The clock stopped in the third period at 53:57. Best All Stars had just scored its fourth goal against Richest All Star Team in the season 76 SHL All-Star Game at the New Orleans. It was a great 3v2 rush attack from the Best All Stars' fourth line. EGGWARD ELRIC entered the offensive zone beautifully along the middle lane. After crossing the blue line, he passed the puck to the right wing for William Salming. Salming kept the puck for a while, lured the defender to jump on him and then just before the contact from the defender, Salming passed the puck back to ELRIC for the empty space defender had left in front of the goal. Salming received the tackle from the defender and at the same time ELRIC shot with a first touch. A one-timer went straight to the top right corner. Best All Star increased its lead to three goals and hold the lead to the end. It was a routine 4-1 win for the Best All Star Team.

William Salming, a veteran of S56 draft class, played in his first All-Star game as a representative of Seattle Argonauts  and talked to us after the match about his experience.

Interviewer: So William, how would you describe the atmosphere here in New Orleans?

Salming: It was amazing, for sure. Unforgettable night for me and our whole team. What a great victory that was.

Interviewer: You played nine minutes and three seconds. At that time you managed to get an assist, plus-minus of +1, one hit and one takeaway. Thoughts about that?

Salming: I am more than happy about my performance in my first-ever All-Star game. I knew my role would be small but I still tried to contribute at some way. And I guess I did it with an assist to ELRIC's goal and also offered solid two-way game as always.

Interviewer: You said before the match that "never stop believing, kids". It took 18 full SHL seasons and 1188 regular season games for you to finally get an invite to play with the best players in the league. Now when the game is over, tell us about your whole All-Star game experience.

Salming: Yeah. It has been a long journey and lots of grinding. But I have enjoyed my career path to this point. Like I said earlier, many thanks to the management group of Best All Star Team that they picked me in the final round of the All-Star game draft. I almost stopped believing that this could happen but in the end the wait was worth it. The experience has been unbelievable. It was very fun to watch the skills competition yesterday and then play today in the All-Star game. When the national anthems were played before the match, I got goosebumps. The crowd was great during the whole game and cheered for both teams. It was also very fun to chat with other star players and especially learn about their training methods and secret tips for becoming a better hockey player. And I guess I had also some good advices to give them when it comes to winning and succeeding in tight situations and big finals.

Interviewer: This All-Star game nomination, was it the last achievement you were still missing from your trophy cabinet?

Salming: I would say it is a nice bonus. Individual awards have always been pretty impossible for me to win thanks to my defensive and responsible play style. Team awards and trophies have been most important for me instead of individual success but I can't deny that it feels cool to be able to say that I am now officially an SHL All-Star.

Interviewer: Last but not least, Seattle's rebuild is taking major steps forward this season. You have lots of new rookies in the house. What are your expectations about the upcoming season?

Salming: My expectations are simple: return to the playoffs or bust. Playoff games give you valuable experience about the standard and what it takes to win titles. In my opinion, it is good to face the level of demand early so you can prepare yourself every off-season to play in those pressure matches better season after season. It is not a good thing to play "losing hockey" many seasons because bad habits could be very tough to shake off when the cup window really opens. I am also interested to see which rookies will grow internally for big roles. I guess my role will be little bit smaller this season and youngsters get their chances to shine but I will still try to mentor them if they are willing to listen this kind of old guy, haha. I dream that I could experience at least one more playoff run with this team and pass the torch to the younger generation that way.

Interviewer: Thanks William and good luck for the season 77.

Salming: Thank you very much. We need it like all good teams. It was a pleasure to talk with you like always.