Two of the new events, the Enterprise NHL Splash Shot and Chipotle NHL Pitch 'n Puck, will feature players displaying their skills in outdoor environments that typify Florida. Also new is the Discover NHL Tendy Tandem, an innovative goaltending skills test.
The Enterprise NHL Splash Shot will be on the beach at Fort Lauderdale and feature eight players, divided into four teams of two. Players are required to hit all the targets before attempting to dunk their opponents, the winner being the one to dunk his or her opponents first.
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The Chipotle NHL Pitch 'n Puck will have players combine their hockey and golf skills on a par-4 golf hole featuring an island green. Six players will participate, the winner being the one who successfully sinks the puck/ball in the hole with the fewest shots using a combination of hockey and golf shots. If there's a tie, the longest drive determines the winner.
In the Discover NHL Tendy Tandem, eight goalies will work in tandems, one shooting and the other in net (Central vs. Pacific and Atlantic vs. Metro divisions). The shooting goalie from a division will take a shot from a designated mark and will be awarded three points if the shot goes in the hole, two if it hits the in-net target and zero if it misses the net.
The in-net goalie will face one, two or three players, depending on points earned from the shooting goalie. Players start from center ice and must shoot on the rush. NHL shootout rules, in general, will apply. Play continues until all pucks have been shot and is repeated for the second goalie pairing, and the goalie tandem with the most points wins.
The Upper Deck NHL Fastest Skater, GEICO NHL Hardest Shot, Great Clips NHL Breakaway Challenge and Honda NHL Accuracy Shooting round out the list of skills competition events. The winner of each event will earn $30,000.
The NHL Skills we be held on Feb. 3 at FLA LIVE Arena in Sunrise, Florida (7 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN, TVAS).
The NHL Department of player safety will determine the players participating in each event and the order of participation.
Joining the skills competition are five women's hockey players: Alex Carpenter and Hilary Knight from the United States and Emily Clark, Rebecca Johnston and Sarah Nurse from Canada. Former NHL goalie and Hockey Hall of Famer Roberto Luongo will participate as celebrity goaltender in the breakaway challenge.
As players compete in the skills competitions, DraftKings customers can test their hockey knowledge with a $1,000 free-to-play pool available nationally by visiting https://sportsbook.draftkings.com/pools. The pool will be available after skills player assignments are finalized.
The NHL is also launching the 2023 BioSteel NHL Fan Skills at home, a fan-focused Instagram and TikTok campaign that starts at noon on Feb. 1 and ends at noon Feb. 16. Fans or legal guardians of fans under 18 can submit videos of themselves doing hockey skills of all levels in any one of five categories: shootout move, accuracy, celly, trick shot and stickhandling. Fans can submit videos by uploading to nhl.com/FanSkills (https://www.nhl.com/fans/fan-skills-at-home); fans using TikTok are encouraged to use hashtag #NHLFanSkills. A select number of fans may have their videos reposted by the NHL.
