Team Unity vs. Sheer Talent

It’s a debate that rages among fans and executives alike, from the bar to the front office.

Which is a more potent ingredient for success: team unity or talent, cohesiveness or skill?

The discussion came to life last month on the ice at the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland, when a new format for the Central Hockey League’s all-star game was tested for the first time–pitting the home-town Eagles against a squad of the league’s all-stars.

After a hotly contested initial two periods in which the game was tied at three, the Eagles broke things wide open with five unanswered goals to open the third, eventually cruising to an 8-4 win, thanks in large part to four goals from right winger Konrad Reeder.

The result was a somewhat surprising claim in favor of team chemistry. Though one Eagle said the victory wasn’t that unexpected.

“I think it’s harder on the other team,” Eagles center Riley Nelson said, “because they don’t have very much time to prepare.”

Of course it helps, too, when the team of “regulars” just so happened to be owner’s of the league’s best record, as the Eagles came into the game with a CHL-best 55 points. And it certainly didn’t hurt that Colorado’s lineup is a bit of an all-star team in itself, as it boasts four of the league’s top 10 scorers.

“They got a lot of firepower,” said Tulsa Oiler right winger Jeff Christian, who made his third CHL All Star Game appearance. “....We thought maybe we have a good chance, but they came out and–I mean they wanted to do it–it’s a big feather in their cap. They earned it. They looked good. They’re there every year, so they got a good squad.”
Reeder said he and his Eagles teammates weren’t about to take the exhibition lightly. Too much pride was at stake.
“We weren’t going to mess around,” Reeder said. “We have pride. They have pride too. That’s the great thing about hockey: If you don’t show up, then you’ll get embarrassed. We have a lot of guys that have a lot of pride.”
The combined 12 goals may seem a bit high for a hockey game, but the new format helped produce a contest resembling more of an actual hockey game than the goal scoring contests of the most recent CHL all-star games in which the winning side had routinely notched double-digit goals.

Afterward CHL Commissioner Duane Lewis seemed more than pleased with the experiment and said there’s a good chance the same format will be used in the future.

“We’ve seen games that were 15-14 in the past, and that’s just an offensive showcase, which is a different type of game and that’s fine.  But tonight we saw the players were intense, it was not dirty. It definitely had the emotional aspects of a regular season game more so than an all-star game would,” Lewis said.

The alternative format was proposed by Eagles founder Ralph Backstrom, who during his time in the NHL used to participate in a similar showcase as a member of the Montreal Canadians. However, back then–from 1947-1967–the team of all-stars faced off against the defending NHL champions.

That means it would have been the Arizona Sundogs, who beat the Eagles in last year’s championship, hosting the all-stars instead. But Lewis said because of all the time and preparation it takes to host the game, it would be nearly impossible to “to mandate to somebody, that just because they won the championship, they have to host the all-star game the following year.

“I don’t think it would ever change to that format,” he said. “I think we found something that works. There might be some tweaks here or there. But I think going to (the NHL’s old format) would be very hard to do.” 

All things considered, the players and Lewis said, the new format was all about one thing: the fans.

“You want to entertain the fans. And if it’s a better game with this format, then that’s what should be used,” Nelson said.
Said Christian, “Most importantly they put on a great show for the fans and for the CHL.”