Faceoff Factor

The All-Star Game: History

Ashley Gallant | National Hockey League

Jan 18, 06:04 PM | Hype this story!

January 26th and 27th – The NHL All-Star Weekend. Faceoff Factor is putting together a package that will cover the events.

First up, we have a history of the All-Star Game.

1937
The first ‘all-stars’ game was held on October 13th, 1937 at Maple Leaf Gardens as a fundraiser for Ace Bailey, who suffered a career-ending injury earlier in the season.

1947
It was in 1947 that the NHL decided to hold its first official All-Star Game, and it was played before the season started. The defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Toronto Maple Leafs, played against the NHL’s First and Second All-Star Teams. The All-Stars came from behind and won the game 4-3, thanks to two goals in the third period.

1951
The early fifties saw the first change to the ASG. One All-Star team was made of players from Canadian-based teams, and the other All-Star team had players from American teams. This format was dropped after two games ended in ties.

1967
Twenty years after the ASG was introduced, the NHL decided to move the game to the middle of the season. As a result, the selection of All-Star players had to change, since (a) the teams would be decided almost a year in advance if the First and Second NHL All-Star teams were to be used, (b) the Stanley Cup Champions were usually a much different team by mid-season and© rookies having an outstanding season and who deserved to play in the game (like Bobby Orr) were not included.

1968
The selection of the players had not changed by this point – the First and Second All-Star teams played in this ASG. However, enough players were added to the rosters so that every team was represented.

1969
The league was expanding, so why not change the ASG? In 1969, the game had the old Eastern teams play the new Western teams. Furthermore, the players in the ASG were the best players in the NHL at that point in the season, and not the First and Second All-Star teams from the previous season.

1973
Bring in the cars! This was the first year that the ASG’s MVP was awarded a car.

1975
With 18 teams and two conferences, the ASG pitted the Wales Conference against the Campbell Conference.

1979
There was no ASG played in 1979, as the NHL decided to play their best players against the mysterious Soviets in the Challenge Cup series. For the first time, fans were allowed to select a few of the players on the team. It was a public relations disaster, as the NHL All-Stars lost the series two games to one, and were humiliated in the third game when the Soviets won 6-0.

1986
The game had little media coverage, so the NHL decided to let the fans decide the starting lineup for the ASG.

1987
The ASG was cancelled again because of another NHL-Soviet series called Rendez-Vous ’87. The format was changed to just two games, and the series ended in a tie. How exciting…

1990
The ASG became more of an event than a game in 1990 when the NHL added the skills competition and the Heroes of Hockey game with NHL alumni.

1995
The ASG was cancelled due to the lockout-shortened season.

1998
The NHL decided to allow its players participate in the Olympics in Nagano, so the league decided to adopt a “North America vs. the World” format for the ASG.

2003
The “North America vs. the World” format was abandoned and the league reverted back to the Eastern Conference vs. Western Conference format that we see today. Dany Heatley scored four goals and a shootout goal. The ‘shootouts’ drew a very positive response from the crowd. No wonder the NHL thought it would be a good idea to bring it into the regular season…

2005
The ASG was again cancelled AGAIN due to a lockout.

2006
The new CBA that ended the lockout the year before prohibited the playing of an ASG during an Olympic year. Since the Torino Games were held in February 2006, there was no All-Star Game.

LEADING SCORERS
Wayne Gretzky
13 goals, 12 assists, 25 points, 18 games, 3 MVP Honours (1983, 1989, 1999)

Mario Lemieux
13 goals, 10 assists, 23 points, 10 games, 3 MVP Honours (1985, 1988, 1990)

Joe Sakic
6 goals, 16 assists, 22 points, 12 games, 1 MVP Honour (2004)

Mark Messier
6 goals, 14 assists, 20 points, 15 games

Gordie Howe
10 goals, 9 assists, 19 points, 23 games, 1 MVP Honour (1965)