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Closer Look MacInnis still hard to stop
Posted: Sunday February 06, 2000 02:15 AM
By David Vecsey, CNNSI.com TORONTO -- You think Al MacInnis' shot looks hard every year in the All-Star SuperSkills competition? Martin Brodeur says you should see it when Big Mac really lays into one. "Oh, it's more than a few mph difference," said Brodeur, the New Jersey Devils goalie and MacInnis' North American All-Star teammate. "It's a lot. Especially when he one-times it. "When you walk into a puck that's moving, it's like hitting a baseball. You know, force against force? I think they can come in a lot harder than what you see out there." Out there on the Air Canada Centre ice Saturday night, MacInnis won his sixth hardest shot title with a blast of 100.1 mph. That's six titles in 10 years of competition. And this one came just one week after MacInnis returned from a five-game layoff with a collapsed lung. "He's got the hardest shot in the league," Brodeur confirmed. "I've been saying that since I came into the league." Chris Pronger, MacInnis' defensive partner in St. Louis and a starter in Sunday night's All-Star Game, said MacInnis doesn't do anything out of the ordinary in practice. Unless you consider launching a piece of vulanized rubber at ungodly speeds with barely a flick of the wrists to be slightly out of the ordinary. "A lot of it has to do with that stick he uses," Pronger said. "The curve does it. "He hit me in practice just last week, right in the foot. It felt reee-al good." MacInnis' participation for this event had been in doubt because of the collapsed lung. But after having it re-inflated, he was cleared to play earlier this week in Vancouver. A couple of hard hits from the Canucks told him all he needed to know about his strength. "My oldest boy [8-year-old Carson] was devastated when he thought I wasn't going to come and do this," MacInnis said. "But there was no risk at all or I wouldn't have played at Vancouver and I wouldn't have done this." For good theater, MacInnis brought up the rear, shooting eighth out of eight. There were some respectable speeds, although none of the four Europeans broke 96.5 mph. The first three North Americans, however ... Pronger 99.4; John LeClair 100 mph; and Rob Blake 99.9 mph. "I've been in this every year and I still get nervous," MacInnis said. "The fans expect it. The pressure's on. ... This was only the second time I've broken 100 mph, so at least I can say I did that. "[A hard shot] is just something I've always had, something I've always worked on. I don't look at it as easy, but I'd rather be shooting it than blocking it."
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