NHL All-Star Weekend: Behind the Scenes of Splash Shot

The new skills event saw players head to the beach and battle over a dunk tank. Here's what you didn't see on TV.

SUNRISE - Colorado Avalanche teammates Cale Makar and Mikko Rantanen are champions once again, though this time it wasn't the Stanley Cup but rather the NHL's first-ever Splash Shot competition. Filmed on location in Fort Lauderdale the day before, the dunk-tank event was definitely fun to watch - though in the full Florida sun, that dunk tank looked very alluring to the rest of us in the stands.

Since the winners have officially been crowned, I can now take you behind the scenes of the taping, in what was a fascinating set-up. The most important takeaway? Guys wanted to be there. Steve Mayer, the NHL's Chief Content Officer, had a number of great insights and tidbits on the event, one of which was the lineup: They were shooting to get teammates together, but also had some keeners. The NHL had originally approached the Rangers because New York had multiple all-stars, but when goaltender Igor Shesterkin heard about the event, he wanted in. So the Vezina winner ended up going in with Norris-winning teammate Adam Fox (Artemi Panarin, the third Ranger, did not participate in Splash Shot).

The league also pictured Toronto Maple Leafs buddies Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner as a tandem, but Matthews got hurt and was replaced on the Atlantic Division roster by Florida's Aleksander Barkov. So no match there. Brothers Brady and Matthew Tkachuk were an obvious pair, but the big one was Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon. The longtime friends teamed up and apparently, it was the Penguins captain who really wanted in after he heard about the event on a conference call.

"That was purely Crosby," Mayer said. "He wanted to do the event."

Unfortunately, Crosby didn't get to shoot because his team was eliminated in the semi-final. The biggest factor in the game was which side you got to shoot on: Both teams that shot at the surfboards on the right side of the rink lost and it was incredibly obvious that something was off about that side: the surfboards just wouldn't go down like the ones on the left, even though they had big gash-marks from the pucks in them. Mayer noted that in rehearsals it hadn't been a problem and I'll cut the organizers some slack; best-laid plans and all that.

When Makar stepped up to shoot in the final, he started on the right side, but could only knock down two of the five boards, so they moved him over to the left side and he crushed it on the re-do.

For me, it was funny to see how the players reacted when they were dunked. Matthew Tkachuk stayed in the water for the entire round and given the heat that day, I don't blame him. Shesterkin actually did dunk Rantanen in the final, just not officially: Once he ran out of time, the crowd began to chant "Dunk him, dunk him!" And everyone involved seemed happy to carry out their wishes.

Overall, it was a solid atmosphere. The bleachers were packed with fans, with Carolina, the Rangers and obviously the hometown Panthers having the most supporters. One lucky fan even got his Penguins jersey signed by Crosby after the event.

Interestingly enough, Mayer revealed that the dunk tank idea was originally considered for the St. Louis all-star weekend a few years ago, but ultimately they went with the shooting-from-the-stands event there instead (which I loved as a concept). But with a whole beach to play with in Florida, it was time to unleash Splash Shot on the hockey world.

"We knew coming to Florida that we had to go outside, but there was a risk - if it had been a rainy week, it's a disaster," Mayer said. "But it was worth the risk."

And the players were game, which is always the most important part of these events.

"They were so cool," Mayer said. "They were loving it, they were trash-talking...Sidney Crosby went in the dunk tank!"