|
Chara wins hardest shot, breaks own record |
 |
|
Headlines
|
|
Written by Blake Benzel
|
|
Sunday, January 29, 2012 02:23 |
It may not have been the final skills competition Saturday, but the Hardest Shot event was the main event. Squaring off against Shea Weber, Zdeno Chara did not disappoint.
Frazier vs. Ali. Liddell vs. Ortiz. Bird vs. Johnson. Palmer vs. Nicklaus. Agassi vs. Sampras. Crosby vs. Ovechkin.
Among sports' greatest rivalries, the hardest-shot competition between Nashville Predators defenseman Shea Weber and Boston Bruins blueliner Zdeno Chara is not there yet. But it took center stage Saturday in an event that may prove to be the main draw of the NHL's All-Star Weekend.
All eyes were on Weber and Chara as they fittingly took the ice last in the Blackberry Hardest Shot event. The two men didn’t disappoint, hitting the ice running with marks of 104.9 and 106.2 miles per hour, respectively, to get the show started.
Those impressive marks were nothing compared to what followed.
With Weber missing the net on his second attempt, the stage was set for Boston’s captain. He lined up his shot, strode to the puck and fired a shot at 108.8 mph – a record since radar guns began tracking hockey pucks.
“Sometimes you don’t look exactly at the numbers,” Chara told reporters afterward. “Sometimes you just want to win. Obviously Weber’s a great player in this league, and he has a really hard shot. We’ve been in the finals together for the past few years. Really, I don’t go out there and try to get motivated that much. You just try to go out and do your best.”
That best was good enough to beat the standing record, set by Chara at the 2011 Skills Competition, by nearly 3 mph.
Chara’s monster shot even eclipsed Weber’s big accomplishment – hitting 106 mph in the final round of the event.
“Will I ever win?” Weber replied, laughing when posed the question. “Not while he’s around.”
While many may view Weber’s remarks as self-deprecating, it’s hard to picture anyone dethroning the reigning champion of this event, who never seems content with his current record.
“Could I top 110 mph?” Chara asked rhetorically. “We’ll see. It’s always my motto: I want to be better every season.”
If he can improve on shots that failed to dip below 106 mph (Chara’s slowest shot, at 106.2 mph, came on his first attempt), the 34-year-old figures to give his new record a run for its money again.
What made the event even more special for the big man, however, was the fact that he got to do it in front of his former hometown crowd in Ottawa – a fact that did not escape the Scotiabank Place crowd, which mustered a raucous ovation following Chara's record-breaking attempt.
“The standing ovation was very much appreciated,” he told reporters. “And to get the record in Ottawa, where I played so much time and had great years, was very nice.”
Can anyone dethrone Chara as the King of the Hardest Shot? Not if you believe his competition.
“Everyone shoots and then you just sit and watch Big Z,” Spezza admitted. “Nobody can touch him and how hard he shoots.”
Weber doesn't seem to be content with second place year after year. He conceded the title to Chara on Saturday but acknowledged that the big man has to start slowing down at some point.
“I keep getting better every year,” Weber told reporters. “So, if Chara hits a plateau and stops, maybe I can keep catching him.”
Notes
New York Rangers rookie Carl Hagelin won the Fastest Skater competition, edging out fellow rookie Colin Greening of the Ottawa Senators with a time of 13.218 seconds to Greening’s 13.303. Hagelin and Greening earned their way into the finals of the event with times of 12.993 seconds and 12.963 seconds, respectively. … Phoenix Coyotes D Keith Yandle took a bit of a heel turn on Saturday, trying to hook Toronto forward Phil Kessel after Yandle lost an edge and stumbled during their heat of the Fastest Skater competition. “Absolutely,” Yandle told reporters, when asked if he tried to hook Kessel. “That’s what I was trying to do.” Asked why, Yandle said that Kessel refused to play “Rock, Paper, Scissors” with him for which side they would skate on. … In what has typically been one of the more lackluster events since its inception, the Breakaway Challenge took a turn for the better this season, thanks to the showmanship of Patrick Kane, Corey Perry and Carey Price. Kane donned a Superman cape for a diving goal in his second attempt and an exploding puck trick in his third, while Perry tricked everyone into thinking he was pulling out his best Ned Braden impression before pulling out a mini-stick and playing a little floor hockey. However, Price was the ultimate scene stealer, Tebowing in net and going so far as to stop the puck while looking at his reflection in the end boards. … Steven Stamkos won the Elimination Shootout, going 3-for-3 in the competition with some jaw-dropping moves. The victory was made sweeter by the fact that Stamkos, the NHL’s leading goal scorer, hit just three of the four targets in the Accuracy Shootout in 44.684 seconds before becoming frustrated and skating in to hit the fourth – and missing again. … Jamie Benn skated away with the Accuracy Shootout title, winning the final round by hitting the four targets in just 10.204 seconds just two weeks after having an emergency appendectomy.
Photos by Getty Images
 |
|
Last Updated on Sunday, January 29, 2012 03:13 |
.png)
.jpg)
.jpg)