What an NCAA College Hockey All-Star game could look like

With the NHL All-Star game going on, it's time to look at what an NCAA College Hockey All-Star game could look like and who would be in it.

There is a ton of skill in the NCAA, from star-studded teams like Boston College and Boston University to ultra-talented teams like Minnesota or Michigan, this league has it all. There is no doubt an NCAA College Hockey All-Star game and skills competitions would be appealing to watch. 

I'm not sure how it would work with every college team playing every weekend from October to the end of February but maybe an All-Star game and Skills Competition like the NHL does could work in late December when teams are on winter break. 

This could be challenging with the World Junior Tournaments going on so maybe a better alternative could be playing the NCAA All-Star game after the season concludes. It could take place in the city that is hosting the NCAA tournament. The same could be said for a Women's NCAA College Hockey All-Star event.

I would think following the current NHL format would be exciting to watch. Fastest skater, hardest shot, shooting accuracy, and a breakaway challenge for goalies would be interesting. 

Boston University's Macklin Celebrini could put up a good showing in the fastest skater competition, but so could Minnesota's Oliver Moore, Michigan's Frank Nazar, or even Wisconsin's Quinn Finley. Could North Dakota's Jackson Blake challenge the four of them?

Would Denver's Jack Devine walk away with the hardest shot or could Minnesota's Jimmy Snuggerud and Ryan Chesley challenge him? Both of which have cannons for a shot. Minnesota Duluth's Ben Steeves has a rocket of a shot as well.

Would Boston College's Cutter Gauthier walk away with the shooting accuracy award or would Canisius' Matteo Giampa challenge him? Dylan Wendt of Western Michigan has 19 goals in 24 games this season. Could he have the most accurate shot? What about the University of Maine Freshman Bradley Nadeau? 

Cornell's Ian Shane has a 1.71 goals-against-average this season in 18 games. Would he stop the most on a breakaway in an All-Star game or would Providence's Philip Svedebäck? What about Wisconsin's Kyle McClellan, RIT's Tommy Scarfone, or Notre Dame's Ryan Bischel?

Constructing a game and tournament would be a little bit tough considering there are 64 teams spread out amongst seven different conferences but you could take a player from each team in the NCHC, Big Ten, Hockey East, and split up the rest of the conferences. 

If you took a minimum of one player from the three conferences listed above you would have 26 players. You then could take 28 of the best players from the remaining conferences and have 54 total players (not including goalies). 

Having 54 total players would allow you to split up into six teams with nine players on each team. You then would take 12 of the best goalies in the NCAA and assign two goalies to each team. So in total, the six teams would have 11 total players on them. 

A different format could just be as simple as not worrying about conferences and just taking the 60 best players in College Hockey along with 12 goalies and forming six teams with 12 players including the goalies. This would allow for some teams to maybe have duplicates (it would be hard to just take one player from Boston College). 

You could do this one of three ways. Have a captain for each of the six teams and allow them to select players like a draft. The NHL just did this for this year's All-Star game. 

Another way you could do this would be to have a captain for each team but have a committee of coaches from select conferences decide who would make the All-Star game. 

Lastly, you could combine the two. A captain of each team could select four or five players of their choosing and a committee could assign the rest. This would provide a good balance. 

Captains could be Massimo Rizzo, Will Smith, Rutger McGroarty, Collin Graf, Will Gavin, and Lucas Wahlin. This would allow you to have a captain from six of the seven conferences. 

Here are some potential mock teams for the 3-on-3 tournament that would be played. Let us know who you think would win!

The teams and format might not be perfect but this is how it could look if there was a Men's NCAA College Hockey All-Star Game. I think it would be great for the game of hockey and the schools that are involved to have an NCAA All-Star game but it would take a lot of things to happen before this could become a reality. Especially considering that after the season is over some players might opt to sign NHL deals. 

Nonetheless, it was fun to speculate!