Photo Credit: Zack Hill/Flyers Senior Director of Communications
Claude Giroux was selected to his first All-Star game back in 2011. Fast forward to 2022 and the 34-year-old veteran will be taking part in his seventh career All-Star game.
“I always enjoy it,” Giroux said Wednesday in an interview with Flyers senior director of communications Zack Hill. “Anytime you get to go play with the best in the league, it’s always great. This year is a little bit more special with having Gavin come with us, so it should be some good memories.”
Giroux was selected by the Flyers in the first round of the 2006 NHL Entry draft. Back in January of 2013, Giroux was named captain of the Flyers. To this day, he still holds that title.
In the midst of his 15th season with the Flyers, he sits near the top of quite a few leaderboards in franchise history including second in games played (985), assists (605), and points (893). Flyers icon Bobby Clarke is ahead of him in all three of those categories.
On Saturday afternoon, Giroux will take part in his seventh career All-Star game. What will be different this time around compared to past All-Star games is that he’ll be wearing the ‘C” on his jersey.
Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin, who was supposed to captain the Metropolitan Division in this afternoons All-Star game, was placed in Covid-19 protocol this past Wednesday. Due to the timing of being placed in protocol, Ovechkin was not able to participate in this weekends All-Star festivities which opened the door for Giroux to take over as captain.
The Metropolitan Division is set to take on the Pacific Division this afternoon at 3 p.m. ET followed by the Atlantic Division versus the Central Division at 4 p.m. ET.
Last night, Giroux took part in the first ever “Fountain Face-Off” competition. It’s exactly what it sounds like.
The competition took place in the middle of the Bellagio Fountain where players had to travel by boat in order to get to the rink in the middle of the fountain. The objective was to shoot five pucks into five targets in the least amount of time possible. Along with Giroux, Jordan Eberle (SEA), Jonathan Huberdeau (FLA), Roman Josi (NSH), Mark Stone (VGK), Nick Suzuki (MTL), Zach Werenski (CBJ), and three-time Olympic medalist Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson took part in the event.
Giroux finished with a time of 22.6 seconds. Following his turn, Giroux followed up by saying, “I don’t think it’s good enough.”
It turns out he was right.
Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson finished with a time of 16.2 seconds to jump ahead of Giroux. Roman Josi followed up with a time time of 11.855 seconds which eliminated Giroux from the competition.
When asked about how he felt after being eliminated, Giroux responded by saying that it “feels terrible.”
Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski ended up winning the first ever “Fountain Face-Off” finishing with a time of 25.634 seconds in the head-to-head final between him and Nashville Predators defenseman Roman Josi, who finished with a time of 47.454 seconds.
When asked about his expectations headed into his seventh All-Star game, Giroux basically emphasized just having fun.
“You have to enjoy it,” Giroux said. Like I said, you’re playing with the best and you want to be able to compete with them and have fun. There’s a lot of good things that happen during the weekend so you just have to enjoy it.”
You can watch this afternoons All-Star game on ABC starting at 3 p.m. ET time. The two winners of the NHL All-Star Semifinals will face each other in the Finals to determine a winner.
