray Whitney
L Dany Heatley
L Teemu Selänne
L Evgeny Malkin
L Alexander Ovechkin

Defensemen Defensemen
D Sheldon Souray
D Wade Redden
D Cory Murphy
D Brian Campbell
D Sergei Zubov
D Janne Niinimaa
D Kimmo Timonen
D Sami Salo

Goalies Goalies
G Mike Smith
G Carey Price
G Miikka Kiprusoff
G Henrik Lundqvist


This years All-Star weekend starts Saturday February 11 with the Super Skills competition and continues on Sunday February 12 with the clash between the North America All-Stars and the World All-Stars.

NHL All-Star Skill Competitions
The annual All-Star event kicked off today with the skill competitions. Team North America and Team World competed in six different races and the fans got to see their stars shine.

Team North America won the puck control relay with a team of Jarome Iginla, Vincent Lecavalier and Ray Whitney.

Ray Whitney of Team North America won the fastest skater competition, beating Andrei Markov in the final.

Joe Thornton of Team North America won the hardest shot competition with a result of 84 MPH, beating Daniel Alfredsson in the final.

Joe Thornton of Team North America won the accuracy shooting competition, beating Daniel Alfredsson in the final.

Miikka Kiprusoff of Team World won the goalie competition (pass&score), beating Martin Brodeur in the final.

Team World won the breakaway relay with a team of Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Lidström and Pavel Datsyuk.

The yearly clash between Team North America and Team World will take place tomorrow.

NHL All-Star Game
Team World has won the annual NHL All-Star game with a score of 13-11. Game MVP was Pavel Datsyuk.

A native of Russia, Pavel Datsyuk was originally drafted to the NHL by the Detroit Red Wings in the 6th round of the 1998 entry draft. He has appeared in 501 NHL games during his career, notching 167 goals and adding 324 assists along with 121 penalty minutes. The 30 year old center has played 56 games with the Washington Capitals this season, totalling 28+38=66 with 4 PIM.