MONTREAL — Milan Hejduk was at his Western Conference locker-room stall after practice in the Bell Centre on Saturday morning when his 5-year-old son David arrived and tugged at his leg.
David, one-half of the Hej- duks’ set of twin boys, explained that his green “mustache” was Gatorade, and that he now was going to try the orange flavor from among the locker-room supply.
This weekend is family time for Hejduk, the 32-year-old Avalanche winger who today will make his first All-Star Game appearance since 2001, when the game was at the Pepsi Center.
“My wife (Zlatuse) and the boys are with me, and we’re trying to enjoy ourselves here, and so far it’s been pretty good,” Hejduk said. “During the day, we’ve been out to walk through the underground mall.”
He laughed and added, “It’s kind of cold outside.”
Chilly? Oui.
The temperature in downtown Montreal as practice finished up Saturday was minus-18 degrees Celsius (or 0 Fahrenheit), with intermittent biting winds.
Hejduk will skate on a line with center Keith Tkachuk of St. Louis and left wing Rick Nash of Columbus in the game — Hejduk’s third All-Star Game. It almost seems as if he’s picked his spots, since he will have played in two of the Canadian hotbeds of the game — Toronto in 2000 and Montreal — as well as in Denver.
Terry Frei, The Denver Post
Superskills.
Russian superstar Alex Ovechkin successfully defended his breakaway challenge title in the NHL Superskills challenge, earning 42.8 percent of the fans’ vote.
• Evgeni Malkin won the shooting accuracy title, hitting three of four targets in a playoff with Dany Heatley.
• Boston captain Zdeno Chara broke Al Iafrate’s hardest shot record with a blistering 105.4 mph slap shot.
• Phoenix’s Shane Doan scored on four of six penalty shot attempts to outlast Boston’s Marc Savard in the elimination shootout finale.
• Boston’s Blake Wheeler was awarded the Young Stars game MVP after scoring four goals to lead the rookies to a 9-5 win over the sophomores.
• Edmonton’s Andrew Cogliano won the fastest skater competition.
The Associated Press
