59th National Hockey League All-Star Game

The 59th National Hockey League All-Star Game, (also known as the 2012 Tim Hortons NHL All-Star Game) took place on January 29, 2012 at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. This edition of the All-Star Game featured the "fantasy draft" format first seen in the previous 2011 NHL All-Star Game. The participating players voted for team captains, selecting Daniel Alfredsson of the All-Star host Ottawa Senators and Zdeno Chara of the defending Stanley Cup champions Boston Bruins.

This is the first time the city of Ottawa hosted the NHL All-Star Game. Ottawa has hosted two drafts, a Stanley Cup Final, and the World Junior Championships all in the past five years. It marked the 20th anniversary of the Ottawa Senators joining the NHL. It was the second All-Star Game that Canada has hosted in the past three years, as the Montreal Canadiens hosted it in 2009.

Fan balloting
Voting for NHL all-star players started on November 14, 2011. Online voting requires fans to register with the NHL.com web site. Votes are limited to 30 votes per "platform", i.e. desktop computer, web-enabled mobile devices and SMS text. Fans are presented a list of 127 players, sub-divided into Forwards, Defence and Goaltending. Three forwards, two defence and one goaltender are to be selected from the league-wide list of players. The selection of league-wide list of players was done in 2011, which used the "fantasy team" format.

After voting closed Erik Karlsson was the leading vote-getter with 939,951. Senators fans voted in force, electing not only Karlsson but all three forwards as well (Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza, and Milan Michalek). The only skater not coming from the home town Senators was Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman, Dion Phaneuf. Phaneuf beat out Senators defenceman Sergei Gonchar by only 11,305 votes. Reigning Vezina and Conn Smythe Trophy winner, Tim Thomas, was elected as the fan-voted goaltender.

Draft
After naming the remaining All-Stars, the participating players voted for team captains, selecting Daniel Alfredsson of the All-Star host Ottawa Senators and Zdeno Chara of the defending Stanley Cup champions Boston Bruins. Alfredsson's team would wear white, while Team Chara would wear blue. The NHL named the coaches: head coach Claude Julien, and assistants Doug Houda, Doug Jarvis and Geoff Ward of the Boston Bruins for Team Chara; and John Tortorella of the New York Rangers and Todd McLellan of the San Jose Sharks as co-coaches for Team Alfredsson.

The draft of the players took place on January 26, 2012 from 8:00 pm to 9:30 pm, Eastern time. It was held at the Théâtre du Casino du Lac-Leamy, in Gatineau, Quebec. Team Chara won the puck flip and selected first.

Source: NHL.

Prior to the draft several players withdrew due to injury or personal reasons:
 * Withdrawn

SuperSkills Competition
The competition was held at Scotiabank Place on January 28, 2012 between 7pm and 10pm local time. It was broadcast nationally in Canada on CBC, and in the United States on the NBC Sports Network.

Fastest Skater
In this event, pairs of skaters raced each other simultaneously on parallel courses on the rink. Each race was worth one point for their winning racer's team, and the fastest two skaters then had a final race for another point.

Breakaway Challenge
In this competition, competitors skated with the puck and attempted to score on the opposing team's goalie. The winner was also judged on their presentation. The winner was determined by SMS messages sent to the NHL. The winner, Patrick Kane, donned a Superman cape and Clark Kent glasses, skated in and dove to the ice, passed the puck from his left hand to his stick held in his right hand and scored. Runner-up Corey Perry threw away his stick and gloves and removed a hidden mini-stick from his equipment. He then skated in and deked out the goalie with his stick. Kane, in his second attempt as Superman, shot a puck designed to explode into pieces.

Accuracy Shooting
In this event, competitors were positioned in front of the net, and were passed the puck from two players situated behind the goal line. The players had to hit targets at the four corners of the net, in the fastest time.

Challenge Relay
In this competition, teams were selected from each side. Each player on the team had one skill to complete before the next player could start. The goal was to complete the relay in the fastest time.

Hardest Shot
In this competition, players skated in from the blue line, and slapped a puck as fast as possible on the net.

Elimination Shootout
In this competition, players attempted to score on the opposing team's goalie. Players who scored earned a point for their team for each goal they scored. Players were eliminated from the competition if they failed to score.


 * italics = Heat winner
 * bold = Event winner
 * each heat and event winner earns a point for their team

Source: NHL

Planned events
In conjunction with the game and the skills competition, the Ottawa Senators held a "Fan Fair" at the Ottawa Convention Centre, events on the Rideau Canal and events at Confederation Park Ottawa's annual Winterlude winter carnival opened its site at Confederation Park for the game weekend. Activities include:
 * NHL Trophy Procession on the Rideau Canal Skateway
 * Ice Sculptures at Confederation Park
 * Nightly DJs at Confederation Park
 * Energizer&reg; Night Skate&trade; at NHL All-Star on the Rideau Canal Skateway
 * All-Star Concert in The Cabin&trade; at The Great Canadian Cabin nightclub
 * Canadian Tire NHL Junior Skills&trade; National Championship on the Rideau Canal Skateway