Josh Godfrey records hardest shot at skills competition

NEWS RELEASES

SOO GREYHOUNDS

ONTARIO HOCKEY LEAGUE

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99.3 MPH! Hardest shot in the O belongs to a Hound

Saginaw, MICHIGAN - The 2007 OHL All-Star festivities kicked off Tuesday evening with the Western Conference taking on the Eastern Conference in the Skills Competition at the Dow Event Center in this Mid-Michigan city.

Six events would test the accuracy, speed, precision and teamwork of 40 of best players in the entire Ontario Hockey League.

Greyhound defenceman Josh Godfrey was given the honour to represent the Hounds and City of Sault Ste. Marie in this showcase event.

Godfrey's night would start off with a bang, literally. The Hounds 3rd-leading scorer was one of five players that would represent the Western Conference in the HARDEST SHOT event.

Each shooter would be given two chances to register a shot.

With his first attempt, Godfrey's shot registered 99.3 MPH on the speed gun. He would follow that up with a second shot of 95.7 MPH. 99.3 MPH would stand to be the hardest shot in this event and unofficially the hardest in the entire league.

Here's are how the other shooters faired (speeds listed in miles per hour):

WESTERN CONFERENCE Ryan Wilson (SAR) 80.0 | 83.0

James Neal (PLY) 88.7 | 90.7

Drew Doughty (GUE) 89.2 | 89.9

Bobby Sanguinetti (OS) 86.7 | 88.1

EASTERN CONFERENCE Chris Stewart (KGN) 87.6 | 89.9

Matt Pelech (BEL) 94.3 | 95.4

Derek Joslin (OTT) 93.7 | 93.7

Marc Staal (SUD) 88.9 | 92.1

Jamie McGinn (OTT) 88.1 | 89.9

In his second event on the night, Godfrey would participate in the breakaway relay.

The Hound rearguard would go in on Peterborough Petes goaltender Trevor Cann and put the puck past him on the blocker side to earn the Western Conference a point in the event. (It would take London forward Sam Gagner to end the event with the 21st shot on Cann to give the Western Conference the event.)

The final event on the evening for Josh would be the 3-on-3 relay.

Godfrey would team up on a line with Erie's Zack Torquato and Windsor's Josh Bailey in taking on the Eastern Conference goalies.

At the end of the night Team East beat Team West 15-13.

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Eastern Conference takes All-Star Skills competition

Belleville Bulls defenceman Matt Pelech scored the winning goal in the last minute of the three-on-three game to give the Eastern Conference a 15-13 win over the Western Conference in the Skills Competition of the OHL All-Star Classic at the Dow Event Center in Saginaw, MI on Tuesday.

The trio of Nick Foligno (Sudbury Wolves), Bryan Little (Barrie Colts) and Tyler Donati (Belleville Bulls) posted the Eastern Conference to a quick lead in the skills competition when they won the puck control relay. Tom Pyatt of the hometown Spirit evened the score when he beat Bobby Hughes of the Kingston Frontenacs in the one-on-one contest.

“I got a good jump at the start, but it was tough,” Pyatt said. “It was a quick pace.”

Stefan Legein of the Mississauga IceDogs paced the field in the fastest skater competition with a 14.109 second lap around the ice surface. Steven Stamkos of the Sarnia Sting wiped out on his lap.

“I was going too fast and I lost an edge there,” the Sarnia rookie said. “It was pretty hard but at least I finished my lap.”

Josh Godfrey of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds won the hardest shot competition with a blast that reached 99.3 miles per hour on the radar gun. Matt Pelech of the Belleville Bulls had the early lead with 95.4.

“I just leaned into it and got it all,” said Godfrey, who hit 95.7 with his second shot.

Logan Couture of the Ottawa 67’s won the shooting accuracy competition, picking off four targets with five shots. Patrick Kane of the London Knights hit four targets in eight shots to help the West grab a point with the most total targets hit.

“I practiced a bit in warm up and got a couple,” Couture said.

Stamkos redeemed himself with a fantastic deke in the breakaway competition that tied the skills competition 8-8 and then Sam Gagner of the Knights scored in sudden death to give the West the point.

“I’ve been working on that one in practice the past few days,” Stamkos said. “I got lucky and it went top corner.”

Thomas McCollum of the Guelph Storm turned aside all nine shots he faced in the breakaway competition to help the West come back from a 5-3 deficit heading into the final event.

Chris Stewart and Bobby Hughes combined for a pair of goals in the three-on-three game.

“He’s one of my good buddies, so it’s good to share this with him,” said Stewart, Kingston’s captain.

Couture, Foligno and Oshawa Generals’ teammates Michael Del Zotto and Brett MacLean also scored for the East. Stamkos, Ryan O’Marra (Saginaw Spirit), Mark Katic (Sarnia Sting) and Steve Downie (Kitchener Rangers) replied for the West.

The OHL All-Star Game will be held on Wednesday (7:00 p.m. on Rogers Sportsnet).

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