NHL All-Star Game SuperSkills Competition

The **NHL All-Star Game SuperSkills Competition**, at first called the National Hockey League All-Star Skills Competition, is an event on the night before the NHL All-Star Game. First held at the 41st National Hockey League All-Star Game in Pittsburgh in 1990, the NHL hosts the competition to show off the skills of the all-star players. Events include shot accuracy, fastest skater, puck control relay, hardest shot, breakaway challenge, and an elimination shootout. Players are put into teams in the same way the All-Star Game is done, which is by conferences. After each event, the winning conference is given points.

## Puck Control Relay

This event is to show who is the fastest skater while also moving the puck through pylons. Two races happen; the first one has three skaters on each team race against each other, and the second has the best single racers from each team. One point is given out to the winner of each of these two events.

### Winners

|Season|Team|Player|
| --- | --- | --- |
|1990|Campbell Conference|_none_|
|1991|Campbell Conference|_none_|
|1992|Campbell Conference|_none_|
|1993|Wales Conference|_none_|
|1994|Western Conference|Russ Courtnall|
|1996|Western Conference|Pierre Turgeon|
|1997|Western Conference|Geoff Sanderson|
|1998|World|Teemu Selanne|
|1999|North America|Paul Kariya|
|2000|World|Paul Kariya|
|2001|North America|Paul Kariya|
|2002|World|_none_|
|2003|Eastern Conference|Martin St. Louis|
|2004|Western Conference|Rick Nash|
|2007|Western Conference|Rick Nash|
|2008|Western Conference|Shawn Horcoff|

## Fastest skater

This event is to see who can skate the fastest around the rink once. Two races are held; one for the team, and one for the faster single person.

### Winners

|Season|Team|Player|
| --- | --- | --- |
|1992|Campbell Conference|Sergei Fedorov|
|1993|Wales Conference|Mike Gartner|
|1994|Western Conference|Sergei Fedorov|
|1996|Western Conference|Mike Gartner|
|1997|Eastern Conference|Peter Bondra|
|1998|North America|Scott Niedermayer|
|1999|World|Peter Bondra|
|2000|World|Sami Kapanen|
|2001|North America|Bill Guerin|
|2002|World|Sami Kapanen|
|2003|Western Conference|Marian Gaborik|
|2004|Eastern Conference|Scott Niedermayer|
|2007|Western Conference|Andy McDonald|
|2008|Western Conference|Shawn Horcoff|
|2009|Western Conference|Andrew Cogliano|

## Hardest shot

This event shows who has the hardest shot. Two points are given out; one for the team that has the highest average shot, and one for the player with the hardest shot. Zdeno Chara has the record for hardest shot; he set the record in 2009 when his shot went 105.4 mph. Al Iafrate had the old record, which was 105.2 mph

### Winners

|Season|Team|Player|
| --- | --- | --- |
|1990|Campbell Conference|Al Iafrate|
|1991|Campbell Conference|Al MacInnis|
|1992|Campbell Conference|Al MacInnis|
|1993|Wales Conference|Al Iafrate|
|1994|Eastern Conference|Al Iafrate|
|1996|Western Conference|Dave Manson|
|1997|Eastern Conference|Al MacInnis|
|1998|North America|Al MacInnis|
|1999|North America|Al MacInnis|
|2000|North America|Al MacInnis|
|2001|World|Fredrik Modin|
|2002|North America|Sergei Fedorov|
|2003|Western Conference|Al MacInnis|
|2004|Eastern Conference|Sheldon Souray Adrian Aucoin|
|2007|Eastern Conference|Zdeno Chara|
|2008|Eastern Conference|Zdeno Chara|
|2009|Eastern Conference|Zdeno Chara|

## Most accurate shot

This event sees who can shoot four targets best. Each target is put in a corner of the net. Two points are given out; one point is for the team that hits the targets in the least amount of shots, and one point for the player who hits the targets in the least amount of shots. A player has hit all four targets in only four tries seven times: Ray Bourque in 1992 and 1993, Mark Messier in 1996, Jeremy Roenick in 2004, Tomas Kaberle in 2008, and Dany Heatley, and Evgeni Malkin in 2009.

### Winners

|Season|Team|Player|
| --- | --- | --- |
|1990|Wales Conference|Ray Bourque|
|1991|Campbell Conference|Mark Messier|
|1992|Wales Conference|Ray Bourque|
|1993|Wales Conference|Ray Bourque|
|1994|Western Conference|Brendan Shanahan|
|1996|Eastern Conference|Mark Messier|
|1997|Eastern Conference|Ray Bourque|
|1998|North America|Ray Bourque Peter Forsberg Brendan Shanahan|
|1999|North America|Ray Bourque Keith Tkachuk Jeremy Roenick|
|2000|World|Ray Bourque Viktor Kozlov|
|2001|North America|Ray Bourque|
|2002|North America|Jarome Iginla Markus Naslund|
|2003|Eastern Conference|Jeremy Roenick|
|2004|Eastern Conference|Jeremy Roenick|
|2007|Eastern Conference|Eric Staal Marian Hossa|
|2008|Eastern Conference|Tomas Kaberle|
|2009|Eastern Conference|Evgeni Malkin|

## Breakaway Challenge

This event has players shoot on a goalie. Two points are awarded; one for the team that scores the most goals, and one point to the goalie who lets in the least amount of goals. Starting in 2008, players were given points on who could score the most creative goals. Winners were voted on by fans voting with text messages.

### Winners

|Season|Team|Player|
| --- | --- | --- |
|1991|Campbell Conference|Mike Vernon|
|1992|Wales Conference|Mike Richter Don Beaupre|
|1993|Campbell Conference|Jon Casey Mike Vernon Ed Belfour|
|1994|Western Conference|Curtis Joseph|
|1996|Eastern Conference|Dominik Hasek|
|1997|World|Dominik Hasek Guy Hebert|
|1998|World|Dominik Hasek|
|1999|World|Dominik Hasek Arturs Irbe|
|2000|World|Tommy Salo|
|2001|World|Sean Burke Evgeni Nabokov|
|2002|North America|Dominik Hasek Patrick Roy|
|2003|Western Conference|Patrick Roy|
|2004|Eastern Conference|Roberto Luongo|
|2008|Eastern Conference|Alexander Ovechkin|
|2009|Eastern Conference|Alexander Ovechkin|

## Elimination Shootout

This event has players try to score on a breakaway against a goalie. When a player does not score, he is not allowed to compete anymore. The winner is the player who is the last one still playing.

### Winners

|Season|Team|Player|
| --- | --- | --- |
|2008|Western Conference|Dion Phaneuf|
|2009|Western Conference|Shane Doan|

## Overall winner

|Season|Team||
| --- | --- | --- |
|1991||Campbell Conference|
|1992|Wales Conference||
|1993|Campbell Conference||
|1994|Western Conference||
|1996|Western Conference||
|1997|Eastern Conference||
|1998|World||
|1999|World||
|2000|World||
|2001|North America||
|2002|World||
|2003|Western Conference||
|2004|Eastern Conference||
|2007|Western Conference||
|2008|Eastern Conference||

## Other websites

- The National Hockey League (NHL) All Star Game Superskills Competition
- Results -- 2008 SuperSkills Competition
- Bruins' Chara sets hardest shot record