All Star Weekend

After a grueling 6-2 win last night, the Soviets were given the day off from coach Sergei Fedorov and got an early start on their All Star break.

"I figured there was no reason to push 'em hard today, they played hard last night," the three time Stanley Cup Champion and six time NHL All Star player-turned-coach said. "I think at 4-2-1 we can rest up for a few days, and get back to action next Thursday to take a crack at only undefeated team left in our division."

Not all of the Comrades will be getting that rest though, as four Red Army players were voted into the All Star game this weekend in New York City. Goaltender Andy Schram, defenseman Ben Breiterman, and The Beege were all voted into the starting lineup, while Pat King narrowly missed the starting job, but received enough votes to make the team.

"It's exciting," Breiterman said. "This is my fifth straight All-Star game, but they never get old. And it being in NYC, oh man, I'm going to have a lot of fun."

"We're going up in a private jet on Friday night," Schram said when asked about the travel arrangements. "We're going together, the four of us, and we were going to drive to save money, but we were just told that we get bonuses for making the All-Star team, so we piled our money together to have a private jet for the weekend. People may think that we're only going to use it for the two flights from Dulles to JFK and then JFK to Dulles, but I plan on getting at least four late night Wendy's runs in with that bad boy when it's two AM and I am craving a bowl of her finest chili."

Aside from the game, which is scheduled to be played at 1:00 PM on Sunday afternoon, there will also be a skills competition on Saturday. The Beege and Breiterman are both competing in the hardest shot competition, with The Beege also scheduled for the breakaway challenge. Pat King is competing in two events, the fastest skater and deflection contest.

"I'm the reigning champ in the deflection contest, so I'm pretty psyched about that," King said. "Steady hands and focused eyes, that's the trick. I know the judges are going to want to see some style, so I'm thinking about trying to go through the legs, but I remember last year when a guy on the Shockers went for that and he got hit right in the uter."

The most talked about event year in year out though is the breakaway challenge, and The Beege has some big shoes to fill. His older brother Mark is the fifteen time reigning champion and couldn't attend his 16th consectutive All Star weekend because he didn't get enough votes.

"I've asked him for some of the new moves he was working on," The Beege said. "But he won't hand them over. He's been pretty angry that he didn't get voted in, and he was really excited about unveiling his newest move. Last year's canopener backhand to the roof while in two left skates was pretty sickening, but my favorite was still his 1998 'girls and goalies go down, I go up' which of course he received a lot of flack for using prostitutes as props, or propstitutes as he continues to refer to it as."

But no brotherly advice this time around?

"No, and I saw him working on the blueprints for his latest move, but he won't show it. I did catch the title, which was 'Glove Mekhi Phifer hole'. So, yeah, I'm as clueless as you are."