Red Wings back-up netminder Osgood gets All-Star call
TORONTO (Reuters) - Detroit's back-up netminder Chris Osgood was named on the NHL Western Conference All-Star squad on Thursday, joining three of his Red Wings team mates for the game in Atlanta.
Second choice behind Dominik Hasek, the 35-year-old Osgood has not performed like a back-up, posting a record of 19-2-1 this season with a league best 1.68 goals against average to earn his first All-Star appearance since 1996.
Osgood will see plenty of familiar faces in the Western Conference dressing room with team mate defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom, centre Pavel Datsyuk and left wing Henrik Zetterberg also set to take the ice on January 27.
With Vancouver Canucks netminder Roberto Luongo electing to miss the All-Star Game to be with his pregnant wife, Osgood will battle St Louis's Manny Legace and San Jose's Evgeni Nabokov for the starting assignment in the Western Conference goal.
Defenseman Chris Pronger and centre Ryan Getzlaf of the Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks were also named to the squad.
It will be Pronger's fifth All-star appearance while Getzlaf, the Ducks leading scorer, will make his first.
Los Angeles Kings Slovenian sniper Anze Kopitar, the Canucks silky smooth Swede Henrik Sedin, Colorado's Paul Stastny and Edmonton's Shawn Horcoff will also make their debuts.
Jason Arnott of the Nashville Predators, Marian Gaborik of the Minnesota Wild, Rick Nash of the Columbus Blue Jackets and Joe Thornton of the San Jose Sharks were other forwards to receive an All-Star invitation.
The Eastern Conference is scheduled to announce its complete roster on Friday.
(Writing by Steve Keating, editing by John O'Brien)
