All Star Safari 2009

Happy All Star Weekend, comrades! Some preliminary notes:

- I've actually managed to get slightly excited about the festivities up in Montreal; I'm particularly looking forward to the Young Stars Game. It's going to be a massacre, and a hilarious one at that, as the rookies are grossly outmatched by the sophomores.

As good as Drew Doughty, Blake Wheeler, Kris Versteeg, and Luke Schenn are, I doubt they'll be able to beat a team composed of Milan Lucic*, Nicklas Backstrom*, Andrew Cogliano, our Bryan Little, Devin Setoguchi, etc. But perhaps we'll be surprised.

- Your Chronicle will be live-blogging the skills competition on Saturday evening, with alcohol.

- Meanwhile, your editor would like to announce he's pleased that Patrick Marleau has been added to the Western Conference team. Hooray.

- Hey, look at this. These nice Bostonian gentlemen**, probably descended from good stock like the Lowells or the Cabots, or possibly the Lowell-Cabots, or even the Adamses or the Emersons, have predicted that our Czar, Ilya Kovalchuk, will be named All Star Game MVP.

- Do you think Bryan Little and Ilya Kovalchuk literally SAT TOGETHER on the flight up to Montreal? If so, what did they talk about? Awkward things like mortgage payments and the Atlanta dating scene? Were there uncomfortable moments where Bryan Little had to respond to the Czar's questions with "What was that?" or "Excuse me?" or "Could you repeat that, sir?"

- I can't see either of them enjoying airline peanuts. Can you?

- How many comical misunderstandings is the Czar going to have with the French fur traders along the St. Lawrence this weekend?

Et moi et moi et moi - Jacques Dutronc

*It appears Lucic and Backstrom have BOTH pulled out of the Young Stars Game, the selfish lazy heathens.

**This should read "nice Bostonian gentleman" as there's only one individual operating the Stanley Cup of Chowder blog. Remember this.