The KHL tried to lift a page out of the NHL's Winter Classic playbook by holding their 2009 All-Star game outside on a narrow and very frigid (3°F) ice rink at Red Square, Moscow. The game while very photogenic fell flat with the small crowd that could not even fill 3000 frosty bleacher seats.
This lack luster All-Star game caps off a number of KHL low lights so far this season. Like the recent firing benching between periods of Wayne Fleming the head coach of the Jaromir Jagr led Avangard Omsk team. Along with the whole sad Alexei Cherepanov affair.
However, the pictures from the All-Star game looked great. Just be happy you weren't there in person.
Players of the teams of Jaromir Jagr and Alexey Yashin play during the KHL (Russia's Open Continental Ice Hockey League) All-Star game on Red square in Moscow on January 10, 2008. The game was played at minus 16 degrees centigrade (3°F). Jagr's team won 7-6. AFP/Getty photo----
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----From the Rink:
Team Jagr wins KHL all-star game --
Fueled by Marcel Hossa’s (Dynamo Riga) goal with just under a minute to play, Team Jagr upended Team Yashin 7-6, to win the inaugural Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) All-Star Game today on Red Square in Moscow...NY Times:
K.H.L. All-Star Game Proves That Atmosphere Matters --
A word of advice, then, to the K.H.L.: outdoor games are great, but you need at least 25,000 people on hand to provide the atmosphere a proper sporting event needs. So enough with games at what amount to public skating rinks — play your all-star game next year at a bandy stadium...PuckDaddy:
Video: KHL's all-star triumph; what it means for Winter Classics --
...there's no arguing that seeing St Basil's Cathedral in the background of a hockey game is pretty killer. Kudos to that fishbowl-lens camera in back of the goal, which managed to capture both the action and the scope of the scenery; and the fans were closer to the action than they were in either Ralph Wilson or Wrigley, too...Rangers Report:
How good can this league be? --
Marcel Hossa had a hat trick in the KHL All-Star Game yesterday.Steve Zipay / Blue Notes:
I’m going let that thought sink in for a few moments...
The KHL, where every lousy ex-Ranger is an All-Star!
International Herald Tribune:
Foreigners edge Russians in KHL All-Star game
Chamionat.ru:
KHL All-Star Photos
Universal Sports:
Photo Gallery: KHL All-Star Game
Eh, what's a little cold weather when you have scenics like that?? How gorgeous ... and a far cry prettier than the skyline will be at New Yankee Stadium ...
The coldest days best warm a hockey heart.
Let's hope the Rangers don't fall apart.
Red Square is pretty, but New York City is right smart.
If the KHL holds an outdoor All-Star game and nobody is there to see it, did it really happen?
Regardless of talent level this league cannot actually expect to compete with the NHL until they're getting at least 12,000 fans a night. Most of their arenas can't even hold half of that.
Even the NHL is facing possible shrinkage. So you have to consider that with the collapse of oil prices and the wacking of the Russian oil oligarchs, the KHL sugar daddies, the league is hurting financially.
Combine that with your point about basic lack of fans and would anyone be surprised if they need to reorganize almost as soon as this season is finished. Like cutting loose those teams that are 4 or more time zones away from Moscow.
The signing of Jagr may mark the highwater mark for the KHL. Odds are he'll be back here soon.