Lattimer All Star Stuff

[pugsood 97]

All-Star. A phrase that is iconic across the entireity of the United States, Canada, and the world. Used as an adjective, a noun, a descriptor, a qualifier, you name it. It influences hall of fame voting, people's perceptions of how good someone is at a particular sport. It's loaded to the max.

And it's something Steve Lattimer has aspired to for a very long time. He's never really heard his name called in that kind of rarified air, celebrated among his peers, above his peers in some respects. And while he respects all of his colleagues, peers, competitors, he's definitely not here just for shits and giggles. He's here to win, and to achieve the accolades that come with winning. Like an all-star recognition.

While Lattimer is unaware of the current constructs of all star fesitivities, by far the model I am most interested in as a format is a set of countries against other countries. I think US vs. The World is a cop out though. It undermines just how good the rest of the world is at hockey (and many other sports for that matter). So I would change the entire format of an all star hockey festivity to a couple of different things.

1) Maintaining a skills competition and a hardest slapshot competition as well. These seem to be fan favorites.
2) Speaking of fan favorites, similar to that part of the movie The Dilemma, give the fans a chance to participate, but with the players coaching them in a fun, sort of jokey way. Think there are a ton of things that could work, ranging from sliding the puck all the way down the ice to a 1 vs. 1 between 'fans' (who know how to skate at least).
3) Making the game matter, the winning country gets some sort of financial compensation similar to NBA's in-season tournament (but the money would have to matter).
4) Could change format entirely to 4 on 4 per country, 8 minute periods. Or 3 on 3, half ice, defenses have to clear, same thing in terms of clearing, but also Elam ending so no one can just play keepaway
5) One of the more popular tournaments on the PGA Tour is the event where players play with their children, like Tiger Woods playing with his son. There has to be a way to bring that into the competition, and even if it's just sponsoring a kid from the local town where the player's franchise is located, there's something to this that would captivate people's attention. 
6) No oen cares about the rising stars game, so forget about putting them on the ice together, have them do fan engagement, make the fans feel more connected to the next generation of great hockey players who they may not have evne heard of yet.

Those are some ideas. So yeah, no idea how any of this can be applied to VHL but I rely on the powers that be to figure that out, and the creators of the simulation = )