This Week in Sports: February 2nd

NHL:

The focus in the NHL this past weekend revolved solely around the NHL’s All-Star Weekend, which took place in Ottawa this year. The festivities began with the All-Star fantasy draft, a new concept in its second year that calls for two team captains to select their teams from a pool of selected players, forming two teams that will go against each other in the Skills Competition and the actual All-Star game. This year’s captains included hometown hero Daniel Alfredson in perhaps his swan song season as the captain of the Ottawa Senators. Zdeno Chara, captain of the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Boston Bruins, and former Senator, captained the other team. Chara won the right to pick first and selected Red Wings superstar dangler Pavel Datsyuk. A lot of intrigue accompanies the guy who gets picked last in the All-Star Draft, and this year Logan Couture got the honors of being the last man standing, taking home a brand new Honda as his consolation prize.

The Skills Competition on Saturday night featured its typical antics, notably from Patrick Kane, Corey Perry, and Habs’ goaltender Carey Price. Take a look for yourself:

Kane here

Perry here

Price here

The actual game on Sunday afternoon ended in a 12-9 victory for Team Chara, with New York Rangers' Marian Gaborik winning MVP on the strength of his three goals.

NFL:

The NFL also got its own All-Star festivities going this weekend, or began Super Bowl Week, depending on how you want to look at it. The AFC beat out the NFC 59-41 in a game where literally no defense is played. Highlighting the event was the spectacular performance by Miami Dolphins wide receiver Brandon Marshall, who reeled in six passes for 176 yards and a Pro Bowl record four touchdowns, handily taking home the MVP award and a new car that he said he would give to his mother, which begs the question: one of the highest paid wide receivers in the NFL had to wait to win a free car to give to his own mother? Let’s just hope he’s adding to her collection and not only starting it now.

As I wrote last week, it’s time for Super Bowl predictions!

Eli Manning.

Say what you want about the greatness of Tom Brady; there’s no denying what he’s done over his career. And by beating the Giants on Sunday, not only would he kill a demon that has been lurking in his head since 2007 (when the Giants ruined the Patriots perfect season by beating them in the Super Bowl), Brady would also solidify his already legendary name in the annals of football history for the rest of eternity.

But again, someone stands in his way: Eli Manning. ELIte Manning. The Giants team that beat the Patriots had an average Manning at QB, barely doing enough to get the team by. The Manning that confronts the Patriots this Sunday is so much more. He is confident, determined, and on fire. He is smart, accurate, and clutch. He is the real deal, and he’s going to beat Tom Brady once again.

Oh, and let’s not forget the vicious, merciless pass rush that the Giants will be sending Brady’s way all game… let’s just say he’ll be eating a lot of turf.

Final score: Giants 30, Patriots 24

Tennis:

The Australian Open came to a resounding conclusion this weekend as a new #1 was crowned on the women’s side, while the current King of the Court continued his reign on the men’s side. Victoria Azarenka defeated -no, annihilated- Maria Sharapova 6-3, 6-0 in 1 hour, 22 minutes on Saturday night, while Novak Djokovic took down Rafael Nadal in an epic battle that was the longest Grand Slam singles final in the history of professional tennis Sunday, winning 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-5 after 5 hours, 53 minutes to claim his third Australian Open title.

Other news and notes:

Baseball: All-Star slugger Prince Fielder finally decided on his next team, signing a 9-year, $214 million dollar deal with the Detroit Tigers, returning to his father’s old stomping grounds (his dad, Cecil Fielder, was a star in his own right for the Tigers).

Soccer: Canada’s women’s national team with be representing the country at the 2012 London Olympic Games after qualifying during a victory against Mexico over the weekend.

-Andrew Maggio runs a dedicated Habs blog, check it out here