National Hockey League All-Star Game
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The National Hockey League All-Star Game (French: Match des Étoiles de la Ligue Nationale de Hockey) is an exhibition ice hockey game that marks the midway point of the National Hockey League's regular season, with many of the star players playing against each other. The starting lineup for the two teams, including the starting goaltender, is voted on by fans, while the remainder of the team rosters are chosen by the all-star team's coaching staff, typically the head coaches of the teams that, at the time of the all-star game, are leading their divisions.
The all-star game is preceded by the NHL All-Star Skills Competition, a competition showing the various talents of the all-stars, and the NHL YoungStars Game, an exhibition game exclusively featuring rookies, playing under slightly modified rules.
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History
Although the first official All-Star game did not begin until the 1947-48 NHL season, there have been several occasions in the NHL where benefit games and all-star teams were created. The first all-star game in hockey, however, predated the NHL, when the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association had an all-star game on January 2, 1908 in memory of Montreal Wanderers player Hod Stuart, who had drowned three months after the Wanderers won the Stanley Cup. The proceeds of that game, which was won by the Wanderers 10-7 over a team of all-stars from the rest of the league, went to Stuart's family.
Ace Bailey Benefit Game
The first all-star game in the NHL started in 1934 to benefit Toronto Maple Leafs forward Ace Bailey, who suffered from a career-ending injury. On December 12, 1933, near the end of the second period of a game between the Leafs and the Boston Bruins in the Boston Garden, Bailey was tripped from behind by Bruins defenseman Eddie Shore, in retaliation of a check by King Clancy. Bailey was not the intended target of the check, Shore wanting to hit Clancy instead. Bailey was badly hurt, unconscious and bleeding. Bailey's teammate Red Horner took offence to the hit, and subsequently knocked out Shore with a punch. Shore was forgiven after the game when both players regained consciousness, Bailey saying that it was "all part of the game". However, Bailey would pass out and lapse into convulsions.
Bailey was not expected to live after a single night in hospital after suffering from severe hemorrhaging. If Bailey were to die, it was made well-known that Shore would have been charged with manslaughter. Fortunately, he gradually recovered, but his hockey career was over. For his actions, Shore would receive a 16-game suspension, a third of the 48-game schedule of the time, while Horner was suspended for the remainder of 1933.
The game itself was proposed by Walter Gilhooley, the sports editor of the Journal in Montreal. This proposal would become a reality on January 24, 1934, in a meeting of the NHL's Board of Governors in 1934. On February 14, 1934, the NHL's first all-star game was held, during which Bailey's #6 uniform was retired by the Leafs. It was the first number to be retired in the NHL. The game saw the Leafs battle against an all-star team made of players from the other seven teams, which the Leafs won 7-3. One of the more memorable moments before the game was when Bailey presented Shore with his all-star jersey, showing to the public that Bailey had clearly forgiven him for his actions. Bailey also presented a trophy to NHL President Frank Calder before a game in the hope that the trophy would go to the winner of an annual all-star game for the benefit of injured players.
Howie Morenz Memorial Game
Howie Morenz was one of the NHL's superstars of the 1930s. However, his career, and eventually, life, ended in a game between his Montreal Canadiens and the Chicago Blackhawks on January 28, 1937, at the Montreal Forum. In that game, Morenz was checked by Chicago player Earl Siebert into the boards in what seemed like a normal hit. However, as the boards were made of wood at the time, Morenz's leg shattered in five separate locations above the ankle. Morenz was carried off the ice on a stretcher to a hospital, where he died - not because of the leg injury, but because of his family, friends, and a legion of fans, all wanting to wish him well. At one time, one visitor noted that it was as if a party was being held inside of Morenz's hospital room, complete with whiskey and beer. Morenz died on March 8 the same year, from, as teammate Aurel Joliat put it, "a broken heart" (Morenz suffered a heart attack the night before). Morenz's #7, which had been hanging in its usual stall while he was in hospital, was finally retired for good.
