When choosing participants for the All Stars match, fans gave preference to youth

NHL

Based on the results of fan voting, the composition of the teams for the All Stars match, which will take place on January 24 in Dallas, was determined. The undisputed leader of the vote was young Pittsburgh center Sidney Crosby. In second place in popularity among hockey fans is Buffalo forward Daniel Breer. Meanwhile, the winning streak of Ruslan Fedotenko's Tampa Bay team reached five matches. The Ukrainian legionnaire himself has scored assists in the last two games.

Tampa Bay hockey players, after an unsuccessful first part of the season, actively began to make up for lost time. The 2004 Stanley Cup winners have already won five games in a row. The team’s series of successful performances was reflected in the personal performance of the players. Tampa Bay right winger Martin St. Louis moved into first place on the league's scoring list. Now he has 29 goals. Of the Lightning's recent victories, the one that stands out is the win against one of the leaders of the regular season, Buffalo. Tampa Bay hockey players beat a dangerous opponent on the road (3:2). The decisive goal was scored in the third period by Brad Richards after a pass from Ruslan Fedotenko. The Ukrainian hockey player scored an assist in the match against the New York Islanders (4:3).

The team of another Ukrainian, Alexey Ponikarovsky, is performing extremely unstable - Toronto. It is capable of defeating Boston (10:2) on the road, beating the same Buffalo (4:2), but at the same time losing without a fight to Vancouver (1:6) on its home court. All these metamorphoses in the team’s play occur without the participation of Ponikarovsky. Having suffered a shoulder injury in training last December, he continues to recover.

Detroit had a great last week. The team, which is in third place in the Western Conference, has achieved four wins. Last but not least, Detroit's progress is associated with the successful actions of its goalkeeper Dominik Hasek. The match against Montreal (2:0) was already the sixth time this season for the Czech veteran without conceding goals. He trails only New Jersey's Martin Brodeur in shutouts, with seven shutouts. Hasek also ranks among the top goaltenders in the Western Conference in goals-against percentage, so it's easy to understand the Detroit goalie's confusion when he learned he wouldn't be invited to the All Stars game. However, the game between the Western and Eastern conference teams, which will take place on January 24 in Dallas, will take place without many other star veterans of the league. The management of the New York Rangers asked the organizers of the meeting not to involve Jaromir Jagr, who recently underwent surgery on his left shoulder. Also, Jerome Iginla from Calgary, who has been performing brilliantly this season, decided to get some treatment during the break.

Due to low performance in the first part of the championship, Daniel Alfredsson was not invited to the All Stars match. At the same time, the captain of Ottawa has recently changed. Having scored 9 points (3 goals and 6 assists) in the last three matches, the Swedish forward was recognized as the first star of last week.

As the voting showed, the most popular player in the NHL is Canadian Sidney Crosby from Pittsburgh. He received 825,738 votes. This is the second result since fans began to determine the starting five in 1986. Only Jaromir Jagr managed to achieve more, who in 2000 was the first to collect more than a million votes. However, 19-year-old Crosby surpassed another Czech record by becoming the youngest hockey player to make the starting five of an All Stars game.

It’s interesting that young people are gaining popularity from league veterans. Seven of the 12 starters will be playing for the first time in the All Stars match. The best NHL rookie of last season, Alexander Ovechkin, like Crosby, received the right to play in the main five of the Eastern Conference team. The Washington player is the only Russian participant in the All Stars match this year. The record for the most players on one team in a star-studded game was set by Buffalo, which delegated forward Daniel Breer, defenseman Brian Campbell and goalkeeper Ryan Miller to the East team. Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff will coach the Eastern Conference team.

The Western Conference team has more experienced players. 37-year-old Joe Sakic (Colorado) will take part in the All Stars match for the 12th time. Nicklas Lindstrom, 36, of Detroit, will play in the All Stars game for the ninth time. In addition, fans chose defenseman Scott Niedermayer (Anaheim), as well as forwards Joe Thornton and Jonathan Chichu (both San Jose) to the main team of the Western team. Roberto Luongo (Vancouver) will take his place in goal.

SERGEY Kommersant-TSUKILO

The East has shaken off the old days