NHL All-Star Weekend gets started
Listen to this articleIn case you haven’t noticed, Downtown Los Angeles is getting ready for the 2017 Honda NHL All-Star Weekend, which begins tonight with the NHL Fan Fair at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The big game starts at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, January 29, at Staples Center.
the Los Angeles Kings
On Friday fans can head down to the Convention Center for the 2017 NHL Fan Fair. There fans can take part in a variety of activities that include making personalized trading cards, to the Kids Zone that offers games for the youngest hockey fans, the Hockey Hall of Fame exhibit, which will feature the “The Los Angeles Kings and the History of the NHL in Southern California.”
Fans will have a chance to get autographs from legends of the game, play on the EA Sports NHL 17 Rink, and test their skill against a live goalie at the Bridgestone NHL Slap Shot Challenge. And there will also be one of the original Zambonis, the ice resurfacing machines first designed by Frank J. Zamboni.
At 2 p.m. Friday you can see some of the Los Angeles Kings, past and present, at the Crenshaw Family YMCA Center for the unveiling of indoor and outdoor spaces for the NHL All-Star Legacy Project. On hand will be NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, Luc Robitaille, Rob Blake, Drew Doughty, Jeff Carter and Kings announcer Bob Miller. It’s located at 3820 Santa Rosalia Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90008
Later in the day the league will celebrate the NHL 100 at 6:30 p.m., highlighting the 100 best NHL players in the league’s 100-year history. We don’t know why they have picked but there are some obvious names that will be on that list: Hull, Orr, Howe, Robitaille and Gretzky, to name just a few.
The NHL 100 Presented by Geico will be hosted by Emmy Award-winning actor Jon Hamm (Mad Men), with assists from Oscar and Grammy winner John Legend, plus Robin Thicke and John Ondrasik. Thicke will be presenting a special In Memoriam, in memory of his father, Alan Thicke, who passed away last year.
On Saturday the Fan Fair will continue, and there will be the Coors Light NHL All-Star Skills Competition. Rapper Snoop Dogg will be a DJ for the event, performing during the player introductions.
Special All-Star jerseys will be available, commemorating the 100-year history of the NHL and the 50-year history of the Los Angeles Kings. There will be one for each of the four divisions.
Sunday is game day for the 2017 NHL All-Star Game. Fans selected most of the players, including the four captains: Carey Price (Montreal) for the Atlantic Division, Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh) for the Metropolitan Division, P.K. Subban (Nashville) for the Central Division and Connor McDavid (Edmonton) for the Pacific Division.
The head coaches will be: Michel Therrien (Montreal) for the Atlantic Division, John Tortorella (Columbus) for the Metropolitan Division, Bruce Boudreau (Minnesota) for the Central Division and Peter DeBoer (San Jose) for the Pacific Division.
It starts at 12:30 p.m. Pacific Time, at Staples Center in Downtown Los Angeles. Nick Jonas, Carly Rae Jepsen and Fifth Harmony will perform during the intermissions.
For more information, including the complete lineups for the game, check out the NHL and Los Angeles Kings websites.
Photos by Claudia Gestro
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