Yesterday, Team Alfredsson kicked Team Chara's collective arse. I'm sure somebody's out for a bit of face saving today. Some folks dig the All Stars Game. Some think it's kind of lame. For those who fall in the latter category, perhaps Puck Daddy's ASG Drinking Game might help:

ONE DRINK

• For each goal scored in the game.

• Anytime a Toronto Maple Leafs player is booed.

• They show a highlight from a previous All-Star Game.

• Jeremy Roenick says something that you just don't quite understand.

• Alex Ovechkin's absence is mentioned.

• You see a shot a the Rideau Canal.

• Every time Daniel Alfredsson passes to a non-Swedish teammate.

• There's a shot from a goal cam or a helmet cam.

• Someone mentions a player on Twitter or reads a tweet from a player.

• The words "pond hockey" or "shinny" are spoken.

• Each time an All-Star is referenced as a former Ottawa Senators.

• There's an offside call.

• Patrick Kane's Superman act and/or Corey Perry's mini-stick are referenced.

• Every time Pierre McGuire tells a player to "have some fun out there".

• Glenn Healy gets upset at something random.

• Any talking head on either NBC Sports Network or CBC complains about All-Star Weekend.

TWO DRINKS

• Each time Scott Hartnell falls down. #HartnellDown

• Al Iafrate's skullet is shown when discussing the history of the Hardest Shot competition.

• You spot a Jersey Foul.

• If someone throws a body check.

• If someone mentions Henrik and Daniel Sedin are brothers.

• Tim Thomas's politics are mentioned.

• Pierre McGuire makes an odd comment about any player.

• Sidney Crosby's absence is mentioned.

• Someone is shown eating a beaver tail.

THREE DRINKS

• If Dan Girardi drops down to block a shot.

• If someone throws a hip check. (CHUG: If that player isn't a Bruin, Leaf or Flyer.)

• Someone is shown eating a beaver.

• Patrick Kane hits on a blonde near the glass.

• If Zdeno Chara hurts someone with a slap shot.

• When you watch Don Cherry on Coach's Corner and you're eager for him to start playing on his invisible piano.

CHUG

• If a player gets called for a penalty.

• A mic'd up player curses on air.

• The game goes to a shootout.

• Somebody refers to Drake as "Drizzy".

• A goalie posts a scoreless period.

As you probably know, Gabriel Landeskog, member of Team Chara, will be participating in the Skills Relay this evening in the stick handling portion of the event. Here are the team line ups for each competition. Broadcast starts at 5 pm MT on NBC Sports Network. A second showing will air at 7:30 pm MT.

The NHL is missing the mark entirely on the NHL All-Star Fantasy Draft. In just a couple of minutes of contemplative thought, I've already come up with several ways to improve the experience for the fans and the players, something that is rare in the world of hockey.

• First of all, the name. What's 'fantasy' about it? The players exist in the real world, the game actually occurs, and the results are tangible. It's not a grandiose statistical simulation like fantasy hockey or fantasy football. Just call it what it is: The All-Star Draft. The only way you should be allowed to call it a fantasy draft is if after the whole thing is over, the teams should huddle and come up with a hilarious name for their team: The Soft Euros, Team ESL, All Killer-No Filler, The Cap Busters, Milbury's Mistakes, Next Year's Philly Goaltenders, etc.

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Vote for Defending the Blue Line in the Joining Forces Community Challenge, and help them get recognition for the work they do. Go to this website, click on Vote and then "Like" it so that your friends and family on Facebook can read about the program and vote too. This is important stuff, folks. We all know the kind of therapeutic effect hockey can have. Let's make sure others know too.

Info on the challenge and Defending the Blue Line:

In April 2011, First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden launched Joining Forces, a national initiative to support and honor America's service members and their families. The initiative aims to educate, challenge and spark action from all sectors of our society—citizens, communities, schools, non-profits, faith-based institutions, philanthropic organizations, and government—to ensure military families have the support they have earned.

In an effort to recognize those citizens and organizations with a demonstrated, genuine, and deep desire to be of service to military families, the First Lady and Dr. Biden have established the Joining Forces Community Challenge. The Challenge was established with the expectation that recognizing and celebrating those who are dedicated to improving the lives of military families will have the added benefit of encourage others to do so as well.

Defending The Blue Line was founded in the spring of 2009 by 2 currently serving National Guard Soldiers from Minnesota. To date we have provided over $500,000 in benefits to military families across the US. We provide free hockey equipment, grants to help with association fees, free summer hockey camps, and NHL game tickets.

Here's a video about the organization, as well as their website: http://www.defendingtheblueline.org/

If anyone is interested in taking a break from the NHL to watch some of the world's best young prospects, this is certainly the place to do it! Luckily for us, the tournament will be broadcast across both the US and Canada, which will give us plenty of chances to see Sami Aittokallio, one of the Avs' top goalie prospects, serve as Finland's starting goaltender (quick breakdown of their team here). In the USA, you can watch him play on Dec. 26, Dec. 28, and Dec. 30 as well as in the medal rounds if they make it that far. In Canada, you'll also see him on Dec. 31. However, there's also a ton of undrafted and up-and-coming young talent that will be showcased over the next few weeks. Who knows, maybe the Avs' top 2012 or 2013 pick is playing this year!

USA and Canada broadcast schedules and team links after the jump....

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That's right.  Sidney Crosby is back.  Love him or hate him, he is the best player in the world and a downright treat to watch.  And hey, at least we don't have to hear Reporter: "Sid, how's the head?"  Crosby: "It's the same as the last time you asked me three minutes ago." anymore.  Now that "Crosby Watch" is over, we can all finally watch Crosby.  And that's certainly something to be thankful for.  

