Excerpt from Canadiens.com:


As if making his All-Star debut in front of his home fans won’t be stressful enough, Mike Komisarek is also staring down the barrels of a Hardest Shot showdown with the likes of defending champ Zdeno Chara, and his old buddy Sheldon Souray.

“My strategy is to just shoot it low and hope I hit the net. It’s going to be a tough time if I miss the net out there,” joked Komisarek, whose last appearance in a hardest shot competition was at the 2003 AHL All-Star Game, where he recalls clocking in at around 96 mph.

“I don’t think that’s going to win it here, though. You’ve got to at least break into triple digits to have any chance at all,” he admitted.

While pride and bragging rights are already on the line in the event, the players decided to up the ante and put a little wager on the outcome of Saturday night’s competition.

“We put money into a pot that’s going to be donated to charity and the league will match it so there’s a little side bet there for a good cause,” explained the 6-foot-4 Habs defenseman. “If I was a betting man, though, I wouldn’t be putting money on me but who knows. I’m the underdog to say the least.”