Four Ottawa Senators have been voted as starters for the 2012 NHL All-Star game. Millenniums ago, the Mayans predicted that this was one of the signs of the end of the world or so the Internet’s reaction would lead us to believe. Everyone from hockey fans to professional TV analysts seem up in arms that Alfredsson, Karlsson, Spezza and Michalek were voted in as starters to the game.
I’ll first start off by saying that the NHL All-Star game is all about popularity, not about who deserves to be there. It hasn’t been in a very long time. When you add the element of allowing fans to vote up to 120 times each, in most instances the results will always be skewed in favour of the home team that’s hosting the event. The hometown fans feel that their players deserve to be there; hockey fans are a passionate bunch. Some call this unfair. Is it any more fair than forcing every team to be represented? I personally don’t think so.
The All-Star game is not a true competitive event. It’s a show, it’s purely entertainment put on for the fans of the game. To argue about who deserves to be there is pointless as it’s purely subjective. Accolades are given at the yearly award show and by crowning a winning team and an MVP, and even in those instances it’s arguably not the most deserving that wins. The All-Star game isn’t one of those events. The ASG is nothing more than a fantasy hockey team come to life to entertain the masses. Who is deserving is not the whole equation. If the All-Star game was truly about who ‘deserves’ to be there, there would be no fan voting, it would all be based on stats and rankings. Teams would probably even start putting salary bonus clauses in the contracts in relations to the All-Star game if it was that important, but it’s not. It’s the Globetrotter game of hockey, nothing more.
Just because those 4 guys were voted as starters by fans, it has nothing to do with being top 3 (right Mr. Cullen?). It’s not like they are the top of the league and will be the first line (not that lines really mean anything in this game). What it does mean is this: It just means that they’ll be starters. It also only means that they’re guaranteed a spot at the game. It also means that hometown fans feel passionate about their players, enough to hit their keyboards and mobile phones in droves and out-vote other fans.
So hockey fans, it’s time to sit back, relax and breathe. There are 44 other players that will take part of the All-Star Game, and chances are at least one player from your team will be there. I’m sure that when the game comes around to your city that your fanbase will do it’s best to vote in as many hometeam players as possible.
