BY DEREK CARSON – FAN FUEL BLOGGER
Hello hockey fans! The All-Star weekend is upon us, so to continue celebrating this great game of ours, let’s take a walk down memory lane and recount our favourite All-Star moments.
Here you’ll find what I think are the Top 5 moments in All-Star history, though admittedly some shining moments have been left out. If you have any All-Star moments you want to share, have at it and write them in the comments!
5. The First NHL All-Star Game
The first All-Star game was played on October 13, 1947 (Canada’s Thanksgiving Day) at the historic Maple Leaf Gardens. It was the defending Stanley Cup champion Toronto Maple Leafs versus the NHL All-Stars. The game ended 4-3 for the All-Stars.
Back then, and pretty much until 1969, the All-Star game was between the defending Cup champs and the rest of the league’s best players. The format changed however to pit the conferences against each other as the defending champs were sometimes pretty abysmal teams the following year after winning the Cup.
Here is a nifty video of clips from the first All-Star game here.
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4. North America vs. The World
In 1998, to coincide with the first ever winter Olympics where NHL players could participate (the Nagano Olympics), the NHL changed the All-Star format from the East vs. West model to the North American All-Stars vs. the World All-Stars.
The game was played in Vancouver and was also the first game ever where an All-Star team (the North American All-Stars) came back from a 3-0 deficit to win the game. The final score was 8-7 for North America.
Unfortunately, the result did not foreshadow what would happen at the Olympics that year. If you’ll recall, Canada lost to Dominik Hasek and the Czech Republic in a shootout in the semi-finals. Team Canada’s coach Marc Crawford had Wayne Gretzky sitting on the bench and didn’t put him in for the shootout.
Canada ended up placing fourth while the Czech Republic went on to win the gold medal against Russia.
3. Ray Bourque – the Hometown Hero
In 1996, the All-Star game was played in Boston. Ray Bourque, the long-time Bruin proved to be a pivotal member of the Eastern All-Stars, scoring the game-winner with just 37.3 seconds left in regulation in front of his hometown fans.
It was one of the most competitive All-Star games in recent memory. The East had a 3-0 lead early in the second period, but the West came back, and by the end of the second the score was 4-3 for the East; just one goal up now.
In the third period, with only 3:29 left in regulation, Teemu Selanne scored for the West to tie it up. It was looking like it was going to overtime until Bourque pounced on a loose puck and backhanded a shot top-corner!
Bourque was named the MVP and four years later he would be traded to the Colorado Avalanche where he eventually won the Cup in 2001 and retired, a favourite to all hockey fans everywhere.
2. Al Iafrate Breaks the 100 mph Barrier
In 1993, Al Iafrate made history and set a record that would remain unbroken for over 15 years.
Both Al Iafrate and Al MacInnis were known for their dangerous slapshot. When the hardest shot competition was introduced in 1990 it was pretty much between these two guys who would win (if they were both All-Stars that year).
In 1990, Iafrate won the competition with a 96 mph slapper. In 1991 and 1992, Iafrate wasn’t named to the All-Star team and MacInnis won the competition with 94 and 93 mph slapshots respectively.
But in 1993, Al Iafrate came back with a vengeance. He registered a slapshot at the speed of 105.2 mph! He was the first player to ever break the 100 mph barrier and his record would stand until 2009 when Zdeno Chara finally broke it with a 105.4 mph slapshot and then again in 2011 with a 105.9 mph shot.
How unbelievable is it that Iafrate could shoot that hard with just a wooden stick, before all the new technology came into play? And how crazy is it that even today, with all the new technology in players’ sticks, that no one has broken 106 mph?
Al Iafrate, I salute you.
1. Mario’s Return – Canada’s Olympic Revenge
This is absolutely my personal favourite All-Star moment of all time.
In 2001, Mario Lemieux returned to the game of hockey after having retired due to illness and injury back in 1997. It was no coincidence that his return to the game was close to the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.
In the 2001 All-Star skills competition, there was a shootout challenge. Dominik Hasek, the goalie who had stymied Team Canada in Nagano back in 1998, was in nets. Mario was up for the North American All-Stars. This was the 1998 Olympic semi-finals shootout all over again, only this time, Canada had Lemieux on the ice.
Lemieux scored on his attempt and when he came back to his teammates his face was beet red. You knew that he knew what he had just done. He had shown Hasek that the Czech Republic was going to face an even more determined Team Canada next year at the Olympics.
This was seriously the most emotionally intense skills competition I had ever witnessed. And unfortunately hockey fans, I can’t find the video for it anywhere! I know! It sucks. But we can use our brain machines to remember it, and that’s close enough.
And also, remember, Team Canada won gold at Salt Lake City the next year, lead by Lemieux and Joe Sakic. Oh, the good times we had.
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