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Events and Attractions

NHL Praised Once Again For 3-On-3 All-Star Game Format, Honoring Of Top 100 Players

Though yesterday's NHL All-Star Game at Staples Center was "missing the defensive effort present" in last year’s debut of the 3-on-3 format, a 4-3 win in the finale by the Metropolitan Division "proved the NHL has it right," according to Kevin Allen of USA TODAY. Allen: "Everyone agrees that the three-on-three works better than any other format" (USA TODAY, 1/30). In L.A., Helene Elliott writes it is "difficult to stage a meaningful All Star game in any sport, but it might be toughest to present an entertaining product at hockey’s mid-season event." But the NHL since going to the 3-on-3, minigame format has "done about as good a job as possible to create excitement" (L.A. TIMES, 1/30). In Las Vegas, Steve Carp notes the first two mini-games in each of the two years of the 3-on-3 format "produced tons of scoring." Then, for the two teams "playing in the championship, it becomes ultra competitive" as the $1M "winner-take-all factor kicks in." Carp: "It’s a setup the NHL would be wise not to tinker with too much" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 1/30). In Boston, Kevin Paul Dupont notes the 3-on-3 version is "fun but barely resembles the good fight seen most NHL evenings." However, Dupont writes, "If you come to the rink to see the red light go on behind the goalie, there is nothing better" (BOSTON GLOBE, 1/30). Wild coach Bruce Boudreau, who coached the Central Division team, said, "The format is fabulous, and it’s totally understandable, the guys are here on the break having fun" (L.A. TIMES, 1/30). But in S.F., Ross McKeon wrote, "There’s simply no hiding the fact that what the NHL is during the 82-game regular season can’t be replicated in a midseason showcase exhibition with the game’s greatest stars participating and a national viewing audience expecting to be entertained" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 1/28). 

MAGIC MOMENT: The NHL announced its top 100 all-time players to kick off the weekend, and the L.A. TIMES' Elliott notes the players yesterday "basked in the applause from the sellout crowd and seemed to stand taller and smile more proudly." When the current stars were introduced, they "skated down the row of former players and fist-bumped each of their elders, creating a tentative bond where one might not have existed before." That relationship was "cemented when the former and present players formed parallel lines and faced off against each other, a perfect moment that will outlive most other memories generated by the Metropolitan division’s 4-3 victory" (L.A. TIMES, 1/30). In Buffalo, Mike Harrington writes it was "really a scene unlike any in NHL history." MLB has had "a few of them, notably the crowd around Ted Williams prior" to the '99 ASG at Fenway Park. The NHL "trotted the legends out in team sweaters for one last ovation and it was sensational." Harrington: "The oldtimers had as much fun as the current players" (BUFFALO NEWS, 1/30). SI.com's Alex Prewitt noted Hockey HOFer Bobby Orr last attended an NHL ASG "more than two decades ago, and only then" because the '96 installment "took place at Orr’s old stomping grounds in Boston." Orr: "I’m thrilled that I came. ... I thought the league did a nice job. When the guys get together, that’s what’s so great about our game. You know what’s amazing? Do you know how many of those guys on that stage are still involved in our league? Ownership, GMs…how many of them? That says a lot." Orr said the honoring of the league's top 100 players was "great." Orr: "You know what? I’ve never seen it, and I’ll never see it again. It’s amazing. It was an amazing night. No sport will ever do that again. No way" (SI.com, 1/29).

BASKING IN HISTORY: In Toronto, Mike Zeisberger writes, "Everywhere you looked, the pulse of the NHL’s 100th anniversary was alive and well and vibrant." Stars of today and yesteryear were "sprinkled throughout." Zeisberger: "As much as we’ve found legitimate reasons to criticize and carve [the NHL] over the years, this 100th birthday party truly was an experience the sport has never seen before, And, maybe when all is said and done, will never see again" (TORONTO SUN, 1/30). In Chicago, Mark Lazerus writes for Blackhawks Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith, being part of the NHL 100 list was "still hard to fathom and will be the lingering memory from the weekend" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 1/30). 

TOO LATE TO SAY I'M SORRY? The GLOBE & MAIL's Eric Duhatschek notes singer Justin Bieber on Saturday played in the celebrity game, and it "probably wasn’t a real surprise" that former NHLer Chris Pronger "mushed the Biebs into the boards and then pinned him there for a few extra seconds." The NHL’s player-safety department then "announced (tongue-in-cheek) that Pronger would face an in-person hearing for checking from behind" (GLOBE & MAIL, 1/30). The TORONTO SUN's Zeisberger notes Pronger "crushed" Bieber "into the unforgiving Staples Center wall." Zeisberger: "Who among us out there hasn’t wanted to do that?" A photo of Pronger "crushing Bieber into the glass went viral" on social media (TORONTO SUN, 1/30). 

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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