Dallas Stars: 2019 NHL All-Star Skills Competition Schedule, Information
By Josh Clark
The 2019 NHL All-Star Weekend kicks off tonight as the Skills Competition gets underway. That means All-Star action for Dallas Stars rookie defenseman Miro Heiskanen. Here’s a rundown of tonight’s events as well as all of the schedule and information you need.
Dallas Stars rookie defenseman Miro Heiskanen boarded a plane for San Jose, Cali. on Thursday afternoon to get ready for the 2019 NHL All-Star Weekend. And after five days of not seeing any Stars players skating around in a competitive fashion, Friday night will be a breath of fresh air for Stars fans.
The All-Star Weekend festivities began on Thursday night with the 2019 NHL Fan Fair that will run through Sunday. It’s an opportunity for fans to interact with setups like a Hockey Hall of Fame exhibit, the NHL Trophy Showcase, and a skills challenge.
It’s also a chance to chance to meet and interact with the NHL mascots, who began their own festivities last night with a dodgeball game.
But for the 44 NHL players selected to participate in the weekend, the real fun begins on Friday night with the SAP NHL Skills Competition. Here is a quick rundown of the information for Friday night’s contest:
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Who: All 44 NHL All-Stars
What: All-Star Skills Competition
When: Jan. 25, 2019 at 8 p.m. CT
Where: SAP Center, San Jose, CA OR NBCSN, Sportsnet, CBC, and TVA Sports
The Skills Competition will begin on Friday night at 8 p.m. and will consist of six different events. The events include Bridgestone NHL Fastest Skater, Enterprise NHL Premier Passer, Ticketmaster NHL Save Streak, Gatorade NHL Puck Control, SAP NHL Hardest Shot, Honda NHL Accuracy Shooting.
All six competitions will be individual efforts, with each player competing for a prize of $25,000.
And, much like it has been in the recent past, here’s a look at what each event will entail as the night goes on.
Bridgestone NHL Fastest Skater
The Fastest Skater competition will be a timed event, with each of the eight selected skaters taking one lap around the rink upon the referee blowing his whistle. The skaters will get an opportunity to start up to three feet behind the red line at center ice and can go in either direction they choose (clockwise or counterclockwise). The skater with the fastest time wins, though a tie will result in the top two finishers taking another lap to determine the winner.
It’s also the event that Dallas Stars fans will want to focus on, as Miro Heiskanen will be one of the eight competitors. Stars head coach Jim Montgomery has mentioned multiple times that he would put his money on Heiskanen to win most skating races, so we’ll see just how well that bet pans out tonight as no. 4 flies around the rink.
The other competitors include Cam Atkinson, Mathew Barzal, Jack Eichel, Clayton Keller, Connor McDavid, Elias Pettersson, and Mikko Rantanen.
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Enterprise NHL Premier Passer
Eight skaters will compete in a timed event with three different passing challenges involved. The first includes a breakout pass, where the skater will have to connect on three breakout passes with a “player.” Following that, they will attempt to send a puck over a barricade and sink it into a mini-net. Finally, they will go to a target passing station and try to hit targets that light up every three seconds.
The competitors include Sebastian Aho, Thomas Chabot, Leon Draisaitl, Roman Josi, Erik Karlsson, Kris Letang, Ryan O’Reilly, and Keith Yandle.
Ticketmaster NHL Save Streak
All 36 skaters will go up against eight All-Star goaltenders in a shootout format. Each goaltender will face the nine skaters from one division, with the shooters going in numerical order and the divisional captain shooting last. The goalie will try and make as many consecutive saves as possible and will continue building his streak if he saves the divisional captain’s shot. His streak will end once he gives up a goal after facing all nine shooters at least once.
The goalie that ends up with the longest save streak during his time in net wins the $25,000.
The goaltenders involved include Devan Dubnyk, Marc-Andre Fleury, John Gibson, Braden Holtby, Jimmy Howard, Henrik Lundqvist, Pekka Rinne, and Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Gatorade NHL Puck Control
Eight skaters will compete in a single round that tests their puck control skills. It is a timed event and has three different parts, including handling the puck through ten pucks lined up in close range, controlling the puck through eight cones in a zig-zag layout, and finally approaching various gates that will either require the skater to shoot the puck or guide it through a lighted rung in the gate.
The challenge ends and the timer stops once a player shoots the puck into the net. The skaters include Johnny Gaudreau, Claude Giroux, Patrick Kane, Gabriel Landeskog, Elias Pettersson, Mark Scheifele, Jeff Skinner, and John Tavares.
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SAP NHL Hardest Shot
This one is pretty self-explanatory. Four players will compete to register the fastest shot in miles per hour. They will have two rounds to do it, with the second round order being determined by first round results and going in a slowest-to-fastest order.
The puck will be 30 feet away from the net and the shooter will be able to get a start from the closest blue line. The shot must go into the net to be recorded and registered on the radar. The skater with the fastest shot overall wins the $25,000.
The participants include Brent Burns, John Carlson, Seth Jones, and Steven Stamkos.
Honda NHL Accuracy Shooting
The final event is timed as well, with eight skaters competing for the most accurate shot. Five LED targets will be placed on the net and, at the sound of the whistle, will begin lighting up in random fashion. Each target will be lit up for only three seconds. If the shooter hits the target, it will be taken out of the sequence. If they do not hit it, the next target will light up and will eventually cycle back to the missed target.
Upon hitting all five targets, the clock will stop. The fastest player will win the $25,000.
The participants include Sidney Crosby, Drew Doughty, Nikita Kucherov, Auston Matthews, Kyle Palmieri, David Pastrnak, Joe Pavelski, and Blake Wheeler.
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It’s one of the more exciting times of the year in the NHL, and Dallas Stars fans will get a chance to see their team’s superstar rookie indulge in the fun. It should be a great time.