While Morenz was in hospital, plans for a game for Morenz's benefit were already under way. However, the game was not as successful as Bailey's game, partially because it took place many months after Morenz's passing, on November 3 at the Forum, and partially because Morenz had not survived. The game saw two all-star teams, the first being a team of stars from the Habs and the Montreal Maroons, the second being an all-star team made of players from the other teams, with the latter team winning 6-5.
The Official Games
Despite Bailey's hopes of an annual all-star game, it did not become an annual tradition until the 1947-48 NHL season. Since then, the all-star game has been played every year, except in 1966, when the all-star game was moved from the start of the season to its current position in the middle of the season, 1979 with the Challenge Cup series, 1987 with Rendez-vous '87, 1995 with the season shortened by lockout, and 2005 when the season was cancelled altogether.
Both parts of Bailey's vision would, however, come true: the first game of the annual tradition, and the first official NHL all-star game, would be played in Maple Leaf Gardens, on October 13, 1947. The format of the all-star game, which remained the same, with two exceptions, until the 1967-68 NHL season, called for the defending Stanley Cup champions play against a selection of players from the other five teams. For the first year, the all-stars were a team comprising of the First and Second NHL All-Star teams (not to be confused with the All-Stars that played against the Cup champions), as well as three players from the New York Rangers and one player each from the Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Blackhawks.
For the game, the Gardens facilities were upgraded to use glass on the boards (in an era where wire fences were the norm), a point that fans complained about as the sounds of the checks were somewhat muted. In what would be another tradition, the defending Cup champions were presented before the game with various gifts that included sweater coats, golf balls, cigarette boxes, ties, cufflinks, pocket knives, watches, and lifetime passes to Maple Leaf Gardens. All-in-all, the game was a success, with the all-stars winning 4-3.
Although the All-Star Game called for the defending Cup champion to host it, the game was held in Chicago Stadium in its second year as a consequence of the negotiations that set up the first game. Also as a peculiarity as a result of the scheduling, the game was held not before the season started (as was the case before and would be for almost 20 years following the game), but three weeks into the season. Like the year before, players from the First and Second NHL All-Star teams were automatically awarded spots on the all-star game rosters (an exception was Leafs goalie Turk Broda, having won the Cup, played for the Leafs instead), with the rest of the all-stars being assembled so that each team was represented with at least three players on the All-Stars. As for the game itself, the All-Stars had won 3-1 with all of the scoring done in the second period.
The defending Cup champions would win their first all-star game in 1950 by a 7-1 margin, thanks to Detroit's Production Line and the fact that five of the First and Second NHL All-Star teams were Red Wings. Because of the one-sidedness of the game, many fans and hockey insiders considered options on how to make the all-star game more balanced, including one where the all-star game was eliminated altogether in favor of a best-of-nine Stanley Cup Final with the proceeds of two of the games going to the players' pension fund, and one which saw a Canadian Teams vs American Teams format. Ultimately, the 5th NHL All-Star Game saw the First NHL All-Star team battle the Second, with the players filling out the First team being from American teams and the Second team being filled with either Hab or Leaf players. The game ended in a 2-2 tie, leaving many fans upset for the second straight year. The same format of First vs Second with the First team being augmented by players from American teams and the Second being augmented by Leaf or Hab players continued the next year, but the 6th all-star game proved to be 60 minutes of boring hockey as the teams skated to a 1-1 tie.
Criticisms of this new format, as well as the boring hockey, was what made the NHL revert the format of the all-star game to its original incarnation. Some of the criticisms included the fact that teammates often opposed each other in the all-star game under the new format, and some stated that the early date of the game was detrimental to the exposure of the NHL in the States, being held at the same time as the World Series and the National Football League season (a point that NHL president Clarence Campbell admitted to had Chicago, Boston, or the Rangers won the Cup during the past few years). In what would be later a reality, Toronto Star columnist Red Burnett suggested that the game should be played mid-season and that fans should choose their starting lineup.
The game was moved from the start of the season to mid-season in the 1966-67 NHL season as part of the move to promote the NHL to six new cities who would have their own teams. Because of the move to mid-season, the method of player selection for the All-Stars, largely unchanged for 20 years, was much scrutinized, as playing the All-Star game mid-season meant that the First and Second All-Star teams were decided almost a full year before the game itself, and that by mid-season, the Cup winners were a vastly different team from the team that had won the Cup some eight or nine months before. The mid-season move also meant that rookies with outstanding first years, such as Bobby Orr, would be shut out of the game even if they deserved a spot on the All-Stars.
