Hey, what do you know: Maybe people do actually care about Jarome Iginla.
While all of the attention this week has been on Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby closing in on the Montreal Canadiens' robo-vote juiced significant lead in the Eastern Conference forwards all-star game voting, the Western Conference has actually given us the first dramatic turn of events in the inaugural season of "real-time" fan voting.
On the left are the NHL All-Star Game voting totals from Nov. 30 at 9:28 p.m. EST; on the right are the totals from 9 a.m. EST this morning. As you can see, Iginla now leads Henrik Zetterberg of the Detroit Red Wings in the race for starting forward, and is closing in on Pavel Datsyuk.
Meanwhile, here's what the Crosby rally looks like, from the same dates (Nov. 30 and this morning):
Alex Tanguay has gained 28,440 votes since Nov. 30 at 9:28 p.m. EST. Crosby has gained 43,119. Since we've got over a month of voting left, perhaps that Montreal Canadiens' stranglehold on the starting positions in the Eastern Conference is in jeopardy.
Unless something dramatic happens, these are the only races to watch. Which is a shame, because Mike Komisarek has as much business starting in an all-star game as Sean Avery has being as usher at the Cuthbert/Phaneuf wedding.
