AIHL All-Star Weekend 2016

4 August 2015, the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) announced the formation of a new event in the Australian ice hockey calendar, the AIHL All-Star Weekend.

The second annual Australian Ice Hockey League All-Star Weekend, took place between June 11 and 12, 2016 at Penrith Ice Palace in Penrith, NSW.

Cash prizes are on offer for players for the breakaway challenge during the skills tests, the winner of the Most Valuable Player (MVP) in the All-Stars match and the team the MVP comes from. In 2015 the winner of the Breakaway Challenge received $1000, the winner of the MVP received $5000 and the MVP club received $4000.^[1]

Summarize Fact Check

The skills competitions selected for presentation by the respective coaches include a number of skills events the National Hockey League showcases at their All-Stars Weekend event. Each event is sponsored by one of the league's major sponsors and are performed on the Saturday afternoon.^[5][6]

In this event, pairs of skaters raced each other simultaneously on parallel courses on the rink. The fastest two skaters then had a final race.^[7]

Heat	Team Bales	Verses	Team Schlamp
1	Kieren Webster	vs	Daniel Pataky
2	Mitch Humphries	vs	Tommy Powell
3	Rob Haselhurst	vs	Matt Wetini
4	Brian Bales	vs	Matt Armstrong
5	John Kennedy	vs	Tomas Landa
Final	Rob Haselhurst	vs	Matt Wetini
Event score: 3–3 Tied Overall score: 3–3 Tied

• bold = Heat winner
• Red & bold = Event winner

The breakaway challenge saw three shooters and one goalie from each team take to the ice. Each skater was given 3 shots, with full access to the offensive zone, to play out their routine and take a shot. The winner was judged on their presentation as well as scoring by a fan shout off. In goals for Team Bales was Kamil Jarina (SB) and for Team Schlamp Dayne Davis (NNS).^[8]

Team Bales	Team Schlamp
Brian Bales	Brian Funes
Stephen Blunden	Michael Schlamp
Andrew Cox	James Byers
Event score: 1–0 Team Bales Overall score: 4–3 Team Bales

• Red & bold = Event winner

In this event, competitors were positioned in front of the net, and were passed the puck from two teammates situated behind the goal line. The players had to hit targets at the four corners of the net in the fastest time.^[9]

Heat	Team Bales	Time (sec)	Time (sec)	Team Schlamp
1	Mitch Humphries	43.6	21.5	Matt Armstrong
2	Josef Rezek	17.1	34.8	Robert Malloy
3	Luc Daigneault	51.4	34.8	Adrian Esposito
4	Stephen Blunden	19.5	30.2	Michael Schlamp
Final	Josef Rezek	20.37	29.97	Matt Armstrong
Event score: 3–2 Team Bales Overall score: 7–5 Team Bales

• bold = Heat winner
• Red & bold = Event winner

The stickhandling competition saw two skaters positioned in a head on head contest on identical obstacle courses that would test different styles of stick handling, first one to the finish line wins. There are four skaters in total selected by each team to compete.^[10]

Heat	Team Bales	Verses	Team Schlamp
1	Brian Bales	vs	Jamie Woodman
2	Shannon McGregor	vs	Tommy Powell
3	Kai Miettinen	vs	Daniel Pataky
4	Mitch Humphries	vs	Adrian Esposito
Final	Kai Miettinen	vs	Tommy Powell
Event score: 1–4 Team Schlamp Overall score: 8–9 Team Schlamp

• bold = Heat winner
• Red & bold = Event winner

In this competition, four players from each team skate in from the blue line one at a time, and slap a puck as hard as possible into the net with a speed camera positioned behind the net to register the impact speed. Each player gets two attempts in the heats and the top two players face off in the final and get one attempt to win the event.^[11]

Heat	Team Bales	Speed (mph)	Speed (mph)	Team Schlamp
1	Stephen Blunden	83 & 83	79 & 83	Brian Funes
2	John Kennedy	85 & 85	96 & 85	Matt Armstrong
3	Shannon McGregor	85 & 74	84 & 81	Robert Malloy
4	Rob Haselhurst	83 & 79	83 & 76	Michael Schlamp
Final	John Kennedy	81	88	Matt Armstrong
Event score: 3–2 Team Bales Overall score: 11–11 Tied

• bold = Heat winner
• Red & bold = Event winner

In this competition, players attempt to score on the opposing team's goalie. Players who score earn a point for their team for each goal they score. Players are eliminated from the competition if they fail to score.^[12]

Team Bales	Result	Result	Team Schlamp
Round 1
Brian Bales	Save	Goal	Adrian Esposito
Andrew Cox	Save	Save	Jamie Woodman
Kai Miettinen	Save	Save	Brian Funes
Stephen Blunden	Save	Goal	Daniel Pataky
John Kennedy	Save	Goal	James Byers
Josef Rezek	Goal	Save	Matt Armstrong
Luc Daigneault	Goal	Save	Tommy Powell
Robert Haselhurst	Save	Save	Michael Schlamp
Mitch Humphries	Save	Goal	Matt Wetini
Kieren Webster	Save	Save	Robert Malloy
Round 2
Josef Rezek	Save	Save	Adrian Esposito
Luc Daigneault	Save	Save	Daniel Pataky
		Save	James Byers
		Goal	Matt Wetini
Event score: 2–5 Team Schlamp Final overall score: 13–16 Team Schlamp

• bold = Goal scorer
• Red & bold = Event winner

Final Individual Winners Overview
Event	Winner	Team
Air Canada Fastest Skater Competition	Pat O'Kane (Melbourne Mustangs)	Team Armstrong
APA Group Breakaway Challenge	Geordie Wudrick (CBR Brave)	Team Schlamp
Haigh & Hastings Shooting Accuracy Competition	Stephen Blunden (CBR Brave)	Team Armstrong
Rifle Media Stickhandling Competition	Casey Kubara (CBR Brave)	Team Schlamp
Skaters Network Fastest Shot Competition	James Issacs (Melbourne Mustangs)	Team Armstrong
Ryzer Elimination Shootout	Brian Funes (Sydney Bears)	Team Armstrong

The All-Star game sees a selection of the best players from the AIHL pitted against each other under than banner of two captains. The match is played on the Sunday afternoon.

	Team Schlamp	10 – 9 (3-1, 2-4, 5-4)	Team Armstrong	Penrith Ice Palace (att) Penrith
		First period
	Virjassov (Schlamp, Pataky) 11:21			Referees:
			4:49 Blunden (Bales, Humphries)	Joe Mayer
	Funes (Schlamp) 3:24			Linesmen:
	O'Kane (Powell, Armstrong) 1:55			Tim Ladelle
	O'Kane (2) (unassisted) 1:25			Official scorer:
		Second period		Debra McGregor
			10:14 Bales (Humphries, Nadin)	MVP: O'Kane (MM)
	O'Kane (3) (Armstrong, Powell) 2:13
	O'Kane (4) (Pataky) 1:49
		Third period
	Powell (O'Kane) 10:57
			10:09 Nadin (Rezek, Webster)

• Shots on Goal:
  • Team Schlamp: 13 - 11 - 10 - Total: 34
  • Team Bales: 7 - 11 - 17 - Total: 35

Source: AIHL^[13]