Whew! a chance to catch our breath and contemplate how far we’ve come and how far we have yet to travel. Sitting snugly in a tied up bundle of teams vying for that coveted rung on the play off ladder, cozied up with teams whom we have games in hand on, as well as teams who have even tougher schedules than we face in this back end stretch. What a wonderful feeling. On to the beautiful south… not your usually hockey hot bed you say? Oh contraire, for one magical weekend Atlanta is indeed home to some of the hottest players to hit the ice as the Allstars roll into town and prepare to partay!

Its all fun and games. A chance for the top dawgs (and fan favorites) to have a bit of fun with the game they love. The regular season is a bit like multiple skirmishes in which each team tries to get positioning for a THE big battle. Its war out there on many levels, for months. The Allstar weekend is  like a truce or cease fire. Everyone gets to take that deep breath and party like a rockstar. Hang out with the family and friends and get rejuvenated. Even those who don’t actually get to go participate get the benefit of a healing week of rest and relaxation before hitting the trenches again.

Let me start by saying I love the whole thing. Start to finish I enjoy it. Now let me go awol. They did it backasswards.

The Young Stars shoulda been 4 on 4. The 3 on 3 format was just a run and gun tripod exhibition. It was fun but nowhere near as fun as 4 on 4 hockey with some of the brightest talent would’ve been. The Young stars shoulda been the ones with the breakaway competition. Right after the game, to end the day with a BANG! They are the ones who hang out at the rink after ‘official’ practice goofin on each other for fun and braggin rights. They are the ones hoppin pucks on their sticks, spinnin or sliding on their backs and knees while tryin to put the puck on net. That woulda been seriously sick! I can’t even begin to imagine what King Kopi, Kaner, Gagner or Mules woulda pulled outta their respective bags of tricks for the West.

Now I’m not sayin the Allstar vets couldn’t have done it too. But they have been around, they have reps and dignity to maintain. They chose the wrong ones to participate in the breakaway contest. Kopitar, Horcoff and Nash woulda been the best choices for the west. Sure Datsyuk is creative in a game situation, but c’mon the guy is so shy and self effacing he could’nt put himself out if he was on fire.

Those guys have been assimilted into the collective team (there is no I in there!) and they have forgotten how to be an I. The other mistake they made was in not lettin Ovie go first. Ovie is a team almost by himself. He is the face and personality of the Caps and he knows how to go about it. Him goin first might’ve given the others the balls to get buck wild. At least Kovy got hip on his last try and made the home town crowd a bit happier. Who says the transfer agreement is hurting our Russian influx?

All that said… how sick! is Rick Nash? I mean c’mon the guy made everyone on the ice look like bush league rookies, a hat trick,  only the 15th ever scored in the ASG, not the MVP? (Kinda takes the sting out of the-goal-I’d-rather-not-mention) And Nabakov? with a badass shutout? not the MVP?

Guess dad likes you best Eric, cuz I think he voted twice for MVP. Ok Staal did have 2 plus a GWG assist but c’mon! A hattie tops that anyday.

Legace is a trip, mic him up all the time!

Dipi is sure pretty

(still a bastage for that stupid game in December…hockey fans hold bigtime grudges) and Ovie got to shine w/ out Cindy Criesbaby takin all the face time.

Our big PM scored a point in his first trip to the party and Jovo kinda had the 1st hit of the game. (more of a brush n tap but hey, we’ll take it).

Good food (mmmm sweet n salty party mix) good friends (Teal and Jenni) and the All Stars…. we had a blast…and why wouldn’t we?

All photos are borrowed from JAMD.COM go check them out! Awesome pics from the entire weekend