Bertuzzi enjoys busy day at NHL All-Star skills competition

ST. LOUIS -- It was all new to Red Wings forward Tyler Bertuzzi.
You could say Bertuzzi was busy as he spent Friday doing rounds of interviews, arriving at the Enterprise Center and walking on the red carpet in front of fans, mingling with his fellow All-Stars in the dressing room, watching the 2020 NHL All-Star Skills competition events, shooting on the goalies in the Bud Light NHL Save Streak and participating in the Honda NHL Accuracy Shooting.

Although the weather was not exactly tropical, Bertuzzi enjoyed his quick foray down the red carpet.

"It was cold but it was cool," he said. "A lot of fans, they were awesome. It was a good part of the event."
Before the skills competition got underway, Bertuzzi said he was happy that his father, Adrian Gedye, and brother, Evan, had arrived in St. Louis.
"They got in safe and sound," Bertuzzi said. "They're excited."
Bertuzzi said they were looking forward to the skills competition.
"Everyone's the best here and they're showing their best skills so it's going to be a good show," Bertuzzi said. "They love hockey, they love watching."
Although he has a few teammates in Dylan Larkin, Frans Nielsen, Mike Green and Jimmy Howard who have all been to the All-Star Game before, Bertuzzi never consulted them.
He just wanted to live in the moment and experience it all as a newbie.

When Bertuzzi was asked before the competition started who might finish second to Edmonton superstar Connor McDavid in the Bridgestone NHL Fastest Skater event, he laughed and said he thought Buffalo's Jack Eichel would be the guy.
Surprisingly, it was the New York Islanders Mathew Barzal edging out McDavid, 13.175 to 13.215.

"I think everyone was surprised," Bertuzzi said in the dressing room following the skills competition. "I was taking to Barzal before and he said he was pretty nervous. Obviously he's a really good skater and he did a good job."
Before his own event, the accuracy shooting, Bertuzzi got a chance to shoot on goaltenders Tristan Jarry of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Braden Holtby of the Washington Capitals.
In the shootout-style competition, goalies try to get the longest streak of saves.
Bertuzzi did not help Jarry or Holtby one bit as he scored on both of his attempts.

"Yeah that's just one of those where you don't want to fumble the puck or miss it," Bertuzzi said. "I just tried to get good shots off. I got lucky."
So maybe Bertuzzi has a nice video audition in case Wings coach Jeff Blashill needs someone for an upcoming shootout?
"I went once this year. I was 0-for-1," Bertuzzi said, smiling. "We'll see."

After his successful shootout goals, Bertuzzi went second in the accuracy shooting, right after Winnipeg's Mark Scheifele.
"Obviously I was pretty nervous going out there," Bertuzzi said. "I just tried to settle in and focus on trying to hit the targets. I thought I did pretty good."

For a brief period of time, Bertuzzi's mark of 13.868 was the best, beating Scheifele's 15.160, New Jersey's Nico Hischier's 19.550 and San Jose's Tomas Hertl's 17.161.

There was a slight delay after Bertuzzi's turn as he had broken the plexiglass and it needed to be replaced before Hischier went.

But then Edmonton's Leon Draisaitl fired off a 10.257, which held up until the second to last shooter, Carolina's Jaccob Slavin, who registered a winning time of 9.505.

Bertuzzi finished fifth out of the eight shooters.
"It was kind of different this year. It wasn't the real targets," Bertuzzi said. "It was kind of just on a screen. It wasn't as hard as I honestly thought it was going to be. I kind of did a pretty decent job."

Then the Elite Women's 3-on-3 took center stage, with some of the top women's players from the United States facing off against their Canadian rivals.
It was the first time the women had competed against each other in a 3-on-3 format.
"We watched it in the lounge in the St. Louis room," Bertuzzi said. "It was pretty entertaining, honestly. They were making some cool moves there. They were playing some good hockey."
Team Canada prevailed in the first-time event, 2-1, thanks to some spectacular goaltending from Ann-Renée Desbiens, who made 15 saves in the two periods.
To no one's surprise, Montreal's Shea Weber won the Enterprise NHL Hardest Shot with two times -- 105.9 and 106.5 -- that beat everyone's best.
"It's cool to sit on the sidelines and come and watch everyone do their thing," Bertuzzi said. "It's pretty cool to see it live."
Bertuzzi will probably need to watch a replay of the whole event to remember everything as it was quite a day.
"Pretty busy," he said. "You're always doing something - media, or you're doing something. But it goes by pretty quick when you think about it. We're already done the skills comp and we're getting ready for the three-on-three game tomorrow.
"It was kind of what I was expecting. I couldn't really expect much. It was my first time but it's a pretty cool event today and I was happy I was a part of it."