All-Stars announced

Jason Pominville is one of 5 Greeks in this year's all-star game. "Pommer" made the game once as a Prague winger and twice for Athens.

Jason Pominville is one of 5 Greeks in this year’s all-star game. “Pommer” has made the game once as a Prague winger and twice for Athens.

Athens landed a league-high five players on the Southern Conference team for this weekend’s all-star game in Copenhagen. A poll of EURO League general managers resulted in the selection of Greek forwards David Backes, Jason Pominville and Scott Hartnell, as well as defensemen Ian White and Dustin Byfuglien. Byfuglien will start alongside Paris’ Kris Letang for the South. Paris was the next best represented team in the conference with four players. The defending Cup champs will be sending Evgeny Malkin, Corey Perry, Tuukka Rask and Letang to the game.

The loudest ovations during player introductions will surely come for the four members of the Copenhagen Tridents who were elected to the Northern Conference team. Alexander Ovechkin, Stephen Weiss, Alex Goligoski and goalie Roberto Luongo will be playing in front of the Copenhagen fans.

The most notable absence is Joe Thornton of the Munich Fox. The league’s leading scorer was not elected to the Southern Conference team. Thornton has surged since the ballot was posted. He was only the fourth-leading scoring center at the time.

Nine players are three-time all-stars, but three have managed the feat with two different teams. Jason Pominville has been an all-star with Prague and Athens; Zach Parise with Prague and then Minsk; and Shea Weber with Oslo and now London.

Below are the Season 3 all-stars. A (2x) next to a player’s name means he has made it to the all-star game twice in his EURO career, while a (3x) indicates he is a three-time all-star.

Northern Conference Starters

Goalie – Henrik Lundquist, Helsinki (2x)

Defense – Brent Burns, St. Petersburg (2x)

Defense – Jack Johnson, Helsinki

LW – Taylor Hall, London

C – Sidney Crosby, Belfast

RW – Phil Kessel, Dublin (2x)

The rest of the team:

Goalies – Roberto Luongo, Copenhagen (3x); Jaroslav Halak, Moscow.

Defense – Andrei Markov, Moscow; Alex Goligoski, Copenhagen; Ryan Suter, Oslo (3x); Keith Yandle, Dublin (2x); Shea Weber, London (3x); Luke Schenn, Edinburgh.

LW – Alexander Ovechkin, Copenhagen; Zach Parise, Minsk (3x); Nazem Kadri, Belfast.

C – Stephen Weiss, Copenhagen; Anze Kopitar, Moscow (2x); Adam Henrique, Gothenburg (2x); Mike Richards, Stockholm.

RW – Devin Setoguchi, London; Olivier Roland, Belfast.

Coaches – Jaromir Jagr and Daniel Alfredsson

Southern Conference Starters

Goalie – Jonathan Quick, Munich (2x)

Defense – Dustin Byfuglien, Athens (2x)

Defense – Kris Letang, Paris

LW – Max Pacioretty, Frankfurt

C – Evgeni Malkin, Paris (2x)

RW – Claude Giroux, Frankfurt (3x)

The rest of the team:

Goalies – Tuukka Rask, Paris; Kari Lehtonen, Geneva (3x);

Defense – Ian White, Athens; Tobias Enstrom, Bern; Dennis Wideman, Geneva (2x); Brent Seabrook, Bern (2x); Erik Karlsson, Madrid (3x); Paul Martin, Bratislava.

LW – Scott Hartnell, Athens; Ilya Kovalchuk, Zurich (2x).

C – David Backes, Athens; Logan Couture, Berlin; Patrice Bergeron, Zurich (2x); Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Prague.

RW – Corey Perry, Paris (3x); Jason Pominville, Athens (3x); Kyle Okposo, Milan.

Coaches – Nicklas Lidstrom and Teemu Selanne.

EXTRAS: When the top three goalies and forwards at each position and the top 6 defensemen were determined, there were 7 teams – 3 in the Northern Conference and 4 in the South – that were not represented. To get each team at least one player on the roster, the commissioner selected one from each of the remaining teams. In the North, Mike Richards, Adam Henrique and Luke Schenn were added, and in the South, Erik Karlsson, Paul Martin, Kyle Okposo and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins were added. That left the South one forward short of 4 four lines, so the top vote-getter among remaining forwards – Patrice Bergeron – was added. The North was also one forward short of four lines, so the highest remaining vote-getter among forwards (Nazem Kadri) was added. And they had 7 defensemen to the South’s 8, so the highest vote-getter among defensemen – Shea Weber – was added to even out the teams.

The most interesting decision was in deciding Prague’s representative. Nugent-Hopkins seems to be the hands-down best choice. He is the team’s leading scorer and his other numbers are comparable to the top Siamese Cats’. But he plays on the third line behind Ryan Getzlaf and Antoine Vermette. Still, despite the lower ice time, he seems to be the best of the bunch.