The game tonight WILL be broadcast on Versus.  It was supposed to be the Boston-Montreal penaltyfest, and the hockey world does love their rivalry games.  But they love Sidney more, so VS made the last minute change to the Pens/Isles game.  Because of this love, I figured I wouldn't be the only one watching tonight, hence the reason for this thread.  Just think of it like a playoff game - it's one you watch because you're a fan of the sport, not because you're a fan of one of the teams.  

The game tonight is probably going to be a bloodbath though.  Not only are the Pens getting a talent boost by getting a player that even at half-speed is still All-Star worthy, they're also getting the emotional boost of getting their Captain back.  And it's not like they've been tanking without him - they're barely second in their division.  If they win tonight, they take over the lead in the Eastern Conference.  

The Isles are sitting on the exact opposite end of the spectrum.  They're dead last in the East and chilling out at #29th overall (and you remember how that goes).  They have 2 goalies on IR, and the only healthy one is DiPietro, so who knows how long that will last.  They've managed to drop 11 of their last 13 if I'm remembering correctly, so things aren't going so hot for them right now.  If they manage to make this a real game, I'll be very surprised.  

So, good luck Isles (you're going to need it), and welcome back, Sid!  

Sunday night started and let's just say, there was a fair numbers of unexpected changes. Ron MacLean was in Winnipeg for the Jets first game. So the job of MC fell to Kurt Brown. With his first blurb he seemed out of breath and uncomfortable, which is incredibly surprising, he's usually quite charismatic and sure of himself.  Then, it was announced that Jeremy Roenick's plane was grounded and that he would be unable to judge. Paul Martini, a World Champion figure skater, stepped into his seat. The guest judge this week was  Mark Napier the NHL Alumni Association president.

This week's theme is "The Beat", with a focus on footwork. I've seen some very awkward skates in the past when it came to this theme, so I was prepared, but that preparation wasn't really needed. 

Brad May was first up, he preformed to Scissor Sisters' "I Don't Feel Like  Dancin". During his skate he threw his partner in the air, Langlois landed a double, slightly wobbly, and as such they were the first pair of the season to land a throw. They were caught in a three-way tie for first with 16.7 points. 

Marie-France and Bryan Berard were absolutely fantastic. Seriously. As of this moment, I wouldn't be shocked if they won the whole thing. The big man can move, isn't afraid to actually emote either. They skated to Robin Thicke's "Elevatas".  They also scored 16.7 points. 

The man who stepped-in for Wade Belak was the other man to share the leaderboard. Russ Courtnall and Kim preformed to "Dancing Fool" by Barry Manilow, and anyone else this probably would have crashed and burned. Byt he seemed to have fun out there, and the judges really liked it. One thing that stands out with me is that, especially compared to Curtis and Bryan, he struggles with the lifts. His upper-strength just isn't to the level that the other guys have. 

Violetta and Cale  Husle skated to the song "Mr. Saxobeat" by Alexandra Stan. They had a pretty interesting move, Cale basically flipped Violetta over him (think an assisted back flip) while skating backwards. The most impressive thing about this skate is that Violetta had landed painfully the last time they were practicing it, so she was skating with bruised ribs and a deep bruise on her heel. The pair earned 16.6 points. 

Tanith and Boyd Deveraux skated to N.E.R.D.'s "She Wants To Move" and it featured some nifty footwork. They did it "out of hold" meaning without physical contact between the two of them, apparently that is incredibly difficult, and they were able to do that flawlessly. They earned a 16.5. 

In a surprising fall from grace Tessa Bonhomme and her partner David were the second-lowest pair. They skated to "Return of the Mack" By Mark Morrison, it started out a bit awkwardly and then there was a slip. She recovered, but the damage was done and as such they got a score of 16.4.

In last place was Curtis Leschyshyn and Elena. They skated to "Hello" by Martin Solveig & Dragonette. Curtis had a bit of an issue with the footwork early on, but his lifts were crazy. He even invented one! In fact, if you watch it he did it twice, at the begining. They scored a 16.3.

Monday night finally came and in a surprising twist, one of the top pairs was in the bottom two. Russ and Boyd were the bottom two pairs, and had to have a skate-off. Neither of the performances were as good as the previous nights'. The judges mentioned numerous times that neither of these two should have been in the bottom, but they had to chose between these two. Russ was voted off, but then the judges talked to see if they would use their "save". Unfortunately for Russ, they chose to save it for later in the competition. The Battle goes on for six more hockey stars. 

Per SBNation:

At the NHL's Board of Governors meeting on Tuesday afternoon, approval was passed to implement the "verification line" first tested at the summer's Research, Development and Orientation Camp in Toronto. The line, a three-and-a-quarter inch green mark behind the goal line and inside the net, helps replay officials gauge whether or not a puck has fully crossed into the net. 

The line was tested in an NHL preseason game on Monday night between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators, as were shallower nets that create more room below the goal line, thinner mesh along the top of the net that aids with camera angles from a birds eye view, and a plastic skirt across the bottom of the net. 

All of these changes, save the shallow nets, were also approved Tuesday. There's no time frame on exactly when the changes could be implemented into NHL rinks, and the final decision on when or if that happens will fall on the NHL's Director of Hockey Operations, Colin Campbell.

But in the case of the verification line, we could see implementation before the beginning of the 2011-12 regular season, which kicks off in about two weeks.

UPDATE: On Monday, NHL.com broke down all of the rule changes for 2011-2012