The 21st All-Star game a year later was somber compared to the 20 before it, as the day before the game was a tragic one. On January 14, 1968, two days before the game, Bill Masterton had been checked by two Oakland Seals players and died from his on-ice injuries. The game itself was overshadowed by the debate on whether helmets should be worn in the NHL in the fallout of Masterton's untimely death. As in the previous years, the All-Stars were represented by the First and Second All-Star teams, as well as enough players so that each team was represented. The East-West format of future all-star games was announced in the 21st All-Star Game, with the intention of being able to move the game anywhere, alternating home ice between an East division team and a West division team year after year. The idea, along with the notion that the players chosen for the two all-star teams should be the best at the time of the game rather than the best of the players from the season before, quickly gained popularity, although the Cup champions reserved the right to host the 22nd All-Star game. The St. Louis Blues became the first Western host of the All-Star game the following year. The 26th All-Star game was the first in which the game MVP received a car as a prize.
In 1978, amidst renewed interest in international hockey, the NHL decided to replace the 1979 All-Star game with a three-game series where the best the NHL had to offer faced off against the best the Soviet Union had to offer in the Challenge Cup. The Challenge Cup was being touted as a miniature world championship, and for the first time, fans could vote for certain members of the roster. However, the lack of preparation of the NHLers, with only three days to prepare for the game, compared to the Soviets' full year of training, led the NHL to lose the three-game series two games to one, with the third game being lost by an embarrassing 6-0 margin.
Over the next few years, various aspects of the all-star game came under, including the format of the game. To make things worse, the All-Star game itself was viewed as a bad thing, with players opting out of the game in favor of the rest and prospective hosts repeatedly declining to host the event.
The 37th All-Star game in 1985 marked the first time that honourary captains were selected for each team. The game also brought forth the notion of fan balloting of the starting lineup (already adopted in the National Basketball Association, National Football League, and Major League Baseball), as the game was suffering from having little media coverage. The idea came into fruition the following year.
Like the Challenge Cup before it, Rendez-vous '87, hosted in Le Colisée in Quebec City, was an event where the best the NHL could offer against a Soviet squad which had an entire year to prepare. To reduce the possibility of the NHL being embarrassed, Rendez-vous '87 was a two-game affair. The series was split between the two teams with a game apiece. Interesting to note that, during the series, NHL president John Ziegler stated that Soviet players would never be able to join the NHL because of the way the Soviet hockey program worked, and that NHLers would never be able to play in the Winter Olympics, both of which, as events would turn out, would eventually happen.
The NHL All-Star Skills Competition and the Heroes of Hockey game were both introduced in the 41st All-Star game in 1990. The Heroes of Hockey game featured NHL alumni and was set up much like the main game, with Wales vs Campbell. However, it is to note that many of these players retired before the introduction of the Wales and Campbell conferences. Future Heroes of Hockey games would have the hometown alumni play against the "best-of-the-rest", much like the all-star games of old. The 42nd All-Star game introduced, as part of the player selection, two players chosen by the commissioner to honor their years to their game.
The 48th All-Star game in 1998 saw the first change in format in years to promote the first Olympic hockey tournament where NHL players could participate. This format, which was used for five years, saw a team of North American all-stars taking on a team of players whose nationalities are outside North America. The format was not without its critics, some of which suggested replacing the game with an miniature national tournament, in the style of the World Cup of Hockey. Many fans also weren't happy with the system, especially some Canadian fans, who resented having a team with 75% Canadian players labeled "North America." The "First International Showdown", as it was billed, saw the North Americans win 8-7.
In 2003, the international showdowns were no more, and the game reverted back to its East vs West format.
