On January 15th, a roster of 20 American and Canadian hockey players was announced for an Elite Women’s 3-on-3 tournament set to take place during the 2020 NHL All-Star Skills Competition.
In addition to the 3-on-3 game, one player from each of the Elite Women’s Canadian and American teams will also go head-to-head with the NHL All-Stars in the Gatorade Shooting Stars challenge.
The NHL’s Twitter account posted two polls on Monday so that fans could vote for which player they would like to see take on the challenge.
Vote now to select the American All-Star who will compete in the Shooting Stars challenge during the 2020 #NHLAllStar Skills!
The winner will be announced at the end of the Elite Women's 3-on-3 game.— NHL (@NHL) January 20, 2020
From the American All-Stars, the choice is between Kacey Bellamy, Brianna Decker, Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson, and Hilary Knight.
Vote now to select the Canadian All-Star who will compete in the Shooting Stars challenge during the 2020 #NHLAllStar Skills!
The winner will be announced at the end of the Elite Women's 3-on-3 game.— NHL (@NHL) January 20, 2020
From the Canadian All-Stars, fans will need to decide whether Rebecca Johnston, Sarah Nurse, Marie-Philip Poulin, or Natalie Spooner will participate.
The Gatorade Shooting Stars challenge is a new addition to the 2020 NHL All-Star Skills Competition. According to the NHL, the challenge “will involve 10 players who will be on an elevated platform behind the goal approximately 30 feet above the ice, shooting pucks at a variety of targets on the ice, with each holding a different point value. Each player will take seven shots, one at a time, and earn points.”
Speaking to NHL.com about adding the new event, Steve Mayer, NHL executive vice president and chief content officer, events and entertainment, programming and content development, said, “I think the inspiration came from a few places. Watching the stunts, such as ‘Dude Perfect,’ and when [centers] Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin [of the Pittsburgh Penguins] went to the catwalk of their arena [PPG Paints Arena] and shot a video that had them shooting pucks from there into nets on the ice. It came out last year and went pretty viral, but it caught my eye as being super-unique and I thought, ‘What if we brought our players into the stands to do this?'”
The All-Star Skills Competition is scheduled for January 24th, starting at 8PM ET.
Headline photo: NHL
