Yesterday, Sean Avery scored 2 goals and received 1st star of the game.  He also had 5 hits, and a goalie interference penalty.  Clearly, the Rangers are as good for Avery as he is for them.  Has he “rehabbed?”  One can only hope not too much.  His personality is part of what makes him the player he is.  And in a sport that his struggling for US viewership, is his controversial personality really *that* bad of a thing?

But it doesn’t stop at Avery.  Last night’s Coaches Corner’s Don Cherry effused at the fact that Ovechkin has toned down his over-exuberant goal celebrations (all the while taking credit for being the one leading to it after his anti-Ovechkin-celebration Coaches Corner a couple of weeks back).   While many of us think there is an awful lot of Ovechkin Overload going on right now, to muzzle him and his celebrations is detrimental to the game.  HIs celebrations (of not just his goals, but of teammates as well) get the rest of the team excited, which in turn gets the crowd excited and creates new hockey fans that happen to see what kind of excitement hockey can bring.

Ilya Kovalchuk pointing at Sidney Crosby in the penalty box after scoring a power-play goal a couple years back was pricesless, as was Slava Kozlov chirping at Ulf Sammuelson after scoring a shootout goal against Phoenix, sending coach Wayne Gretzky into fits of rage.  Let’s face it.  American’s like drama.  We like scandal. The world would be a boring place if we just all got along and sent each other flowers after hockey games.

Now I know some hockey elitists are going to argue that such celebrations and taunting are the “gateway drug” to further misbehavior such as illegal gun-toting and off-ice violence (and yes, I have heard this argument many times) and that hockey will lose it’s appeal to the intellectuals who can look past the fighting and actually enjoy the game.  I argue that competitive sports bring out primitive instincts in people, and we really should be worrying more about ridding the game of head shots, cheap shots and abusive stick fouls rather than who said what about whose girlfriend and what the appropriate level of celebration of a goal is.

On a personal note, I played in my own high-level, intensity filled game.  A rivalry quickly developed between two former Division I NCAA players.  A bit of smack talking on the ice led to a penalty and one of my teammates scoring and immediately skating by the other teams bench, mocking them and the penalty.  The fans were soon in an uproar, and the opposing coach nearly blew a gasket.  The rest of the game was nasty, but never lost it’s intensity and we won by a single-goal margin.  Let me tell you, nothing compares to the energy that brings.  No harm, no foul.

Does anyone else remember the good ol’ days of the All-Star weekend when it was eagerly awaited?  In an attempt to make the game better with more parity and greater fan appeal, the game is tweaked each year.  Yet it seemingly only appears to continue to lose its luster. With that in mind, I have some of my own suggestions.

  - Let the players choose the participants.  Who knows the talent better than those who play against these guys?  GMs picking the roster?   Seriously, guys.  It’s gone downhill since they switched the selection process.  Yes, I know why it was done, but it probably wasn’t the best solution.

 - Allow competitors into the skills competition that may not make the All-Star team.  We know there are exceptional skaters, stick handlers and shooters that don’t always make the squad.  Let’s see more talent represented there.  That might woo audiences a bit more.

-  Speaking of wooing audiences, can we get rid of the lame breakaway goal competition?  It was a big flop, in my opinion.  Trying (largely unsuccessful) trick shots on non-NHL goalies did nothing for me.  Of course, Alexander Ovechkin did bring some character to the game with his silly props and use of long-time enemy Evgeny Malkin to assist him (although I found the actual story behind the “make-up” of these two much more interesting.)  However, call me old fashioned but I preferred the class that fellow Russian Alexei Kovalev displayed in the All-Star game the next day, taking the game seriously, giving it his all and showing the fans what a fantastic stick-handler he is.  So, let’s bring back skill competitions where real skills are highlighted.

 - Finally, as we move back towards more intra-conference play, let’s resurrect the North America vs. The Word format.  East-West has little intrigue to most people, but pitting the two different playing styles against each other gets Don Cherry and others ranting about the non-North American players and at least resurrects a real rivalry.

So what do you say guys?  You have two years to think about it.