OTTAWAIt takes a lot to impress a player such as Claude Giroux, who has silky-smooth moves and soft hands to make even a sensational play look easy on the ice.
So what one thing blew Giroux away Saturday night at Scotiabank Place where Team Alfredsson defeated Team Chara, 21-12 in the SuperSkills competition?
When you see Zdeno Chara going that way and shoot that puckwhat was it108? Giroux asked. Its pretty impressive when someone can shoot the puck like that. I dont know if I can shoot 90. Thats pretty impressive.
Charas hardest shot victory of 108.8 saw him break his own SuperSkills record three times.
Its fun to see the best players in the world do their thing, said Giroux, one of four Flyers on Team Alfredsson.
Five Flyers competed in the events. Rookie Matt Read, competing for Team Alfredsson, was very good in Accuracy Shooting, but Dallas Jamie Benn was even better for Team Chara.
They both hit their targets, but Benn bested Reads time by six seconds10.2 to win it.
NHL
Was it that much? asked Read, who had to shoot first in the event. He did very well there. He had a little advantage going second. I was trying to go as quick as I could. I was kinda nervous. After you see the guy you are competing against go, its easier for the next shooter.
Fellow rookie Sean Couturier tried a bit of a spin move in the Breakaway Challenge on one of his attempts.
I was talking to him about it last night and he wasnt sure what he would do, Giroux said. He had one, good move.
Couturier said he couldnt sleep Friday night just worrying about that move.
I saw that move once in junior, he said. I just put a little something more to it.
Giroux muffed his Stick Handling just a bit but Team Alfie still won it.
Not happy about it, Giroux said of his overall performance. I would have liked to score a goal in the shootout. Its tough when youre sitting down a while and try to do a move. But youre going against the best goalies in the league.
Scott Hartnell, who nailed all three of his one-timers during the Skills Challenge Relay, was spotted laying on the ice taking videos, adding a new wrinkle to his hartnelldown nightly occurrence.
I was wondering if anyone would pick up on that, Hartnell said. I tried to get a lot of videos for fun. This could be a once in a lifetime thing. I wanted to enjoy every minute of it.
Kimmo Timonen, competing for Team Chara, made it to the final round in Elimination Shootout and was actually the last guy for his team to be left shooting though Alfies squad had long before won the overall event.
RESULTS:
Fastest Skater
This looked like a blowout as Team Alfredsson won the event, 5-1. Or so we thought. New York Rangers rookie Carl Hagelin appeared to win the event for Alfie with a 13.218 time over Ottawa rookie Colin Greening. Alas, thanks to video review, it was overturned and Team Charas Greening was awarded the victory because his stick was across the line sooner. With the reversal, the score was 4-2 Team Alfredsson after one event.
Breakaway Challenge (fan vote)
Everyone tries different moves and were not sure if it was ice or sticks that ruined some of these attempts in round one. Team Charas Corey Perry (Anaheim) had a great shot creativity to loud applause. Flyers rookie Sean Couturier had a very nice spinarama, but Chicagos Patrick Kane, wearing a Superman cape and funky big glasses had a pass and diving one-handed stick tap-in that was awesome for Team Chara.
Couturiers second and third attempts not as good as his first. Kanes third attempt featured a puck that disintegrated as he shot it. Alfies John Tavares (Islanders) had some crafty between the legs moves to score on his final shot. Perrys last attempt was super. He dropped his sick, then pulled a kids size mini-stick out of his pants and scored on goalie Brian Elliott. Kane won it for his originality. The fans vote the winners here via texting.
Accuracy Shooting
The Flyers Matt Read, competing for Team Alfie, met Team Charas Jamie Benn (Dallas) for the title. Read shot out all four of his targets in 16.36 seconds. Benn blew Read away in the final round, knocking out the targets in a blistering 10.2 seconds to win the event for Charas team. That made it 6-6 going into the next event.
Skills Relay Challenge
Kimmo Timonen struggled mightily with the passing accuracy portion against the mini-nets for Team Chara. Scott Hartnell and Claude Giroux both competed in this for Team Alfie. Hartnell nailed all three of his shots wearing a toque. Though Giroux mishandled one puck in the stick handling event, his team still won by six seconds over Team Chara with a time of 2:08. Team Alfie led 9-6 after this one.
Hardest Shot
Senators captain Alfredsson may be 39-years-old but he won the first round of this with a radar clocking of 101.1. That was nothing compared to Chara, who broke his own record with a 106.2, then broke it again at 108.8! He came into the event as the all-time record holder at 105.9. Alfies Shea Weber (Nashville) wasnt bad but his 106 couldnt top Chara. Going into the final event, Alfie;s team led, 11-9.
Elimination Shootout
Bostons Tim Thomas stoned Claude Giroux who was eliminated on his first shot though Alfies group pulled away with the event. Kimmo Timonen had a very nice goal on his first shot for Team Chara.
E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcastsportsnet.com