All-Star Game: 3-on-3

[CentreHice]

Yep. They're replacing the "no-hitter" with a "no-resemblancer" to the context in which they play. All-Star weekend is boring anyway….this might juice it up.

3-on-3 tournament of 4 teams of 11 players each. One team from each Division. $1 million to the winning team. The fans get to vote-in only 4 players this year…one from each Division, who will be named captain of that team. The other 40 players will be selected by NHL Hockey Ops.

3 games, each 20-minutes in length.

Semi-Final: Atlantic vs. Metropolitan
Semi-Final: Central vs. Pacific
Final: Winners of each semi-final

nhl.com


* The 2016 Honda NHL All-Star Game will be a three-game tournament played in a 3-on-3 format with a prize pool of $1 million to be paid in its entirety to the tournament's winning team.

* The tournament will feature four teams, one team representing each NHL Division: the Pacific, Central, Metropolitan and Atlantic.

* Each team will be made up of 11 players: six forwards, three defensemen and two goaltenders.

* The 2016 NHL All-Star Fan Vote will allow fans to vote for one All-Star player from each Division, without regard to position. The top vote-getter from each Division will be named NHL All-Stars, as well as Captain of his respective team.

* The remaining 40 NHL All-Stars will be named by the NHL Hockey Operations Department for a total of 44 All-Star players, with at least one player selected from each NHL team.

* The 2016 Honda All-Star Skills Competition™ returns to a matchup between the Eastern Conference and Western Conference All-Stars on Saturday evening, with the winning conference earning the right to select when their semi-final matchup will be played; first or second on Sunday.

* Each game in the three-game, 3-on-3 2016 Honda NHL All-Star Tournament will be 20 minutes in length.

* Teams will change ends at the 10-minute mark of each game. Games that are tied after 20 minutes will be decided by a shootout.

* The Central Division All-Stars will face the Pacific Division All-Stars and the Atlantic Division All-Stars will face the Metropolitan Division All-Stars in the two Semi-Final games.

* The winners of each Semi-Final game will play each other in the All-Star Game Final to determine the overall tournament champion.

* The four division-leading NHL coaches (best points percentage following the completion of games on Jan. 9, 2016) will be named coaches for each of the four All-Star teams

[Polarice]

Might be fun to watch....they'll actually be playing for something!!

[seventeen]

As long as players play the game primarily to avoid injury and not tax themselves, I'll watch something else.

[duster]

Gimmicks do not a better game make.

[franko]

Nov 19, 2015 14:35:00 GMT -5 duster said:

Gimmicks do not a better game make.

but perhaps a better $ make

[CentreHice]

The AS weekend is a gimmick. But it's a lucrative few days for the host franchise and city. Does the host team have to share a percentage of that revenue?

I wasn't yet into hockey during the "All-Stars vs. reigning Cup Champs" format which ran from 1946-47 to 1967-68 and, in all but 3 years, was held in October (pre-season).

For 2 years early on, the First Team AS played the Second Team AS. Both games ended in ties, 1-1 and 2-2.

The scores of most of the All-Stars vs. Cup Champs would suggest closer, harder-fought contests. Even the first decade after expansion shows closer games….and I do recall a more serious tone to those.

It wasn't until 1983 that a team scored 9 goals. Now they're just laughers and have been for years.


Source

[franko]

there was a lot of hate those early games. Cup Winner didn't want to lose to a bunch of "not good enoughs" and the "not good enoughs" wanted to prove they were.

[CentreHice]

Was looking through the hockey-reference link above, and there has been only 1 shutout in All Star history. January 18, 1967 in Montreal. 3-0 Habs. I thought maybe it was the Gumper who recorded it, but a click on that game's link shows the active roster for that night. The Habs' goalies were Charlie Hodge and Garry Bauman, who had a 35-game career. Worsley must've been injured. I would presume that the answer to the trivia question, "Which goaltender recorded the only complete game shutout in NHL All-Star history?" is "Charlie Hodge".

[CentreHice]

Just looked further into that game. Bauman played the second period. Hodge played first and third. So it's shared. Bound to win something in a bar with that question. Who were the two goaltenders to share the only shutout in ASG history? Give them the hint: Habs 1967. Liam Maguire might be the only one who knows the answer without looking it up. Most everybody else would say Worsley and Hodge.

[CentreHice]

Seems to be a social media campaign underway to mock the weekend.....

John Scott is near the top of the voting....

Scott