Nurse’s goal rocks the crowd at NHL Skills Challenge


SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — The cheers at the FLA Live Arena reached their peak when Sarah Nurse of Canada’s women’s team scored a goal in Friday night’s NHL All-Star Skills Competition.

Nurse impresses the crowd by tricking New York Rangers goalkeeper Igor Shesterkin at a goalie shooting event using a breakaway move popularized by Swedish player Peter Forsberg .

“One of my friends was talking about this event and they said, ‘You should try this,'” Nurse said. She added that she had no idea she was about to make this move against the current Vezina trophy winner.

“I didn’t even think about it until after that,” she said with a laugh.

As the women’s hockey players returned to the ice to participate in several events during Skills Night, Nurse met fellow Canadian team members Emily Clarke and Rebecca Johnston, American players Hillary Knight and Joined with Alex Carpenter.

“The best part about attending an All-Star weekend is the kind of visibility it gives our sport,” Clark said. And I’m so happy to be on the same ice with the best man in the world.”

Olympic gold medalist Nurse wearing custom skates It focuses on Black History Month and the Black Girl Hockey Club, a non-profit organization focused on getting more Black girls and women into sports.

Over the course of the week, the girls raised awareness of the girls’ game through various activities, including esports gaming events. Knight, an eight-time world champion and 2018 Olympic gold medalist, said she hopes to participate in more events in future All-Stars. skill challenge.

“Both men and women are integrated and you see great skill and outstanding play whenever the best players have the opportunity to be on the ice,” Knight said. I hope the future is really bright with the combination of sports in the event.

Athletes have been competing in the skills competition since 2019, when Americans Kendall Coyne Scofield and Briana Decker competed in addition to Johnston and Canada’s Renata Fast.

Coyne Schofield became the first woman to enter an NHL All-Star Skills competition, running around the rink in 14.346 seconds in the fastest skater competition in a moment to break the barriers in women’s hockey.

On Friday night, the players shot in a new event the NHL called the “Tendy Tandem.” This involved his one goalkeeper from each of the four divisions as his goalkeeper at the shoot, and his other goalkeeper from that division as his goalkeeper in the net.

The tandem of Nashville Predators goalie Juze Saros and Winnipeg Jets’ Conor Hellebuik won the Central Division challenge.

“I am very happy to introduce the fact that we have the best hockey players in the world here,” Nurse said. “regardless of whether they are male or female”

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