He may have feigned a state of shock when first told, but Scott Gomez has his plans all worked out for the upcoming All-Star weekend in Toronto.

"I'm just going to sit there and take it all in," said Gomez, the Devils' 20-year-old rookie sensation who earned a nod on the North American team and is one of only two rookies who'll be playing in the 50th NHL All-Star Game Sunday -- Atlanta's Petr Buzek being the other.

	Devils rookie Scott Gomez got the All-Star nod after leading all rookies in scoring.

"It's a game that you always dream that you'll play in as a kid," Gomez said. "And you always want to be a part of the whole thing. The whole weekend is going to be a lot of fun to be a part of. But since I'm the new guy, I probably won't be saying much in the locker room. Thankfully, Marty (Brodeur) and Scotty (Stevens) will be there, so that's at least two people I can talk to."

It would seem likely Gomez isn't going to be quite as lonely as he thinks he is when he arrives at the Air Canada Centre for an All-Star practice Friday morning. All around will be faces and names he grew up idolizing, including quite a few that he's harassed en route to scoring 13 goals and a team-leading 45 points.

"Just the other night (after a Devils game in Detroit Saturday), Chris Chelios came over and was talking to me, and he said, 'Well, I'll see you at the All-Star Game then.' And to hear a guy like him say something like that to me is just unbelievable."

Gomez isn't just any 5-foot-11, 200-pound center playing wing while touring the NHL. Much has been chronicled about his Latin-American heritage and his hailing from that pro sports hotbed of Anchorage, Alaska.

Correctly assessing this wide-eyed and polite young man as not only a role model for minority youth and, well, Alaskans everywhere, the league launched its marketing campaign early and at full speed as soon as his spot on the Devils roster was secured.

That he has since turned in a half-season of brilliance makes this natural human interest story a remarkable one.

"To make it in your first year, that's pretty phenomenal," said Stevens, who will be playing in his 11th NHL All-Star Game and was a member of the league's All-Rookie team 17 years ago. "You've got to play pretty well and put some big numbers up, and Scott's done that. There's no question he deserves to be there."

Gomez may not agree. When told that he'd been selected, he said, "I still kind of think someone's playing a prank." But he is running away with the league's rookie scoring race, which is the primary factor in voting on the Calder Trophy for the NHL Rookie of the Year.

	“	For a small player, he's not afraid to get in traffic. He doesn't shy away from the physical stuff and that's probably what got him here. He's got great speed. ”
		— Flyers defenseman Eric Desjardins

But with the same sense of humility -- or skeptical sense of shock -- that he greeted this All-Star invite with, Gomez said he thinks of potential postseason awards in only an abstract fashion. To wit ... why me?

"The way I look at it, I've been fortunate to be with the kind of guys that I play with," said Gomez. "That's mostly what it's been with me. We've got a lot of excellent players to work with and they've been great with me. I guess that's been the best part of it. So with any (awards), it's tough to ignore it because you hear so much about it. ... I'm just going to keep playing my game and trying to help my team win and let it happen."

He may only be a rookie, but Gomez has so ingrained himself in the Devils' lineup that he's fully cognizant of what winning means in New Jersey. In four postseason trips since sophomore goalie Martin Brodeur led them to a Cup in 1995, the Devils have been at or near the top of the Eastern Conference pack. Yet they've also missed the playoffs once and lost in the first round twice.

"I think you can sense that in our dressing room," said Gomez. "You can tell guys are anxious for the real season to begin."

That is largely the way Brodeur, another heralded rookie and former first-round pick approached his first season, which ended in a long postseason run (to the Conference finals) and a Calder Trophy presentation in 1994. Now, a five-time All-Star Brodeur says he'll help Gomez deal with similar pressure.

"It's going to be a great experience for him, at his age, to be able to meet and greet all the All-Stars," said Brodeur. "He's lucky me and Scotty will be there to help him out."

Gomez has been all business since Day 1 of the season, a kid who has been able to shake off the glamour factor of stepping right out of junior hockey and onto the ice with the NHL's best team. So far, he's shown that he fits right in with those Devils.

"For a small player, he's not afraid to get in traffic," Flyers defenseman and fellow North American All-Star Eric Desjardins said of Gomez. "He doesn't shy away from the physical stuff and that's probably what got him here. He's got great speed. I'm not sure how hard his shot is, but it's accurate. When you're quick like that and you have great speed, you can create a lot of offense."

Gomez, a kid never afraid to dish out a hit or employ a stray elbow en route to digging a puck out of a corner, surely will be spotlighted on ABC as a model of the NHL's future. So will he choose this All-Star debut to merely try to find a quiet seat on the bench ... or dare to try to make this game more than just a shooting competition as it's too often been?

"I think the fans want to see a good game," said Gomez. "They don't want it to be all offense, but at the same time they still like to see guys scoring. That's what All-Star weekend is. But for me, it's my first one. So I'm not going to complain about anything."

Rob Parent covers the NHL for the Delaware County (Pa.) Times. His NHL East column appears every week on ESPN.com.