Thack's All-Star Picks

As the All-Star game approaches, I always get a little excited. It's always enjoyable to get wrapped up in the madness of it all. To tell you the truth, the all-star game isn't always my FAVORITE thing in the world, I would sometimes even call it boring (no hits, fights, penalties, etc.), but it's still one of those experiences that make you feel like a kid again. I don't know, maybe it's seeing all those superstars lined up next to each other that kind of makes my jaw drop open like a 9-year old. Maybe it's Alexander Ovechkin doing his hold-the-puck-spin-a-rama move that didn't really work but was still fun to watch. All that takes me back to those kid days, when the highlight of my life was moments like the All-Star game in 1997 when Owen Nolan, in front of his home San Jose crowd, got that breakaway against Dominik Hasek and called his shot, pointing to a corner of the net and then (with a huge smile on his face), proceeding to put the puck right where he pointed. All that against the greatest goalie in the game at the time. One of the best parts was that the Dominator was smiling just as big as Nolan after the goal. It's things like that make me love not only the All-Star game, but the sport of hockey entirely.

Enough of the nostalgia. If voting ended today, here would be this year's All-Star starters:

Western Conference
Henrik Zetterberg (F) - Red Wings
Pavel Datsyuk (F) - Red Wings
Marian Hossa (F) - Red Wings
Nicklas Lidstrom (D) - Red Wings
Dion Phaneuf (D) - Flames
Roberto Luongo (G) - Canucks

Eastern Conference
Alexei Kovalev (F) - Canadiens
Saku Koivu (F) - Canadiens
Alex Tanguay (F) - Canadiens
Mike Komisarek (D) - Canadiens
Andrei Markov (D) - Canadiens
Carey Price (G) - Canadiens

Hmmm... Are we noticing a trend here? Did they change the rules and change the All-Star game to be a Western Conference vs. Canadiens format? Not what I planned, but still not a bad idea. I think having six starters, all Habs, would be very cool in Montreal, even if the starters aren't exactly "the best" of the best this season (i.e. Kovalev, Komisarek, Price). Oh well. Our friends from up north are stuffing the ballot box, and who can blame them? After all, it's just an all-star game. I think it would be great for Canadiens fans to see all six Eastern Conference starters be from the hometeam.

If it were up to me, however, here would be the starters for each team:

Western Conference
Marian Hossa (F) - Red Wings
Jarome Iginla (F) - Flames
Joe Thornton (F) - Sharks
Shea Weber (D) - Predators
Dan Boyle (D) - Sharks
Niklas Backstrom (G) - Wild

Eastern Conference
Evgeni Malkin (F) - Penguins
Alexander Semin (F) - Capitals
Simon Gagne (F) - Flyers
Mike Green (D) - Capitals
Andrei Markov (D) - Canadiens
Henrik Lundqvist (G) - Rangers

These are the guys that are really taking charge of the league right now. I'd love to see them line up together to start this year's All-Star game.

Rock on. Enjoy the All-Star game.