Tuesday Thoughts: The Almost-All-Star Game

Just a quickie before we begin here...Kyle points out that, contrary to what I put yesterday, Belfast did gain a point from the weekend, as their loss to Sheffield was in OT. I'm not quite sure how I got that wrong, and it's even more embarassing since last week I was a little scornful of the Blaze press-machine for forgetting that Steve Thornton hadn't played for Cardiff in eight years in a release to the mailing-list.

I reckon that was karma, somehow...so thanks to Kyle and apologies for my muppetry...

Right then. Now onto the not-so-highly-anticipated Elite League Allstar game, which takes place next Thursday. I've been waiting for the rosters to be finalised before giving judgement on this up until now, but now they are...so let's have a look at them...:

North (coach: Dave Matsos, Sheffield)
Goalies:
Andrew Verner (Newcastle Vipers)
Jody Lehman (Sheffield Steelers)

Defence:
Rod Sarich (Sheffield Steelers)
Kenton Smith (Manchester Phoenix)
David Phillips (Belfast Giants)
Jez Lundin (Newcastle Vipers)
Kyle Horne (Edinburgh Capitals)
Taylor Christie (Edinburgh Capitals)

Forwards
George Awada (Belfast Giants, replacing the injured Bobby Robins)
David Longstaff (Newcastle Vipers)
David Beauregard (Manchester Phoenix)
Mark Hurtubise (Edinburgh Capitals)
Paul Deniset (Belfast Giants)
Adam Walker (Manchester Phoenix)
Colin Shields (Belfast Giants)
Ed Courtenay (Newcastle Vipers)
Jonathan Phillips (Sheffield Steelers)
Rob Dowd (Sheffield Steelers) replacing Tony Hand (withdrawn)
Mark Garside (Edinburgh Capitals)


South (coach, Paul Thompson, Coventry)

Goalies
Kevin Reiter (Basingstoke Bison)
Curtis Cruickshank (Hull Stingrays)

Defence
Corey Neilson (Nottingham Panthers)
Tyson Teplitsky (Cardiff Devils)
Jason Stone (Cardiff Devils)
Danny Meyers (Nottingham Panthers)
Kurt Reynolds (Basingstoke Bison)
Jon Weaver (Coventry Blaze)

Forwards
Brad Voth (Cardiff Devils) (C)
Adam Calder (Coventry Blaze) (A)
Matt Myers (Nottingham Panthers)
Lee Mitchell (Hull Stingrays)
Jeff Glowa (Hull Stingrays)
Russ Cowley (Coventry Blaze)
Shaun Thompson (Basingstoke Bison)
Phil Hill (Cardiff Devils)
Bruce Richardson (Nottingham Panthers)
Greg Chambers (Basingstoke Bison)
Slava Koulikov (Hull Stingrays)
Dan Carlson (Coventry Blaze)

So there you go.

Leaving aside the seeming stupidity of classing Hull as a Southern team when it's north-east of Sheffield (as we can fairly safely assume that that's to even the sides up a little-if the line were drawn through South Yorkshire than the Southern team would have something of an advantage given that three of the top four teams in the country would be included-this way it's two-and-two), here's my major issue...

Isn't the whole point of an All-Star team that you can pick the best players from that season? The Elite League putting a rule of "two imports and two Brits from each team) is putting a double hurdle in the way of legitimately calling this an All-star game. Firstly, because it must be just about the only all-star game in history in which every team in the league is definitely going to be represented, and secondly, it must be the only one in which there's a definite limit on the number of players on the roster from each single team.

This limit has meant that, amongst others, we're missing Sylvain Deschatelets (fourth in the league on points), Dan Tessier and Johan Molin (110 points between them for Nottingham), Brent Hughes (one bright spot on an awful Basingstoke team apart from Reiter), Mike Prpich (one of the best forwards in the league, but not noticed that much because he plays for Cardiff)...and for the North, Tony Hand has already withdrawn, Steve Thornton wasn't picked, neither was Josh Garbutt or Luke Fulghum...you could go on...

It's also meant that somehow, some players have made it in when there is no way the was majority of fans would have picked them given free-rein. I mean, seriously...Phil Hill (that's right, third-line plodder Phil Hill) now has the right to call himself an All-Star, but Joey Talbot (one of the scariest forwards in the league) and Jeff Legue do not? In the South, the situation is similar...would you seriously, for example, even entertain the fact of watching Slava Koulikov over, say, Johan Molin?

Then there's the goalies-the South goalies have a GAA of 4.57 (Reiter) and 4.00 (Cruickshank). I appreciate that these may be down to the fact (particularly in Reiter's case) that the teams in front are absolutely dire defensively, but is it just me or has Reiter gone the whole of this season riding the wave of this performance in Coventry...he's generally viewed as a good goalie but as good as someone like Lehman? If nothing else, the All-Star rosters show a massive disparity between the quality of the goalies as a whole in the South and in the North...

It seems to me that the Elite League are so concerned with presenting the league as "all-fair-and-equal" that it's led to the All-Star game being nowhere near one-just a collection of some of the "better" players in the league as opposed to what the game should be...all the best, all in one place.

FWIW, here's my Allstar teams, under unrestricted rules and with more realistic geographical boundaries, and based on my personal view of the league this season)

North (Edinburgh, Belfast, Manchester, Hull, Newcastle)

Goalies
Andrew Verner (Newcastle)
Stephen Murphy (Manchester)

Defence
Mike Burgoyne (Belfast)
Josh Garbutt (Manchester)
Mark Gouett (Newcastle)
Taylor Christie (Edinburgh)
Kyle Horne (Edinburgh)
Kenton Smith (Manchester)

Forwards
David Beauregard (Manchester)
Paul Deniset (Belfast)
Bobby Robins (Belfast)
David Longstaff (Newcastle)
Tony Hand (Manchester)
Mark Hurtubise (Edinburgh)
Mark Garside (Edinburgh)
Steve Thornton (Belfast)
Derek Campbell (Newcastle)
Luke Fulghum
Bruce Mulherin (both Manchester)
Lee Mitchell (Hull)

South (Sheffield, Nottingham, Cardiff, Coventry, Basingstoke)

Goalies
Jody Lehman (Sheffield)
Peter Aubry (Cardiff)

Jason Stone (Cardiff)
Tyson Teplitsky (Cardiff)
Jon Weaver (Coventry)
Corey Neilson (Nottingham)
Rod Sarich (Sheffield)
Blake Forsyth (Coventry) But since he's arguably ineligible, Steve Munn (Sheffield)

Forwards
Johan Molin (Nottingham)
Dan Carlson (Coventry)
Joey Talbot (Sheffield)
Rob Dowd (Sheffield)
Brent Hughes (Basingstoke)
Dan Tessier (Nottingham)
Brad Voth (Cardiff)
Adam Calder (Coventry)
Greg Chambers (Basingstoke)
Jeff Legue (Sheffield)
Sylvain Deschatelets (Coventry)
Danny Stewart (Coventry)
Carlyle Lewis (Coventry)

Now, which pair of teams, given the choice, would you rather watch? For me, it'd be the second every time-and who cares who they play for or whether they're Brit or import...

It's a nice idea, Elite League, and I shall be there on Thursday, but next year, forget the restrictions, forget the rules and just let the best players in the league play no matter what nationality they may be or what shirt they pull on week-to-week...you might get more people interested that way.