"It's neat to watch. What he can do with the puck is really pretty amazing," said Richards afterwards. "But how would that translate into a game? You'll never see that in a game. But it is fun to watch, it is entertaining in an event like this."

Schremp's teammates were just as excited about the performance put on.

"It's pretty crazy, Schrempy, this is his kind of day for sure," remarked Matt Carkner. "He's a skilled player and he showed what he could do."

"I wish he could do that in a game," remarked Connor James. "But it's definitely as exciting for us as it is for the fans."

Carkner and James supplied some thrills of their own. The big Pens defenseman cranked up a 101 mile per hour slap shot to take the hardest shot competition, while James came away the winner in the highly anticipated fastest skater contest.

"I did [hardest shot] before [in another competition] but missed the net both times," said Carkner. "I hit a post once and recorded like 93 or something like that. It was good to see 101, that was really cool.

"That one I actually was trying to control it, because I heard if you keep it nice and low, about a foot off the ice, that's when you get the best score. A little control and a lot of power I guess."

James set the standard as the first skater on Sunday, then watched as Jonathan Filewich and Joe Jensen, who won the same event at the AHL and ECHL All-Star Skills Competitions, respectively, took the their turns. James completed the one lap course in a time of 14.265, just 0.094 seconds faster than Filewich. Jensen was close behind at 14.517.

"It feels good. I got a little bragging rights over Filly, but it was barely a difference," James stated. "Maybe my stick hit (the finish line) or something like that. But I'll definitely rub it in as much as I can.

"It's tough, because your legs aren't really warmed up, so the first couple strides you take, you feel like you're going to fall on your face. But you just try to keep your legs moving and hopefully it's a good time."

Coaches Richards and Bylsma faced off in a special head-to-head race, with the assistant coach beating his boss by nearly a full second.

"It's a little unfair to me, because Dan skates the guys all the time," said Richards. "He should be faster than me, so really I guess I'm pleased with my performance."

Richards was more than up to the task when it came to the most accurate shot competition, though, as he knocked down all four targets in just six attempts - the same score former head coach Joe Mullen produced in last year's event.

"Joey Mullen is in a league way, way above me. To throw me into that category, that's not right," said Richards, deferring to the NHL Hall of Famer. But it was fun, it was a fun event. I think the fans really enjoyed it. I had a good time with it, and I think our players had a good time with it."

The fact that Richards has a few years on all the other participants might have played to his advantage in this particular portion of the event.

"There's no doubt that I think age and experience and being able to settle down helped," said Richards of his savvy shooting. "But Schrempy did it [hit all four]. Other players were real close. There's a fine line between hitting it and missing it. A couple of them I'm sure I was really lucky at."

The real winners in the event, though, are the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the United Way and local youth hockey players. All proceeds from the night's events will benefit those charities.