Last weekend in the NHL All-Star Game SuperSkills competition, Zdeno Chara of the Boston Bruins unleashed a 105.9 mph attempt in the Hardest Shot competition, topping his previous NHL record of 105.4 mph set two years ago in Montreal.
This weekend, Russia's KHL held its All-Star Game skills competition. According to their radar gun, the second attempt by Denis Kulyash of Omsk Avangard demolished Chara's NHL record with a 110.343 mph (177.58 km/h) blast.
Jaromir Jagr seemed rather impressed:
Caveats: 1. It’s the KHL. 2. Not sure where the net is located with regard to net placement in the NHL’s hardest shot competition. 3. It’s the KHL.
From the KHL:
Earlier today during the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) All-Star Superskills Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia, Avangard Omsk defenseman Denis Kulyash shattered the world record for the fastest slap shot with a speed of 110.343 mph (177.58 kmph).
Participating in the “Hardest Shot” competition on behalf of Team Jagr, Kulyash, unleashed the record-breaking shot on his final attempt.
The previous world record of 105.9 mph was set by Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara at last month’s NHL All-Star Skills Competition in Raleigh, North Carolina.
"Frankly, I do not even know who holds the world record and with what result," said Kulyash afterwards. "I broke the record? Wow, well that’s very nice. Heading into our event, Team Yashin was leading the competition (three events-to-one), so I just wanted to win our event."
Team Yashin would go on to win the overall KHL All-Star Superskills Competition, comprised of seven events, including Fastest Skater, Longest Shot, Puck Control Relay, Shooting Accuracy, Hardest Shot, Shootout and Fastest Skater Team Relay, by a score of 4-3.
Puck Daddy's Dmitry Chesnokov verified the speed in the Russian language video and said that Kulyash has been nicknamed "Pushka", which means "Cannon."
He also said there was a mention of Chara in the post-event interview, which hopefully plants the seed for an international showdown between the NHL's hardest shot and the KHL's. It'll be just like "Rocky IV" ... if Rocky were a 6-9, 255 pound Slovak.