Zemgus Girgensons, 5 Blackhawks voted All-Stars

The NHL All-Star vote is in and the most rabid fans are in Chicago, Buffalo - and Latvia.

Sabres forward Zemgus Girgensons, thanks to votes from his native Latvia and 1,574,896 overall, is the top vote-getter in his first time as an All-Star.

Girgensons, 20, is in his second NHL season and has 109 NHL games to his credit, scoring 19 goals, including a team-best 11 this season. Though he came to North America as a teenager to play in the U.S. junior hockey leagues, he has played for Latvia in the Olympics, world championships and world junior championships.

The Blackhawks players are more mainstream All-Stars: Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and Corey Crawford. The first three have seven All-Star appearances among them.

Forwards Kane and Toews received 1,232,201 and 1,217,210 votes, respectively. Duncan Keith got 1,198,173 votes and fellow defenseman Seabrook 1,016,992. Crawford topped all goaltenders with 1,099,504 votes.

The NHL said nearly 27% of the 35 million votes cast came from outside North America, up 7,000% from the 2012 game.

All-Star weekend is Jan. 24-25 in Columbus, Ohio. The rest of the All-Stars will be named by the NHL next Saturday.