Florida Panthers, Sunrise, to Host 2021 NHL All-Star Weekend
By Cal Friedman
Early Monday morning, the NHL confirmed the location for its next All-Star Game: Sunrise, Florida.
This is the second time in four years that All-Star festivities will take place in Florida, with Tampa Bay hosting the 2018 All-Star weekend. This will also be the first time in 18 seasons that the Florida Panthers will host the All-Star Game, previously hosting in 2003.
This event has the potential to cement South Florida on the hockey map. Every All-Star event has brought together fans from all across the country to see the game’s best, from Andersen to Zibanejad, or in Florida’s case, Barkov to Yandle.
The All-Star games have done very well in recent years after the NHL changed the format. Now, all four divisions get their own teams and play 3-on-3 hockey for two 10 minute periods. The three games last year combined for 40 goals, with the Central and Metropolitan both putting up 10 goals in a game. It’s a lot of fun to watch, with all players performing some awesome handles, shots, and saves.
The three-on-three games aren’t all the weekend has to offer for on-ice play. Saturday’s night events feature the all-stars competing in the Skills Contest, a mix of entertaining hockey clinics put on display. While all are great to watch in person, the ones that are always the most fun are the Puck Control Play, an obstacle course for those with great hands, the Save Streak, that sees the best of the best in the crease try and save shootout-style breakaways from the forwards (who are all trying to put on some moves you would typically never see in real games), and the Premier Passer challenge.
It’ll also be very interesting to see how the jerseys for that week are designed. Usually, Adidas tries to tie the jersey themes to the host location, using hoops to represent the St. Louis arch for this year’s. Another cool one was Los Angeles’ All-Star jerseys, which featured stars to represent Hollywood.
For Florida, it would be pretty nice if Adidas found a way to either put a sun or palm trees into the design, with the logo centered. If there were some grey palm trees and a sun surrounding the team’s logo, it might be a purchase worth considering.
While the official date of the event is yet to be confirmed, it typically takes place on either the last weekend of January or the first weekend of February. While outdoor weather may not mean much for the actual events, it is something to keep an eye on.
The NHL has done very well in years past to incorporate events for fans across the week to meet players and personnel. In Los Angeles, the NHL did very well to give the Hollywood feel, and in Tampa Bay, the players became immersed in Gasparilla, which fell on the same weekend.
This is a big chance for the NHL to help continue to build a sense of hockey in South Florida. While the Florida Panthers have work of their own to continue to build the fan base, attendance has relatively been trending up this season. I wouldn’t be surprised to see attendance boom after this current All-Star break, with Florida now 3rd in the Atlantic on a five-game win streak.
Next. Panthers Erase 4-3 Deficit Late, Beat Wild 5-4. dark
For a better idea for what potentially could be coming to Sunrise in 2021, pay attention to the All-Star events this weekend in St. Louis. This year’s set of All-Star Games will be on Saturday the 25th, with the Atlantic starting play versus the Metropolitan Division at 8:15 P.M.