The skills competition was the one thing that never got old in the All-Star weekend, at least for me. Since the event was scrapped this season to make way for the 4 Nations Face-Off, seeing the Montreal Canadiens hold their annual skills competition was fun. For a second year in a row, the Habs had invited players from the PWHL’s Montreal Victoire, and Jennifer Gardiner stole the show in the accuracy shooting event.
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As usual, the players were put through their paces in five competitions: speed skating, relay race, accuracy shooting, hardest shot, and a shootout round. The latter was essentially a session of unconventional shots to please young fans.
Without surprise, Alex Newhook won the fastest skater competition. The relay race was a close affair between team red and team white. Red won the team contest, but Cole Caufield beat Nick Suzuki in the individual contest.
The most awaited competition was the hardest shot, as Arber Xhekaj impressed last year with a 107.2 MPH shot (not that far from Zdeno Chara’s NHL record 108.8 MPH and even closer to Shea Weber’s 107.9 MPH). The gritty blueliner won the contest again this year with a 101.2 MPH effort, just 0.1 MPH over Mike Matheson’s 101.1 MPH shot.
The surprise of the day came in the accuracy shooting competition; defenseman Mike Matheson looked to be heading for the win and beat all his teammates with a 12.092-second mark, but one player from the Victoire decided her team wouldn’t leave empty. No, it wasn’t captain Marie-Philip Poulin, but rookie Jennifer Gardiner.
A Victoire second-round pick, Gardiner is having a great rookie season with 12 points in 17 PWHL contests. She also scored the Rivalry series-clinching goal earlier this month, snapping a 1-1 tie late in the third frame of the seventh game. On Sunday morning in Montreal, though, she stole the show by destroying the four targets in just 9,457 seconds. That time not only beat everyone else in the competition but would also have beaten four of the last five winners at the All-Star weekend. Only Connor McDavid in 2024, with a 9.158 time, was faster than her. The record belongs to Daniel Sedin in 2011; he broke the four targets in 7.3 seconds.
The players who are dealing with injuries or minor ailments did not take part and were on the bench, aside from Brendan Gallagher who didn’t appear to be there…Has the baby watch started?
The Habs will return to business on Tuesday when they host the Carolina Hurricanes at 7:00 PM at the Bell Centre.
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