Enhance Your Experience: Throwing Sticks to Pick All-Star Teams

by Stanley Cup of Chowder on Nov 12, 2010 7:53 PM EST in Enhance Your Experience

The NHL announced this week that they have tweaked the All-Star Game format and now the teams will be picked gym class style with two captains picking players from a pool of All-Stars. The NHL All-Star Game had become a stale event that was in desperate need of revamping, so maybe this new format won't be such as bad thing even though it does seem a bit gimmicky. This got me thinking: why doesn't the NHL go the complete pond hockey route and throw sticks to decide teams?

OK, here me out on this one.

Let's be honest, the NHL All-Star Game is just a dog and pony show for corporate sponsors and fans. If done properly, throwing sticks to decide teams could enhance the experience of fans and sponsors and raise money for good causes . The NHL could incorporate a contest where a fan or small group of fans would win a trip to the All-Star Game and the honor of throwing around $400 composite sticks to chose sides for the NHL All-Star Game. The league could get a corporate sponsor involved to bid on the naming rights for the contest (a stick manufacture would have perfect synergy for this promotion). The sponsor could create special edition commemorative sticks with each player's name, team logo, NHL All-Star Game logo, and their corporate logo on them. After the stick draw, each player would sign their stick and the stick would be auctioned off with the proceeds going to a charity of that player's choice.

Can you imagine the scene of 42 millionaire professional athletes scrambling try to find their stick on the ice to find out what team they are?

To make it more random, I would recommend that all the sticks be the same size for selection, including the sticks representing goalies. The complete randomness of it would be awesome. What if one team ended up with almost all the goalies and the forwards and one team had almost all defensemen? Would the thrower cheat and open his eyes just like in real pond hockey? Would the players bitch and moan about teams not being fair? (mic'd up players is a must here) Would Marian Gaborik trip over an errant stick and tear his fragile groin?

If the NHL isn't down with making this a fan contest, they could always invite a celebrity or a famous stick thrower to do the honors. I'm sure Jim Playfair or Chris "Knuckles" Nilan aren't doing anything that night.

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..to avoid the impending Crosby vs Ovechkin captain match. That dead horse has been beaten mercilessly for years now.

by Sinnach on Nov 13, 2010 1:39 AM EST reply actions

you know, i was kinda thinging of this the other day, and i want to take it a step further… think about it like this, say next year, we abolish the winter classic… no outdoors new years game. however, say that the all star game is set for say, new york. the rangers are set as the hosts, but instead of madison square garden, you do yankee stadium. so you invite the games stars into the house that steinbrenner built, and have them skate to center ice. they throw their sticks in center dot. then, out comes a local legend, in new yorks case, out comes a guy like mark messier, and he is the celebrity stick sorter. he tosses sticks to the sides, and that is how you determine your all star teams. then, the two teams take to an outdoor game in yankee stadium. then there is no talk about how hosting the winter classic helps or hurts a team. an outdoor game becomes an attraction, working hand in hand with the all star game

by BlueNGoldBomber on Nov 13, 2010 3:35 AM EST reply actions

I still like the Winter Classic, even if is just a marketing gimmick for the league.

Stanley Cup of Chowder: A Hearty Helping of Hockey in The Hub

by Stanley Cup of Chowder on Nov 13, 2010 8:06 AM EST up reply actions

I like it! It truly is a meaningless game, but I do find it entertaining and this would make it much more interesting!

by SkateHitShoot on Nov 13, 2010 10:43 AM EST reply actions

Good Idea

I like the idea that all the all-stars are awarded with an outdoor game, even though they may come from terrible teams. It would be a better show of our hockey roots to have a more mixed selection on the ice than say Washington and Pittsburgh for example.

by I Love Ska on Nov 13, 2010 12:51 PM EST reply actions