NHL All-Star Skills Games Include Playing Hockey Blackjack on Strip, Shooting Pucks In Bellagio Fountains
By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
As All-Star Games in the Big Leagues go, they’re not exactly forums of intense competition like they were in the good ol’ days.
So, it was time for the marketing people to get involved and jazz up these breaks in the sports league calendars. Major League Baseball has its homerun derby, the National Football League Pro Bowl has its throw, run and catch skill games and the National Hockey League will be using Las Vegas’ Strip as the setting for two skills games.
This being Las Vegas and the NHL in town later this week for its All-Star fun times, the league is closing the Strip for all-star players to participate in a game that sounds like street hockey blackjack. Players will shoot the puck at a gallery of playing cards to try to hit 21 — just like blackjack. The NHL has dubbed it, ” 21 in ’22.”
Vegas offers some unique opportunities. Las Vegas is never shy about exposing those unique opportunities. — Vegas Golden Knights coach Pete DeBoer
From the NHL on this blackjack game: “Shutting down part of Las Vegas Boulevard to hang a full deck of oversized cards on a rack puts a new twist on street hockey. 21 in ’22 is a game of chance, strategy and skill. The object of the game is to achieve a hand of 21 without going bust, in the least number of shots. The player who wins two rounds is crowned Puck Shark.”
The NHL and Vegas Golden Knights mentioned the skills game will cause the closure of the Strip, but what was not mentioned was the exact location on the Strip and the times and day — so, motorists beware the Strip closure some time later this week.
Then, since the Bellagio fountains seem to be a big headliner with the marketing folks at the NHL (and the NFL for its draft event in April), there will be a game called, “Fountain Face-Off,” where players will shoot pucks at targets in a timed competition. Here’s the press release on that, so you can try and figure it out yourself:
“Players will travel by boat to the “rink” and are required to successfully shoot pucks into five targets in the least amount of time. Qualifying players move to the head-to-head final. Fountain spray and the breeze off The Strip will add to the challenge of this unprecedented NHL All-Star Skills™ event.” As you can tell, these skills competitions are trademarked because entrepreneurs are always a threat to try and replicate these games across North America.
It all sounds fun and a little goofy, but I guess the NHL thinks it’s Las Vegas so anything goes as entertainment these days.
The NFL Pro Bowl is also in town this week.
The NFL will also have its skills games, too, at the Las Vegas Ballpark, the minor league baseball home of the Las Vegas Aviators in Summerlin.
LVSportsBiz.com saw TV trucks already set up this morning.
