Avalanche of Skills

An Avalanche of skills.
The Colorado Avalanche trio of Cale Makar, Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen participated in the Skills Competition at the 2023 NHL All Star Weekend on Friday night in Sunrise Florida.

"It's a nice event for fans," Rantanen said. "Just to be out there with the guys and to talk about hockey or whatever you want it's a fun time. It's fun to share it with [my teammates]."

Prior to arriving at Florida Live Arena in Sunrise, the Avalanche threesome strolled the red carpet in Fort Lauderdale as they signed autographs with fans and showed off their glow from spending some time in the rays of the Sunshine State. In the dressing room prior to the game, the trio also caught up with former teammate Nazem Kadri who now plays for the Calgary Flames.

At the Skills Competition, Makar participated in the Fastest Skater event. Makar was the first among the group participating in the competition to go as Los Angeles Kings forward Kevin Fiala, Carolina Hurricanes winger Andrei Svechnikov, Vegas Golden Knights forward Chandler Stephenson and Detroit Red Wings center Dylan Larkin watched on.
While the 24-year-old defenseman was off to a superb start until he lost an edge while he turned the corner behind the net and fell into the padding along the boards. Makar finished his lap with a time of 23.04 seconds and Svechnikov went on to win the event with a final time of 13.699 seconds.
"I always like to fall in front of a bunch of people," Makar said with a laugh after the Skills Competiton. "Overall, it was great. It was fun. I was hoping some guys got a good laugh about it. You can't do anything much about it in the moment if you caught an edge or slip there. It is what it is. You've just got to move on and have fun with it. I'd love to do it again. It's a fun competition, I love watching guys go fast."

In the Tendy Tandem Challenge - where goalies were paired as partners as one shot the puck, and the other faced attackers in a shooting round - MacKinnon and Makar scored on a 2-on-0 breakaway as Makar sent a cross-slot feed to MacKinnon, who faked a return pass but instead, wired a wrist shot off the crossbar and in to solidify the Central Division's winning 13-11 score.
The Avalanche's trio all participated in the Slap Shot Challenge, which was filmed on Thursday afternoon and featured eight shooters (two from each division) beachside with the goal of trying to hit five surfboards and an NHL logo that would consequently dunk their opponent. Makar and Rantanen were paired and MacKinnon was in a duo with his close friend and fellow Halifax, Nova Scotia native Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
In the first round of the Slap Shot Challenge, Makar and Rantanen faced MacKinnon and Crosby, while the Tkachuk brothers Matthew (Florida Panthers) and Brady (Ottawa Senators) took on Igor Shesterkin and Adam Fox of the New York Rangers.
Makar and Rantanen beat the MacKinnon and Crosby pairing as Rantanen knocked out all five surfboards and even hit the sixth NHL logo to send Crosby into the tank. There was some debate on the winner between the pairings as Rantanen's side seemed to have the surfboards fall down easier than MacKinnon's side, but ultimately the Makar-Rantanen duo advanced.
In the Final of the Slap Shot Challenge, also had success in knocking down all five surfboards and the NHL logo to dunk Fox into the frigid water.
"That was a pretty cool contest just being on the beach," Makar said. "That was pretty controversial because the one side wasn't going down as easy."

And while there was some downtime for Makar, MacKinnon and Rantanen as the other compeitions took place, the trio enjoyed sitting along with the other 'best players in the world,' as MacKinnon described it just catching up and taking in the moment. They also had some fun watching the young sons of Washington Capitals forward Alexander Ovechkin, St. Louis Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko and New York Islanders forward Brock Nelson skating around with the All-Stars or embedded with them on the benches and in the dressing rooms throughout the entirety of the event.
"It's pretty sweet," Makar said. "Even when I was a kid, they did the team All Star things and I was out there with the Flames which was pretty cool. I'm sure as a kid to be out there with everybody from the NHL is pretty sweet as well."

The All-Star Weekend will conclude on Saturday night as all four divisions compete in the three-on-three single elimination All Star Game on Saturday, Feb. 4 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. ET.