Martin Brodeur is used to coming to NHL All-Star games to catch up with friends, guys he knows from Team Canada and previous midseason gatherings.
On Monday, he might as well have worn one of those "Hello, my name is ..." badges.
The All-Star festivities feature so many new players that the days leading up to today's game are more get-to-know-you sessions than reunions -- even if first-timers Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin need no introduction to anyone who has followed the post-lockout NHL.
"A lot of young players are a big part of the league, so for us older guys it's kind of nice to get to know them, talk to them and see how they are," Brodeur said. "Really, they're the future of our game."
The past has been amazingly swept away by this new wave of talent. Consider this: Brodeur and Eastern Conference teammate Brendan Shanahan have played a combined 15 All-Star games; the rest of their teammates have played a combined 11.
On the Western Conference squad, Joe Sakic, Teemu Selanne and Nicklas Lidstrom hold a 28-15 experience advantage over their teammates.
"The young guys today are a lot more talented than when we broke in," said Sakic, the Colorado forward who is a 12-time All-Star and the West's captain. "There are so many of them, and that's what is so great about this game right now. They're going to be the leaders of this league, and the league is going in the right direction with them."
Not that it's so terrible being invited back as one of the old guys.
"You've still got to be doing something right to be selected," he said. "This is just a different feeling for a veteran. Early in your career, you're really nervous. But the more times you're here, the easier it gets. You just come here, relax and have a good time."
The fun began on Monday evening with a ceremony outside the arena honoring Dallas' 1999 Stanley Cup championship team. Mike Modano, Brett Hull, Joe Nieuwendyk, Ed Belfour and Montreal Canadiens coach Guy Carbonneau were among 13 attendees, as was the Cup itself. Then came an on-ice celebration of 11 former NHL superstars, followed by a practice featuring the real squads.
The light workout was most noted for seeing players skate in sleek new uniforms created for this event with materials that will be used for every team next season. The difference was easily evident -- players looking as if they were hardly wearing any pads.
A big reason for all the fresh faces at the event: There hasn't been one since 2004. The last two were scuttled because of the lockout and the Olympics, helping build some enthusiasm this time among players who might otherwise want a few days off.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
RSS