Team Blue Defeats Team White at Annual Toronto Maple Leafs Skills Competition

The 19th annual Toronto Maple Leafs Skills Competition presented by Rogers took place at Air Canada Centre Sunday afternoon. In the eight skill-challenging events, Team Blue defeated Team White by a score of 12-10. The following is a summary of the events:

EVENT 1: TEAM UP FOUNDATION BREAKAWAY CHALLENGE

(Won by Team Blue)

The opening event consisted of Team Blue captain Francois Beauchemin and Team White captain Tomas Kaberle each choosing five teammates to participate in the breakaway challenge. Clarke MacArthur and Tim Brent of Team Blue scored the lone goals and Jean-Sebastien Giguere held Team White scoreless with five saves. Team Blue won the event by a score of 2-0.

EVENT 2: PIZZA PIZZA GIVE AND GO PUCK CONTROL

(Race 1: Won by Team Blue / Race 2 – One-on-One Challenge: Won by Team White)

In the overall relay competition, Team Blue consisting of Clarke MacArthur, Mikhail Grabvoski and Brett Lebda defeated Team White’s Kris Versteeg, Nikolai Kulemin and Carl Gunnarsson. In the one-on-one challenge, Team White’s Phil Kessel edged Team Blue’s Tyler Bozak.

EVENT 3: ROGERS FASTEST SKATER

(Team: Won by Team White / Individual: Nikolai Kulemin, Team White)

For the second consecutive year, Nikolai Kulemin of Team White completed the fastest lap of the ice. This year he won the event with a time of 14.067 seconds. Team White also took the overall event as Mike Brown, Phil Kessel and Kulemin registered the fastest average time of 14.372 seconds.

EVENT 4: NHLPA GOALS AND DREAMS FUND FREESTYLE SHOOTOUT

(Won by Team White)

Team White consisting of Phil Kessel, Kris Versteeg and Nikolai Kulemin were collectively voted by the celebrity judge panel as the Freestyle Shootout champions.

EVENT 5: ROGERS ACCURACY SHOOTING

(Team: Won by Team Blue / Individual: Fredrik Sjostrom, Team Blue)

Fredrik Sjostrom of Team Blue hit all four targets on just four shots to record the best individual performance. Team Blue’s Tim Brent, Clarke MacArthur, and Sjostrom hit 12 targets on 17 shots to defeat Team White’s Phil Kessel, Colton Orr and Luke Schenn who were 7-for-21.

EVENT 6: TEAM UP FOUNDATION GOALIE GOALS

In this event, Team Blue’s Jean-Sebastien Giguere and Team White’s Jonas Gustavsson were held scoreless.

EVENT 7: NHLPA GOALS AND DREAMS FUND POWER PLAY CHALLENGE

(Won by Team White)

Team White won the 3-on-1 event, with the trio of Nazem Kadri, Colton Orr and Mike Brown scoring three goals. Team White’s other trio of Phil Kessel, Nikolai Kulemin and Kris Versteeg added a goal of their own. Goaltender Jonas Gustavsson of Team White allowed just three goals against Team Blue in the event.

EVENT 8: PIZZA PIZZA HARDEST SHOT

(Team: Won by Team Blue / Individual: Phil Kessel, Team White)

Phil Kessel of Team White posted the individual hardest shot with a blast of 99.5 mph. Team Blue’s John Mitchell, Mike Komisarek, Mikhail Grabovski and Francois Beauchemin combined to win the team portion of the hardest shot event with an average speed of 95.7 mph.

THE EVENT RAISED $90,000 IN PROCEEDS THAT WILL BENEFIT THE MLSE TEAM UP FOUNDATION AND THE NHLPA GOALS AND DREAMS FUND. SINCE ITS INCEPTION THE LEAF SKILLS EVENT HAS RAISED OVER $2.9 MILLION FOR CHARITY.