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Make your pick! NHL All-Star Game gets makeover

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NEW YORK (AP) — The NHL All-Star Game will look like a schoolyard pickup game this year.

The league announced Wednesday that it is switching from the conference-vs.-conference format it has used for years to a player draft conducted by the All-Stars themselves, in which captains selected by the players will determine the teams.

The 2011 All-Star Weekend will be hosted by Carolina on the last weekend in January.

Under the new format, two captains per team will select the remaining All-Stars in any order they choose. Those teams will compete in the All-Star Game and SuperSkills competition.

NHL vice president Brendan Shanahan says the goal is to “make the game more fun for everyone” and to “inject more excitement and intrigue into all the events.”