All-Star Game a rousing success.

LOVELAND, Colo – For the second time in two years the state of Colorado 

had the honor of hosting the CHL All-Star Game and attendant festivities.
The format for this year was decidedly different than past CHL All-Star contests. A group of the best players throughout the league were pitted against the home team Colorado Eagles at the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland, Colorado.
True to the spirit of some previous All Star games in the NHL the proceeds of the All-Star Game banquet were donated to an injured player. Team Borsheim , a fund raising entity created by the Captain of the CHL All-star team, Tyler Fleck, to help injured former Colorado Eagle, Les Borsheim, with his medical bills, was the recipient of the moneys paid by fans for the dinner and donations collected through auctions at the banquet. All the participants said it was an enjoyable and  successful event.
 Fleck was named the winner of the prestigious N. Thomas Berry Willis HRH Commitment Cup. This was the first time the award, given to a CHL person that has shown great dedication and commitment to the CHL, has been given to a player.
Although players have always enjoyed the honor and recognition of being named to an All-Star roster the games themselves have been less than competitive. Few players are willing to risk injury or cause injury to fellow hockey player in a meaningless mid-season game. That said, it seems this new format not only brought real hockey with real hitting to the ice at the Budweiser Event Center on Wednesday, January, 14 2009, it also featured plenty of scoring and admirable goal tending in both nets. All-Star Game 2009 also had that fun competitive edge that got the raucous sellout crowd to it’s feet on several occasions.
The Colorado Eagles led 2 to 1 after the first period and the score was tied 3 to 3 at the end of the second frame but the home team exploded with a 5 to 1 third period to make the final score 8 to 4 in their favor. The twelve goals scored and the 16 minutes in total penalty minutes between the two teams were not unheard of numbers for a regular season game. All four goalies faced a lot of shots but each made a good number of excellent saves. Colorado’s Morgan Cey earned the win in his 30:56 minutes of play with Sebastien Centomo from the Laredo Bucks taking the loss.
The MVP of the game for The Colorado Eagle’s was Konrad Reeder who scored a hat trick plus one as well as recording an assist for 5 points. Much to the delight of the screaming fans Reeder executed his “Backskratcher” celebration into the north goal net to commemorate his All-Star Game performance.
Named as the CHL All-Star’s game MVP was Darryl Smith from the Laredo Bucks who recorded a goal and an assist. Smith, a first year CHL player acquitted himself well for the losing team while taking 6 shots. The 2009 version of the CHL All-Star game will go in the books as a success on many fronts. The vociferous crowd, the competitive play, plenty of scoring and skills displayed as well as the chance to help a fallen teammate and friend.
Stick taps to all involved.
contact the author and photographer at terry.sanford@prohockeynews.com