Plans are being made for the first EURO League all-star game, to be held the weekend of Sept. 29-30 at a location to be decided by a vote of the general managers. Likewise, players for the game will be voted on by the GMs.
Here’s how it will work:
Location: GMs will have until noon (EST) Wednesday, Sept. 12 to e-mail the commissioner where they would like the game to be held. GMs may not pick their own city. Because tickets will be sold for the game, the host team will make a little money. How much? The commissioner will add that team’s average income per game to the revenue side of the balance sheet.
Rosters: Starting Monday, the commissioner will post relevant statistics for one position on the league forum page as well as the blog at https://eurohockeyleague.wordpress.com/ Generals manager will have two days to vote for their top 3 at that position (top 5 defensemen) in each conference. Voting will have to be done by e-mails to the commissioner. He had considered posting a poll on the blog, but the chance of ballot stuffing is too great. Next thing you know, Rory Fitzpatrick would be an all-star. Four players at each forward position will be selected for each conference team. 8 defensemen and 3 goalies will also be selected. GMs may not vote for their own players.
For example, on Monday morning, goalie statistics will be posted. They will pretty much be what you see when you call up Websim’s Statistics page, only divided by conference. GM’s will have two days to send the commissioner their votes for the top 3 in each conference. On Wednesday morning, defensemen voting will start, and so on.
An announcement of the final all-star roster will be made within 2 days of the final position vote. All-stars with the highest LD rating will be considered in the naming of captains for the squads.
German Uwe Krupp (left) and Russian Viktor Tikhonov (right in 2010 photo) have been selected to coach the first EURO League All-Star Game.
Coaches: The coaches for each conference team have already been named by a panel of one league official. Legendary Soviet coach Viktor Tikhonov, now 82 years old, will coach the Southern Conference team, while former NHLer and German national team coach Uwe Krupp, 47, will coach the Northern Conference.
Skills competition: The EURO’s fastest skater, hardest shot, and most accurate shooter will be decided the day before the all star game. The commissioner will take a player from each pro team roster for each of the 3 competitions. The player with the highest (SP) rating will be entered in the fastest skater contest; the player with the highest (ST+SHO) will vie for hardest shot; and the highest (SHO+PA+FI) will compete for most accurate shooter. Since chance is involved in any game, their totals will be multiplied by a random number between 95 and 100 to determine the outcomes. Winners get no money, but they do get glory and their names in the paper.
The game itself: The commissioner will use the all stars’ stats from the regular season games played closest to the all-star game to produce a box score. Total plus-minus and the goalies’ performances will be used to determine the winner of the game. It won’t be an exact science thing, but which ever conference’s all-stars perform better that weekend will win the game. Goal scorers and assist getters from the regular season games will be thrown onto a spreadsheet and a random number generator will determine who scored and assisted in the all star game. If a player scores a hat trick in their regular season game, he would have his name appear on the spreadsheet 3 times. If more goals are needed than there are rows on the spreadsheets, then scorers will be picked randomly, so it’s possible an all-star who didn’t score in a week could score in the all star game.
Player of the game: The commissioner will select a player of the game. He will win a car made by a European car manufacturer and his photo will appear in the game story.
