Versus Has All-Star Fever!

The NHL All-Star festivities are taking place in Atlanta this weekend and Versus (fresh off signing a 3-year extension with the NHL) is getting the word out:





Be sure to tune in. If not for me, do it for Geno. And if not for Geno, do it for the kids!

Luongo Tells Fans To Shove It

Okay, so not really, but the Canucks heart and soul is going to skip the All-Star game in Atlanta despite being voted in to start by the fans. TSN is reporting that the Canucks have given Luongo permission to skip not only the All-Star game, but also their first game after the All-Star game so that he can be with his wife, who is pregnant with the couple's first child.

Luongo says, "Thanks but no thanks." to the All-Star Game.

I think this is a great move by the Canucks to get their big man some rest before the playoff drive really kicks in. This team is only going to go as far as Luongo takes them and getting him a week or so off could really pay off for Vancouver down the road. I'm sure the NHL would love to have Roberto in Atlanta, but the NHL can't complain too much since Luongo will also be missing one of his team's games and not just the All-Star game. Besides, in a perfect world this opens the door for Pascal Leclaire to get the start for the Western Conference. I'll take just about anyone though, as long at it's not Hasek.

The NHL Announces All-Star Game Starters

The fan votes have all been counted and the NHL has announced the starters for the upcoming All-Star Game in Atlanta. The starters are:

Eastern Conference

• Sidney Crosby
• Vincent Lecavalier
• Daniel Alfredsson
• Andrei Markov
• Zdeno Chara
• Martin Brodeur

Western Conference

• Henrik Zetterberg
• Pavel Datsyuk
• Jarome Iginla
• Nicklas Lidstrom
• Dion Phaneuf
• Roberto Luongo

All things considered these are actually pretty solid picks by the fans as all 12 players are definitely deserving of the trip to Atlanta. I would probably stick hometown boy Ilya Kovalchuk in instead of Alfredsson, but Ilya will make the team any way so it's not that big of a deal. At first I didn't think too highly of Markov being voted in, but it's not that much of a reach when you look at the numbers. Of course if Sergei Gonchar had been on the ballot (I'll never understand why he wasn't) then maybe things would have been different.