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All-Star Game: Women’s players show Skills

Taylor Haase
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Kendall Coyne Schofield of Team USA and the Minnesota Whitecaps competes in the fastest skater event during Friday's Skills Competition. -- AP

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Four women's players were on hand for Friday night's All-Star Skills Competition in San Jose -- Team USA's Kendall Coyne Schofield and Brianna Decker, and Team Canada's Rebecca Johnston and Renata Fast.

All are professional hockey players: Coyne Schofield plays for the Minnesota Whitecaps of the NWHL, Decker and Johnston play for the Calgary Inferno of the CWHL, and Fast plays for the Toronto Furies of the CWHL.

The four women were originally brought in to demonstrate the events before the NHL players competed, just as Hilary Knight did last season with the accuracy shooting challenge. Hours before the competition, however, Nathan MacKinnon asked if Coyne Schofield could take his place in the fastest skater event, and she jumped at the opportunity.

With that, Coyne Schofield became the first woman to compete in the All-Star Skills Competition. She finished in seventh place with a time of 14.346, ahead of the Coyotes' Clayton Keller.

For more context: The Oilers held their own skills competition earlier this month, minus Connor McDavid. Coyne Schofield would have finished in second place among that group, behind only Ryan Spooner.

"When she took off, I was like 'Wow!' I thought she might have won the way she was moving," said McDavid, a three-time winner of the fastest skater event. "She's a really good skater. It's an amazing thing for the game when you can see her participate like that at an event like this."

For Coyne Schofield, a five-time World Champion and an Olympic gold medalist in Pyeongchang, competing in an event like this still brought some nerves.

"When you're competing for a game, you have your 22 sisters by your side," she said. "I wish all of my teammates could be here, but it was awesome to be a part of and I think I was more nervous, just wanted to do well and prove to the world that we belong."

Being able to participate in the competition and show just how fast she could fly in such a high-profile event was a success not just for Coyne Schofield, but for all of women's hockey.

"I knew it was a moment that would break a lot of barriers and change the perception of our game and show support for our game," said Coyne Schofield. "It was so exciting."

NBCSN didn't bother to televise the other women demonstrating the events, but Sportsnet did. Here's Johnston -- a two-time Olympic gold medalist, World Champion, and CWHL Clarkson Cup champion -- demonstrating the puck control event:

Decker, another five-time World Champion and Olympic gold medalist as well as an NWHL Isobel Cup champion, wasn't an official entrant in the snooze-fest of the premier passing challenge, but she did demonstrate the event beforehand:

Decker finished with a time of 1:06 -- three seconds faster than the first-place finisher Leon Draisaitl.

The winner of each event earns $25,000, about double what Decker makes in a year in the CWHL. But that money will still go to Draisaitl.

Regardless, the event was huge for the much-needed exposure it brought to women's hockey, as Decker said after the game.

"It shows that our women's game has come a long way," said Decker. "I think today was a great opportunity for people to be more aware of what we have and our talent. We couldn't be more thankful for the NHL to allow us to come out here and hang out with the guys and be able to be a part of the event."

The American and Canadian women's national teams will next compete in the 2019 Rivalry Series, from Feb. 12-17 in London and Toronto, Ontario, and Detroit.

Chris Bradford contributed to this report

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