The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

I think the NHL should involve the fans as much as possible with the growth and promotion of the league. One of the ways it has done so is to have the fans vote for their favourite players in the annual All-Star game. I won't ask whether or not it's an exciting game or what should be done to make the players actually play a little physical during the contest, but I do think the idea to have one makes sense.

I'm surprised it's taken this long to have online fan voting cause a few people to raise their eyebrows and maybe say to themselves, "We might have to fix this." I wasn't one of those that raised their eyebrows though; instead, I rolled my eyes. The leading vote-getters in every position for the Eastern Conference are all Montreal Canadiens: According to the voting by the fans, who can vote an unlimited amount of times, the best team you can dress in the east right now are: Carey Price in goal, Andrei Markov & Mike Komisarek on defence, while Alex Tanguay, Saku Koivu and Alexei Kovalev are your forwards.

By the way, I'm also playing backup in case Price goes down.

No problem Habs fans, the All-Star game is being held in Montreal this year so perhaps you can feel justified in stuffing the ballot box with 200 votes from each email address you own for for three forwards who aren't even in the top FIFTY in scoring. Here's my Eastern team I'm suiting up:

Forwards: Alexander Ovechkin - Sidney Crosby - Evgeni Malkin
Defence: Zdeno Chara - Mike Green
Goalie: Henrik Lundqvist (Brodeur is injured at the moment so Henrik gets the call)

I don't think it takes a brain surgeon to figure that team out; I could probably even ice a 2nd team that I'd put up against those voted-in Habs that would be better.

But what do I know?