By Chase Phillips

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Some People call St. Louis the gateway to the West, others, such as the Wayne Gretzky, simply call it, “One of the greatest cities in the world.”

It’s has seen a lot of great moments over the years, including their hometown Blues historic run to win the Stanley Cup just a few short months ago. On Saturday, the gateway to the west took center stage at the NHL’s annual talent showcase.

Not only did St. Louis head coach Craig Berube lead the Central All-Stars, whose roster included Blues’ goalie Jordan Binnington, as well as skaters Alex Pietrangelo, Ryan O’Reilly and David Perron, but both sons of former Blues legend Keith Tkachuk made their return to their hometown St. Louis when Ottawa’s Brady and Calgary’s Matthew graced the Enterprise Center ice.

The night began with the two Eastern Conference squads who would be in battling to see who would make the finals. The Atlantic Division would take this second by a score of 9-5. Boston’s David Pastrnak  and Ottawa’s Anthony Duclair both had hat tricks in the game for the Atlantic, while the Metropolitan was led by the second year stud Nico Hischier (NJD) who had two goals and an assist in a losing effort. 

Later came the game most of the fans wanted to see, between the Central and Pacific division in a battle for the Western conference. The Pacific took this one easy as they were led by Tomas Hertl of San Jose with four goals and Leon Draisatl Edmonton with a Hat Trick. The Central was led by Chicago Patrick Kane- not only in boos from the rival St. Louis crowd- but also in goals as well with a pair.

The Finals would come down to Atlantic and the Pacific division, Hertl would carry the Pacific team to victory by scoring his fifth on the night, while Pastrnak, and Draisatl both added another goal bringing their total to four.

The MVP of the 2020 All Star Game was the NHL’s leading goal scorer coming into the break- David Pastranak. He had 4 goals and 2 assists on the night. The weekend was seen as a true success for the NHL and the city of St. Louis. During the weekend, National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman announced that the 2021 All Star Game would be held in Sunrise, Florida.   

Edited by Garrett Jones | sports@kcou.fm