All-Star Game Results
| Year | Result | Host team |
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| 1947 | All-Stars 4, Toronto 3 | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| 1948 | All-Stars 3, Toronto 1 | Chicago Blackhawks |
| 1949 | All-Stars 3, Toronto 1 | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| 1950 | Detroit 7, All-Stars 1 | Detroit Red Wings |
| 1951 | 1st Team 2, 2nd Team 2 | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| 1952 | 1st Team 1, 2nd Team 1 | Detroit Red Wings |
| 1953 | All-Stars 3, Montreal 1 | Montreal Canadiens |
| 1954 | All-Stars 2, Detroit 2 | Detroit Red Wings |
| 1955 | Detroit 3, All-Stars 1 | Detroit Red Wings |
| 1956 | All-Stars 1, Montreal 1 | Montreal Canadiens |
| 1957 | All-Stars 5, Montreal 3 | Montreal Canadiens |
| 1958 | Montreal 6, All-Stars 3 | Montreal Canadiens |
| 1959 | Montreal 6, All-Stars 1 | Montreal Canadiens |
| 1960 | All-Stars 2, Montreal 1 | Montreal Canadiens |
| 1961 | All-Stars 3, Chicago 1 | Chicago Blackhawks |
| 1962 | Toronto 4, All-Stars 1 | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| 1963 | All-Stars 3, Toronto 3 | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| 1964 | All-Stars 3, Toronto 2 | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| 1965 | All-Stars 5, Montreal 2 | Montreal Canadiens |
| 1966 | (No Game) | |
| 1967 | Montreal 3, All-Stars 0 | Montreal Canadiens |
| 1968 | Toronto 4, All-Stars 3 | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| 1969 | West 3, East 3 | Montreal Canadiens |
| 1970 | East 4, West 1 | St. Louis Blues |
| 1971 | West 2, East 1 | Boston Bruins |
| 1972 | East 3, West 2 | Minnesota North Stars |
| 1973 | East 5, West 4 | New York Rangers |
| 1974 | West 6, East 4 | Chicago Blackhawks |
| 1975 | Wales 7, Campbell 1 | Montreal Canadiens |
| 1976 | Wales 7, Campbell 5 | Philadelphia Flyers |
| 1977 | Wales 4, Campbell 3 | Vancouver Canucks |
| 1978 | Wales 3, Campbell 2 (OT) | Buffalo Sabres |
| 1979 | (No Game) | |
| 1980 | Wales 6, Campbell 3 | Detroit Red Wings |
| 1981 | Campbell 4, Wales 1 | Los Angeles Kings |
| 1982 | Wales 4, Campbell 2 | Washington Capitals |
| 1983 | Campbell 9, Wales 3 | New York Islanders |
| 1984 | Wales 7, Campbell 6 | New Jersey Devils |
| 1985 | Wales 6, Campbell 4 | Calgary Flames |
| 1986 | Wales 4, Campbell 3 (OT) | Hartford Whalers |
| 1987 | (No Game) | |
| 1988 | Wales 6, Campbell 5 (OT) | St. Louis Blues |
| 1989 | Campbell 9, Wales 5 | Edmonton Oilers |
| 1990 | Wales 12, Campbell 7 | Pittsburgh Penguins |
| 1991 | Campbell 11, Wales 5 | Chicago Blackhawks |
| 1992 | Campbell 10, Wales 6 | Philadelphia Flyers |
| 1993 | Wales 16, Campbell 6 | Montreal Canadiens |
| 1994 | East 9, West 8 | New York Rangers |
| 1995 | (No Game, Season Locked Out) | |
| 1996 | East 5, West 4 | Boston Bruins |
| 1997 | East 11, West 7 | San Jose Sharks |
| 1998 | North America 8, World 7 | Vancouver Canucks |
| 1999 | North America 8, World 6 | Tampa Bay Lightning |
| 2000 | World 9, North America 4 | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| 2001 | North America 14, World 12 | Colorado Avalanche |
| 2002 | World 8, North America 5 | Los Angeles Kings |
| 2003 | West 6, East 5 | Florida Panthers |
| 2004 | East 6, West 4 | Minnesota Wild |
| 2005 | (No Game, Season Locked Out) | |
Future All Star Games
| Year | Host team |
|---|---|
| 2006 | Phoenix Coyotes |