All Star weekend opened yesterday evening with the SuperSkills Competition, including the YoungStars game (featured below). Thanks to NHL.com, those of us who find this part of the weekend exciting get to see it again in HD shared by NHL TV. If you watched as the East took the competition (9-6) last night, no doubt you were extremely entertained, regardless of which conference you’re backing. 

I thought the Obstacle Course Relay was a nice new touch, but I was disappointed with the new Speed Skating setup. The East took an early 2-1 lead by winning the Relay, but then Shawn Horcoff won the fastest-skater competition to pull the West ahead. They kept their lead when Phaneuf scored 2 to take the Elimination Shooutout.  The YoungStars 3-on-3 Challenge started with a 6-2 first half lead for the East, thanks to Osgood’s underachievement in goal. Unfortunately, Legace’s mic’d up jokes and stellar performance in the second half weren’t enough to pull the West ahead, and the Eastern youngsters took the event 7-6.

In part two of the SuperSkills competition Kaberle was impressive, going 8 for 9 in a sudden death win over Jason Arnott in the Shooting Accuracy contest. Zdeno Chara successfully defended his title as he tied Al Iafrate’s 1994 hardest shot record of 103.1mph; Iafrate still holds the 105.2 topper. Maybe next year, Chara. Ovechkin and Getzlaf had a dance-off in the Breakaway Challenge; Getzlaf giving his shot at moves of a 9 year old and Ovechkin putting an MLB spin on the event. Ovechkin’s moves gave him enough to win the event for the East.

Now that my favorite part of the weekend is over, it’s time to kick back, grab a drink, and watch the game. I figure since the East won the SuperSkills comp, the West should take the game. The game starts at 6:00 on Versus. Don't know where it is on your lineup? Find it.

Any bets on MVP? Feel free to Q it up here.