Thankfully the Scotties Tournament of Hearts gave me a chance to skip watching the OHL All-Star game in its entirety this year.

Don’t get me wrong, recognizing players for having a strong season is great but I can’t say sitting around and watching a 17-10 game like this year just doesn’t appeal to me. If I want to watch a high-scoring game like that I can always watch the Detroit Lions play…well, maybe not, but you get the point.

I like a little more offense in hockey but let’s be honest here, All-Star games in hockey have become nothing more than a glorified game of shinny.

Speaking of which, it’s hard not to feel bad for the goaltenders in a game like that. They face the league’s top scorers every shift and nobody wants to be the player that gets caught making a play defensively during the game.

It’s starting to seem like there’s little appeal left in watching the OHL’s mid-summer classic no matter how much interest you have in the game. It’s not like I don’t like the idea of bringing the best players together for a game at mid-season, but sometimes the idea of whether or not it’s worth it seems to pop up every time fans are put through a long, extremely high scoring game.

I wonder what kind of excuse I’ll be able to come up with to skip watching next year’s All-Star game?

***
HODGSON MAKES RUTURN:

Brampton Battalion made his return to Ontario Hockey League action last week. Hodgson had yet to play a game after suffering a back injury in training camp with the Vancouver Canucks.

He was returned to the Battalion on Sept. 29 following a pre-season game with the Canucks against the Edmonton Oilers two days earlier, an Oilers victory.

In his return, Hodgson set up a pair of goals while playing on the Battalion’s top line with former Soo Greyhound Sean Jones and Scott Tanski.

“It’s been a long time,” Hodgson told BattalionHockey.com. “There was a lot of hard work to get back. I had a good week of practice with no pain, so I thought it was time to test my back. There was nothing more I could do for it off the ice. It felt pretty good.”