New York Rangers’ top five all-star weekend moments
With the sole representative of the New York Rangers being Henrik Lundqvist for this seasons midseason classic, it is time to remember great all-star game moments.
The NHL All-Star game is more than just a game, it has evolved into a weekend-long event. What was once just an east versus west all-star game has developed into the 3 on 3 divisional tournament and the skills competitions on Saturday night.
The NHL skills competition was set to be held on January 27th in Tampa Bay. The skills competition, held annually is a group of events in which selected all-stars to participate in various events. The winner of each of the six events will be awarded $25,000. The following events were last night:
- Enterprise NHL Fastest Skater
- Dunkin’ Donuts NHL Passing Challenge
- GEICO NHL Save Streak
- Gatorade NHL Puck Control Relay
- PPG NHL Hardest Shot
- Honda NHL Accuracy Shooting
The 3-on-3 divisional tournament is the main event of the weekend. Each division in hockey has a roster assembled and competes in a miniature tournament for a grand prize of one million dollars. The rules are as follows(as per cbssports.com):
Sticking with the format used last year, the All-Star Game will be played in a 3-on-3 style tournament with four different teams. Each of the league’s four divisions (Atlantic, Metropolitan, Central and Pacific) will have their own 3-on-3 squad comprised of players from teams within those divisions. The two winners of the first-round games will go head-to-head in the final round, with the winning team taking home $1,000,000 in prize money. The Metropolitan division is the reigning champion heading into the 2018 ASG.
However, the skills competition is its own entity with a seperate more fun atmosphere. Despite this fact we will include some pretty great moments from this all-star event!
#5 – Mark Messier goes 4/4 in the 1996 Accuracy Shooting competition
The competition for the accuracy shooting portion of the skills showcase in 1996 featured some of the sports all-time greats. Consisting of league’s best like Joe Sakic, Paul Kariya, 1995 winner Brendan Shanahan, and others. Fellow Ranger Pat Verbeek would also get a crack at victory, however, he could not compete with the Rangers’ captain.
Among those shooters, the Rangers biggest star, Mark Messier stole the show.
The Rangers captain would start off the event shooting from bottom left, bottom right, top left, and then finished off his 4/4 with a top right rip. Messier would become only the second player to go 4/4 in the shooting competition, after legendary defenseman Raymond Bourque. The two legends would be the only players to go 4/4 in the event until 2004 when Jeremy Roenick would also achieve perfection by going 4/4.
Messier also won the event in 1991 by going 4/6.
#4 – Rangers rookie Carl Hagelin breaks the sound barrier
One of the more interesting versions of the all-star game was the player fantasy draft. This format has not been used for a few years but it certainly brought out the competitive side in the players.
Players Daniel Alfredsson and Zdeno Chara were the captains that drafted players in the 2011 installment. Carl Hagelin was selected as the rookie participant for Team Alfredsson. The rookie speedster was making a name for himself in the league with his explosive skating ability and did not disappoint his countryman.
The Michigan product went head to head with Colin Greening of the Ottawa Senators in the final round of the race. The young Swedish forward had come in at 12.993 seconds earlier in the event while Greening had clocked a prior time of 12.963.
The two young skaters came down to the wire with Hagelin beating out Greening by just nine-tenths of a second. This was Hagelin’s coming out party to the rest of the NHL, for the next four years he was a nightmare to cover with New York.
#3 – Wayne Gretzky wins 1999 All-Star MVP
In 1999, Wayne Gretzky was in his final season in the NHL. The greatest player in the history of the sport was in a down year for the Great One. This was the only season in his career that he would fail to register at least a point a game.
However, a down season for the greatest to ever play the game was still a pretty good season. Gretzky still finished with over 60 points on the year and was honored at his final All-Star game. In the 1999 game, the format was a North America team against the World team.
To the surprise of no one, Gretzky pulled out one last gorgeous performance in the exhibition. He would put up three points en-route, to his third and final All-Star MVP award.
He would go on to score the sixth goal of the game as well as assisting on two others, including Rob Blake’s game-winner.
#2 – Marian Gaborik wins 2012 All-Star MVP
One of the more recent All-Star moments on our list, Marian Gaborik won the MVP in 2012 as a member of Team Chara. The Slovakian scorer was having an excellent statistical season at the time with the New York Rangers and showed off with a hattrick in a game against the league’s best. Gaborik also happened to assist on the game-winning goal to his countryman Zdeno Chara.
The game had Rangers on both sides of the game, with Henrik Lundqvist and Dan Girardi playing for Team Alfredsson. The most entertaining moment of the game was Gaborik’s sniper celebration on his Rangers teammate.
This is the type of moment that the all-star game is supposed to feature. Players hamming it up for the crowd with playful celebrations that they would not normally do. The celebration was an inside joke for Rangers fans. Earlier in the season, then Ranger Artem Anisimov did the celebration in the game and incited a brawl against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The team’s top line of Marian Gaborik, Marian Hossa and Pavel Datsyuk all in their respective primes was what the all-star game is all about. Three of the league’s best put on an absolute show.
#1 – Mike Richter save on Pavel Bure in 1994 All-Star game
Why is this moment so huge? After all, was just a stop in an exhibition game.
The save in the all-star game was a preview of five months into the future on a much grander stage.
One of the leagues most menacing scorers Pavel Bure is at center ice staring down the Rangers goaltender. It is the fourth game of the Stanley Cup Final, and the Rangers are up two games to one.
With Bure bearing down on him straight down the center of the ice, Bure hits the top of the dots and begins a double move to the far side of the net. Richter would react athletically with a strong stretch to that side.
The bad news for Bure was that this was not the first time Richter had seen Bure alone. In the 1994 All-Star game, Mike Richter faced a chance where Bure used a nearly identical move. Both times the Ranger netminder made the save and stoned the Russian sniper.
Next: Five Rangers who need the All-Star break
Now, in no way is this saying that the save in the All-Star game won the Rangers the Stanley Cup. However, a little practice never hurt anyone’s chances.