East Shines Bright at 2023 AHL All-Star Skills Challenge

LAVAL, QC – After two long years, the city of Laval was finally able to play host to the AHL All-Star Classic. The event was originally supposed to take place in 2020. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic pushed the event back until 2023. 

Kicking the first day of the Classic off was a fan fest featuring the mascots and a red carpet runway. The mascots were truly the star of the show pre-skills competition. A few took the time to ride the Ferris Wheel outside of Place Bell in freezing cold weather, while others had a big dance party led by Tux of the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins. Let me tell you, that Penguin can really bust a move. 

As the players were announced for the red carpet event, fans and mascots waited with bated breath for the players to step off their respective busses. You could almost hear the heart beat of those waiting in anticipation. One-by-one the players were greeted with hugs from their mascots and cheers from the fans. Naudie of the Utica Comets couldn’t hold back his excitement and when Comets goaltender Nico Daws stepped off the bus, he ran full speed towards Daws before enveloping him in a massive hug. 

Tux is living his best life in Laval#AHLAllStar #EtoilesAHL @FPC_AHL @WBSPenguins pic.twitter.com/kVahjNGf5D

— Elaine Shircliff (@imaraindancer) February 6, 2023

Afterwards, the locker rooms opened for the media. For many of us, this was the first time being back in a locker room since COVID-19 hit in 2020. For some, like myself, this was the first time ever being in that situation. So, you can imagine just how many AHL players were experiencing an open locker room media availability for the first time. 

As players trickled in, media slowly began to chat with the best of the league. 

Riley Nash of the Charlotte Checkers beamed with pride while explaining how, despite playing in the pros for over a decade, this was his first time at an All-Star event. 

Cleveland Monsters defender Jake Christiansen quickly spoke about the whirlwind weekend he was about to experience. On Saturday morning, he found out from Monsters General Manager Chris Clark that he was replacing David Jiricek at the All-Star Classic. For Christiansen, he’s excited to play in front of the Laval Rocket fans as he considers them just as crazy and passionate as Cleveland fans. 

Joseph Woll, goaltender for the Toronto Marlies, took a moment to give a prediction of how the weekend will shake out.

“I’d like to vote on our team. I’d be crazy if I didn’t say us,” said Woll. The weekend is extra special for the Marlies as they have multiple representatives on the ice and behind the bench. “We have a nice little posse here,” said Woll. “The more the merrier with that kind of stuff.”

Over in the west locker room, Grand Rapids Griffins captain Brian Lashoff spoke about being one of the captains for the All-Star Classic.

“It’s an honor to be one of the captains here and be surrounded by the players we have in this room and the other room as well.” He went on to explain, “To be able to represent the Griffs means a lot to me. It’s a team I’ve played for for a long time.”

Before availability wrapped up, I ask Lashoff if Coach Ben Simon gave him any words of wisdom. Lashoff chuckled, “He said, ‘Don’t do fastest skater’, and I’m definitely not doing that.”

Once the locker rooms closed, the players suited up and hit the ice for player warm-ups and introductions. The crowd in Laval cheered with delight as each name was called — well, except for any member of the Marlies. They were heavily booed. In fact, Woll was booed the entire night.

“I loved it,” said Woll. “I think it’s pretty fun for us.” With a grin on his face, Woll went on to say, “The Toronto guys getting a nice warm welcome from Laval fans. Always a fun time playing here.” 

Now, you would think playing on the East team with the Rocket representatives, Alex Belzile and Anthony Richard, would garner some sort of cheers. But, knowing the history between the two teams, Woll was expecting it. “They love the French guys and the Rocket guys. Not so much the Marlies guys,” said Woll. 

Once the cheer — boos, if you’re Toronto — died down, the skills competition began. 

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First up was the puck control relay. Players had to skate around multiple cones while keeping control of the puck. Two heats were three-on-three, while the other two were head-to-head. 

Zac Jones of the Hartford WolfPack was doing a great job of keeping up with Abbotsford Canucks speedster Christian Wolanin. Unfortunately, he wiped out halfway through the heat allowing the West to take the lead. Things balanced out in the second heat when Sammy Walker of the Iowa Wild wiped out losing both the puck and his hat. The East and West ended up splitting the event tied at 2-2. 

Next up for the skills competition was the Fastest Skater event. Three players from each conference swiftly skated around the perimeter of the ice in hopes of being the quickest in the AHL. Ethen Frank of the Hershey Bears earned the honor by smoothly skating around the ice in 12.915 seconds. Somehow, Frank made it look effortless in the process. With this win, Frank became the first player in the history of the All-Star Challenge to break the 13-second barrier in the Fastest Skater event. The closest to get there was Anthony Greco in 2019 with 13.251.

Frank’s speediness put the East in the lead over the West, 4-2. 

Goaltender Brandon Bussi (Providence Bruins) stood tall in the Rapid Fire Event, stopping eight of the 10 shots he faced from Wolanin and Chicago Wolves’ Max Lajoie. This allowed the East to extend their lead over the West to 4-2. 

Round four was home to the hardest shot competition. Syracuse Crunch defenseman Darren Raddysh won the event with a shot registering at 102.1 mph. Not the heaviest shot seen by the league, but it did play him ninth all-time for this event. One of the highlights of the hardest shot was watching Thomas Harley (Texas Stars) die of laughter after his teammate Riley Barber shot a 87.4 mph puck into the net. 

The West began to close the gap, 7-4, with a win in the accuracy shooting competition. Rockford IceHogs’ David Gust cleaned up in the contest going 4-for-4. Only three other players have hit four targets in four tries in the history of the event. The last time was Mike Santorelli in 2009. On the flip side of things, Mike Vecchione from Hershey was booed by the crowd, for going 1-for-8. 

Up next was the Pass and Score event, where three players from one conference went up against a goaltender from the opposing conference. It’s basically a 3-on-1 breakaway type of situation. The East ran away with the even thanks to Nash, Frank, and Belzile, who scored on all three of their attempts. Jones, Richard, and Alex Nylander (Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins) would have scored on all three of their attempts if they didn’t go offsides on their third try. Yes! You read that correctly. Offsides are called during the Skills Competition. 

Lashoff came close to scoring twice during his heat, but was denied by Woll and the post. The one off the post was just a hair off  — more like a lash off — from going into the net. 

The East continued to excel in the final event of the night, the Breakaway Relay. They even brought out their secret weapon – Gabriel Dumont’s son Mateo. After racing down the ice and sniping a shot through Lukas Dostal’s (San Diego Gulls) five-hole, Mateo put his hands to his ear and beckoned the crowd to cheer him on. The crowd obliged with resounding joy.

That's #AHLAllStar Mateo Dumont to you. 🚨 pic.twitter.com/kVKuYCjxBH

— Syracuse Crunch (@SyracuseCrunch) February 6, 2023

Woll was glad he didn’t have to face the young Dumont during the event.

“Oh, he scored on me in warm-ups. When I didn’t get him I was lucky,” he said. “He’s got a pretty good shot for his age.”

After all was said and done, day one was in the books with the East beating the West, 16-10. 

Next up for the players is the AHL All-Star Challenge at 7:00pm EST Monday night.