CHRIS WATTIE/REUTERS
NHL: The 2012 NHL All-Star Game from Place in Ottawa is in the books, and the winner is Team Chara.
For those of you unfamiliar with the format, for the past couple of years the NHL has shied away from the Eastern Conference vs Western Conference or North America vs the World Format and instead, named two captains ahead of the All Star Break and then had those Captains draft other players selected to the All Star game. This year, the two captains were hometown favorite Daniel Alfredsson of the Senators and defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara.
So for both the skills competition and Sunday's All-Star game, Team Chara consisted of the following:
[Forwards] Joffrey Lupul, RW, Toronto; Pavel Datsyuk, C Detroit; Evgeni Malkin, C, Pittsburgh; Tyler Seguin, C, Boston; Marian Hossa, RW, Chicago; Corey Perry, RW, Anaheim; Phil Kessel, RW, Toronto; Patrick Kane, RW, Chicago; Jarome Iginla, RW, Calgary; Marian Gaborik, RW, NY Rangers; Jordan Eberle, RW, Edmonton
[Defense] Kimmo Timonen, D, Philadelphia; Ryan Suter, D, Nashville; Brian Campbell, D, Florida; Dion Phaneuf, D, Toronto; Dennis Wideman, D, Washington
[Goalies] Tim Thomas, G, Boston; Carey Price, G, Montreal; Jimmy Howard, G, Detroit
[Rookies] Luke Adam, C, Buffalo; Raphael Diaz, D, Montreal; Colin Greening, LW, Ottawa; Cody Hodgson, C, Vancouver; Ryan Johansen, C, Columbus; Gabriel Landeskog, LW, Colorado
The 'Hometown' [and Alfredsson did exhibit a bias in favor of the Senators when making his picks- NANESB!] Team Alfredsson consisted of:
[Forwards] Jason Spezza, C, Ottawa; Claude Giroux, C, Philadelhpia; Steven Stamkos, C, Tampa Bay; Daniel Sedin, LW, Vancouver; Henrik Sedin, C, Vancouver; Milan Michalek, LW, Ottawa; James Neal, LW, Pittsburgh; John Tavares, C, NY Islanders; Scott Hartnell, LW, Philadelphia; Logan Coutre, C, San Jose; Jason Pominville, RW, Buffalo.
[Defense] Erik Karlson, D, Ottawa; Kris Letang, D, Pittsburgh; Shea Weber, D, Nashville; Dan Girardi, D, NY Rangers; Keith Yandle, D, Phoenix; Alexander Edler, D, Vancouver
[Goalies] Henrki Lundqvist, G, NY Rangers; Jonathan Quick, G, Los Angeles; Brian Elliot, G, St Louis.
[Rookies] Sean Couturier, C, Philadelphia; Justin Faulk, D, Carolina; Carl Hagelin, LW, NY Rangers; Nick Johnson, RW, Minnestoa; Matt Read, RW, Philadelhia; Craig Smith, C, Nashville.
Sunday's all-star game came one day after Zdeno Chara broke his own record in the skills competition for hardest slapshot, notching a scalding 108.8 MPH. This is the 5th consecutive All Star Skill Competition where Chara has won the hardest shot portion of the Skills competition.
It being an All-Star game, keeping track of the scoring is a pretty tall order. Rangers RW Marion Gaborik had himself a hat trick thanks to an early goal in the second period to break a tie and put Team Chara up 4-3, ironically besting Rangers teammate Henrik Lunqvist to put Team Chara up on top.
In net, Tim Thomas stopped 18 of 21 shots faced- including denying hometown favorite and Team Alfredsson captain Daniel Alfredsson the hat trick late in the 2nd, with the game tied at 6-6.
After Claude Grioux would get a tally for Team Alfredsson to tie the game at 8-8, Team Chara would start to pull away thanks to goals by Marian Hossa, Corey Perrey and the captain himself, Zdeno Chara.
Team Chara goes on to win by a final of 12-9 with Chara's fellow Slovak Gaborik earning the MVP honors for his 3 goals and 1 assist for the afternoon.
The Bruins resume play on Tuesday night with a home game against All-Star host Ottawa. The puck drops at 7:00 ET and the game will be televised on NESN.
Columbus, OH has been announced as the host city for next year's NHL All-Star game.
NFL: Miami Dolphins WR Brandon Marshall accounted for 4 of the AFC's 8 TD's at the Pro Bowl in Honolulu's Aloha Stadium as the AFC trounced the NFC by a 59-41 final on Sunday evening.
Marshall had 6 catches for 176 yards and the 4 TDs on Sunday while Arizona's Larry Fitzgerald had 6 receptions for 111 yards and 3 TDs in the losing effort. Although eight Patriots were selected to the Pro-Bowl, none of them were in attendence in Honolulu on Sunday. For the Giants, QB Eli Manning and DE Jason Pierre-Paul were also named to the Pro Bowl, but not in attendence as both teams arrived in Indianpolis to prepare for Super Bowl XLVI
NBA: The Celtics let one get away from them late on Sunday night as they were edged by the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Cavs scored 12 unanswered points to finish up the 4th and snap the C's 4-game win streak (including sweeping the Orlando Magic on home-and-away game). Cavs Point Guard Kyrie Irving made the go-ahead layup with all of 2.6 seconds ramaining in regulation to give Cleveland the win.
The 9-10 Celtics will get a chance for some retribution when they hit the road for a rematch of Sunday's game at Quicken Loans arena in Cleveland. That game gets underway at 7:00 ET and will be televised on CSNE Tuesday night.
