An all-star game is one of those rituals that hockey fans love, but never seems to fully satisfy. The games themselves are rarely memorable for anything other than goaltenders facing a barrage of shots and goals that wouldn’t happen in real life.
It’s hockey at 25 percent speed and effort, just for fun.
But it is always great to see the best of the best all gathered together, in special uniforms, celebrating the game itself. It’s even better when your city has a team in the league, and you can cheer with pride when the PA announces one of “your” guys before the game.
Fans of the Tucson Roadrunners will have plenty of reasons to cheer.
Defenseman Kyle Wood and forwards Brendan Perlini and Christian Fischer have all been named American Hockey League all-stars.
Perlini won’t skate at Sunday’s skills competition or in Monday’s game in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He has something else to do: play with the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes. Can you imagine an AHL rookie season so successful that you can’t make your all-star weekend because you are already playing in the NHL?
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“We’re very proud of those guys. They’re young guys who really have a bright future,” Roadrunners coach Mark Lamb. “Perlini is a first round draft pick so it’s not surprising how he’s really developed.”
Perlini has been up and down with the parent Coyotes several times this season already, and a few weeks ago, on a one-game stint back in Tucson, he notched his first pro hat trick.
“When he came (back) down he looked like a different player, because he’s really improving,” Lamb said. ”You don’t want to be in the NHL for half a year, you want to be there for 10-15 years. He was always a great skater anyway, but he’s improving.”
Wood, towering over opponents, has been a difference-maker for Tucson all season long, too.
“He’s an offensive player and his shot has given him a real dimension on the power play that every team really needs,” Lamb said. “He makes a lot of other little plays, he kills penalties, he’s a real good passer and he has a head for the game. He’s a big guy, and he’s so young yet, he’s going to get stronger, his skating is going to improve.”
Wood calls the selection “a huge accomplishment.”
The AHL All-Star experience won’t be the usual one this year, either. Each of the four AHL divisions will ice its own team to play in a series of short 3-on-3 games, with the two divisions with the best mini-game record playing each other for a championship. That should keep the interest level up and highlight the skill and quickness that delights fans.
That also means AHL fans will get to see Wood’s big, heavy shot from the point.
“Last year I was the same type of player, just in a different league,” Wood said with a smile. “The transition has been great so far, the guys have been awesome, the coaches have been great. You just try to get better and better every day.”
While three rookies represent Tucson, it is the steady veteran leadership in the room that certainly helped create three all-stars. Veteran defenseman Jamie McBain, in particular, has helped Wood thrive.
“He loves to jump in the play and generate some offense and I like to do that as well,” Wood notes. “He’s one of those guys that played in the NHL for a long time.”
The cycle of life is a natural rule in hockey as well as the real world. These rookie all-stars might not yet know it, but perhaps one day they will be the wise veterans helping future Roadrunners to their first all-star games.
And perhaps that annual rebirth of talent is what all-star games are really all about.
Hockey journalist and filmmaker Timothy Gassen explores the Arizona hockey scene and beyond in his weekly column. Send your Arizona hockey story ideas to AZpuckMan@gmail.com and follow AZpuckMan on Facebook and Twitter.
