It feels like the all-star weekend just started and today I already fly back to Vancouver. I had a great time in San Jose, it was a lot of fun.

Friday night was the skills competition and it began with a red carpet walk into the arena. There were fans everywhere, I did a few media interviews and Gritty was there handing out waters. He's a popular guy.

When the event started, it was cool skating onto the ice with a big introduction, but I didn't know if the fans were booing me or giving me a cheer. Cheering I hope!

I competed in two events: Fastest Skater and Puck Control Relay. For Fastest Skater I decided to skate in the opposite direction than the first three skaters; I'm more comfortable going right than left, but I knew going in I wasn't going to win because going against Connor McDavid in speed is not that easy. I didn't win, but I'm happy with how I did.

Video: Elias Pettersson Competes for Fastest Skater

Puck relay…I don't really want to talk about it. I went too fast at the start and I didn't expect to lose the puck, so I didn't know what to expect after that. Maybe I would get to restart? I guess not. I felt at the end that I needed to do something good to make up for it, and I was happy with my finish.

Video: Elias Pettersson Competes in Puck Control Event

I had two shots in the Save Streak event, going up against first Pekka Rinne, then Devan Dubnyk - no easy task.

My usual move is right to left, but the goalies know about it now, so against Rinne I tried a different move going backhand five-hole and it worked out. On the second one against Dubnyk, he poke-checked, so I went high instead and it worked as well.

Tweet from @Canucks: 🎯🚨 - nice shootin' Petey #NHLAllStar pic.twitter.com/nKjQdXXiNw

I didn't compete in an event after that. It was just fun out there getting to know a lot of people and talking to a lot of the top guys in the league. I talked a lot with the Swedes; it was my first time talking to Erik Karlsson, Gabriel Landeskog and Henrik Lundqvist, but it felt like I've known them a lot longer.

Saturday was a quieter day because there was no red carpet introduction. That gave me more time to relax before the game and I made sure to talk to a lot of the guys. Team Pacific played in the first game, we faced Team Central. I played with Clayton Keller and Drew Doughty for the first half, then was with McDavid and Johnny Gaudreau in the second half. Getting to play with those great players was a lot of fun.

We lost the game 10-4 and at one point we were just laughing on the bench, looking at each other wondering what was happening. It wasn't the Pacific Division's day. I had a few scoring chances, I should have scored at least one goal. I'm saving them for the second half of our season!

Video: All-STAR | Elias Pettersson Post-Game Comments

I didn't know what to expect coming into the weekend and even though we didn't win, I had a lot of fun meeting all the players I've been watching growing up. Thank you to the NHL and San Jose for making my first all-star game very special.

Petey­