Holy Frk! Record blast leads West to Skills win

Jessica Christine Photography/AHL

ONTARIO, Calif.Martin Frk of the hometown Ontario Reign shattered the AHL record in the CCM Hardest Shot event with a blast clocked at 109.2 miles per hour, helping the Western Conference to an 18-15 win in the 2020 AHL All-Star Skills Competition on Sunday night at Toyota Arena.

Frk electrified the crowd by bettering the previous AHL mark of 105.5 mph set by Colin Miller in 2015. Frk’s shot also surpassed the National Hockey League mark of 108.8 set by Zdeno Chara in 2011.

Belleville Senators rookie Alex Formenton won the CCM Fastest Skater event with a lap of 13.356 seconds, the third-fastest time in the competition’s history.

Charles Hudon of the Laval Rocket won the Lucas Oil Accuracy Shooting event by hitting four targets in five attempts.

The CCM Top Goaltender award was a three-way tie among Connor Ingram of the Milwaukee Admirals, Vitek Vanecek of the Hershey Bears and Alex Nedeljkovic of the Charlotte Checkers, who made 14 saves apiece.

The 2020 AHL All-Star Classic presented by Ontario International Airport continues on Monday with the AHL Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Ceremony at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT, featuring the enshrinement of Robbie Ftorek, Denis Hamel, Darren Haydar and Fred Thurier as the AHL Hall of Fame Class of 2020 and also celebrating honorary All-Star Classic captains Derek Armstrong and Robb Stauber. The ceremony will be streamed live on AHLTV.

The league’s mid-season showcase wraps up Monday night at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT with the 2020 AHL All-Star Challenge, a round-robin tournament among the league’s four divisions played at 3-on-3. The All-Star Challenge will air live across the United States on NHL Network, across Canada on TSN2 and on the internet at AHLTV.