All-Star: Aho Shines in Premier Passer Event

SAN JOSE - Sebastian Aho was admittedly a little nervous.
The Premier Passer challenge was, after all, one of the more difficult events in the 2019 NHL All-Star Skills in San Jose.
He watched San Jose Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson - "probably the best defenseman in the league," Aho said - finish the three-segment event in 1:58 and then Colorado Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen - "second highest points in the league," Aho pointed out - complete the course in 2:17.
"Up next, I was like, "All right. This is not good,'" Aho said. "But I think I did pretty well."
He did, indeed.
Aho posted a 1:18.530, which stood as the top time through five of the eight skaters. Aho finished second in the event after Leon Draisaitl claimed victory with a 1:09.088 time.

He might not have taken the crown, but Aho is still a premier passer.
"You just have to feel how it goes. You don't really practice those long sauce passes ever," Aho said. "It was kind of hard, but it was a lot of fun."
The key to his second-best time was completing the middle section - saucer passes over barriers into mini-nets - without getting too hung up.
"That was the longest part of the drill. I think I did pretty well," he said.
Could any of his Hurricanes teammates best his time?
"Turbo is a pretty good sauce guy, so I think he would do pretty good at those," Aho said. "Willy is a pretty good sauce guy, and he gets a lot of confidence with those."

Aho, along with every other All-Star skater, also took part in Save Streak, as they took turns in shootouts trying to bust opposing goalies' strings of consecutive saves. Aho faced Andrei Vasilevskiy and Jimmy Howard once apiece and failed to score on either. Aho attempted to slide a slow roller past Vasilevskiy, but he kept his pad flush to the ice to make the save, and he went forehand-backhand on Howard but put the shot off the iron.
"I was kind of hoping to go against Pekka Rinne since he's my countryman," he said.
In all, Skills provided a fun and entertaining evening for the Canes' first-time All-Star.
"Lots of fun. You see the best players going against each other. It's pretty cool," Aho said. "Just hanging out with the guys, meeting some other players I don't know. … It was all exciting to watch."
The centerpiece of All-Star Weekend takes place on Saturday, as the four divisions square off in a 3-on-3 All-Star tournament with a cash prize on the line (8 p.m. ET, NBC).
Rest up. Big day ahead.
"You know it," Aho smiled. "We're professionals out here. It's a lot of sleep, a lot of water and food."
More from NHL All-Star Weekend
- All-Star Photos: Red Carpet & Media Day - Video: Aho Walks Red Carpet - Video: Aho Preps Skills