ATLANTA (OTHL) -- In a packed Phillips Arena, the fans got to see a exciting game between the two YoungStars teams with a pretty one sided result in the end. And to many fans surprise, it was not the East that came away with the victory. The East had been touted as the winners prior to the game by fans and experts. The East boasting a lineup with Henrik Zetterberg, Martin Havlat, Barret Jackman, Alexander Frolov among others only managed to score 3 goals, while the West had a field day scoring 7 goals in two periods.
The West victory was a result of a strong first and third period. In the first the West scored 4 goals before the East managed to get a puck past Chicago's Mikael Leighton. The East won the shots in the first period 12 to 8 and overall 35 to 32. But thanks to good goaltending from Mikeal Leighton and some solid play around the net, the West managed to come out with the win. Nick Shultz (Minnesota) scored the first goal in the game, 2 minutes into the period. And the fans where now expecting an All-Star like fleury of goals. But insted the two teams displayed some good team chemistry and defensive plays. Chicago's Igor Radulov however broke the defensive deadlock 7 minutes after the West first goal. Nashville's Dan Hamhuis and Edmonton's Stephen Weiss assisted on the goal. Igor Radulov had one assist on the first goal, and where now the early favorite to become the MVP of the game.
And the West keept the pressure on and scored two more goals before the first period was over. Ales Hemsky from Edmonton, who was the best player on the ice alongside Michael Leighton, scored his first goal assisted by Alex Semin (Dallas) and Jamie Lundmark (Los Angeles). And two minutes later, Jay Bouwmeester (St Louis) showed off his skating and slapshot as he broke a East play in the West defensive end, and then put on a show as he put on the after burner and skated the lenght of the ice before he banged home the puck behind Marc-Andre Fleury (Pittsburgh). The East got a goal back in the first period when Tampa Bay's Henrik Zetterberg scored assisted by Lupul (Pittsburgh) and Jackman (Montreal).
The second period feature 1 goal, but loads of scoring chances and good goaltending from both sides of the rink. the goal was scored by the East and it came after four minutes. Martin Havlat (Ottawa) put on a show in the West end of the ice, keeping the puck away from the West players a good 30 seconds before he roofed it behind a frustrated Leighton. The two helpers where awarded to two Philadelphia players, Patrice Bergeron and Joni Pitkanen.
In the third period, the goal scoring frenzey was back in action as the West scored three while the East put up 1 goal. Keeping there 1 goal per period tradition going. The third period belonged to three players, all from the West. Ales Hemskey, Alexander Semin and Michael Leighton. Hemskey scored two more goals to complete his hattrick. He also assisted on a goal, to give him a four point night. This while Semin assisted on all three goals from the West, giving him 4 helpers for 4 points in the game. And it all started when Jamie Lundmark (Los Angeles) riped home a wrister seven minutes into the period. Both Semin and Hemsky assisted on the goal. And then not long after, the deadly duo combined for Hemsky's second of the night. Paul Martin from St Louis also got into the action and assisted on the goal. And with five mintues to go, we got to see yet another beautiful goal. Alex Semin controlled the puck and made his way into the East end of the ice, where he droped it back to Paul Martin who entered the zon at full speed. Everyone where now expecting a shot from Martin, and it look like Martin would shoot as he made a big windup. But insted Martin faked the shot and passed the puck to Ales Hemsky who had made his way down the right side, and Hemsky one-time a bullit past Kari Lehtonen (Atlanta) in the East net. And despite the fact that the goal was scored on the lone home player, the fans cheered and applauded the goal. The East had now given up, and just tried to make pretty playes. And one of the happend to turn into a goal. Alexander Frolov (Florida) and Martin Havlat worked there way down the ice with some niffty passing between them, and they continued all the way into goal as they passed the puck between them. The goal was scored by Martin Havlat who also had scored in the second period.
So the game ended in a 7-3 win for the West. Tomorrow, the East will try and get revenge by winning the All-Star game.
YOUNGSTARS MVP: Ales Hemsky (Edmonton Oilers), 3 goals, 1 assist for 4 points.