41st National Hockey League All-Star Game
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Date | January 21, 1990 | |||||||||||||||
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Arena | Civic Arena | |||||||||||||||
City | Pittsburgh | |||||||||||||||
MVP | Mario Lemieux (Pittsburgh) | |||||||||||||||
Attendance | 16,236 | |||||||||||||||
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The 41st National Hockey League All-Star Game was held in
For its part, Pittsburgh's organizers added much more to previous games, creating the first "true" All-Star weekend. First was the addition of the
To accommodate the altered activities, the game itself was played on a Sunday afternoon instead of a Tuesday night, as was the case in previous years. This allowed American broadcaster NBC to air the game live across the United States – marking the first time that a national audience would see Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux play. Referees and other officials were also wired with microphones in this game, as were the two head coaches.[1][2][3] Finally, NBC was allowed to conduct interviews with players during stoppages in play, to the chagrin of the Hockey Night in Canada crew, whose attempts to do likewise were repeatedly denied by the league in past years.
The Heroes of Hockey
The Heroes of Hockey game was a shortened two-period game between the Wales and Campbell alumni – unusual as many of the players invited to play predate the creation of the Wales and Campbell Conferences. This was the only time Wales and Campbell alumni would face off – future editions of games had the home team's alumnus facing the "best of the rest", akin to the All-Star Game format of old.
Among the notable absences of this game, however, was Gordie Howe, who had proposed a similar idea four years earlier in Hartford, but was rebuked by the league.
Super Skills competition
The Super Skills competition was created by Paul Palmer, who adapted the "Showdown" feature seen on
Individual event winners
- Accuracy Shooting – Ray Bourque (Boston Bruins) – 4 hits, 7 shots
- Hardest Shot – Al Iafrate (Toronto Maple Leafs) – 96.0 mph
- Goaltenders Competition – Kirk McLean (Vancouver Canucks) – 4 GA, 27 shots
The game
The game, at the time, broke many all-star game records: most goals scored by one team, most goals scored by both teams, and most goals in a period were among the more notable ones. Mario Lemieux scored four goals in the game, three on his first three shots and was the second player in All-Star history to score four goals. The inevitable Gretzky–Lemieux comparisons quickly came up, as Gretzky was held off the scoresheet and was on the ice when Lemieux scored all four goals. Not surprisingly, Lemieux was named the game's MVP.
Summary
Wales Conference | Campbell Conference | |
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Scoring summary |
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Penalties |
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Shots on goal | 16–15–14–45 | 9–11–22–42 |
Win/Loss | W – Patrick Roy | L – Mike Vernon |
- Referee: Kerry Fraser
- Linesmen: Bob Hodges, Dan McCourt
- TV: SRC
Rosters
See also
Notes
- Mario Lemieux became the second player in All-Star history to score 4 goals in one game.
- Wales Conferencescored 7 goals in the first period to establish an All-Star record for most goals in a period.
- Campbell Conferenceestablished 22 shots in the third period, which is tied for second all-time in All-Star history.
- Tied for second for most shots by both teams in one period in All-Star history with 36 (Campbell 22/Wales 14) in the third period.
- Bernie Nicholls was traded to the New York Rangers prior to the game, but remained part of the Campbell conference lineup.
- Denis Savard and Thomas Steen were named to the all-star team, but did not participate.
- This was the first NHL game of any type to air on American network television since May 24, 1980 – Game 6 of the 1980 Stanley Cup on CBS.
References
- ^ Dan Cahill (January 19, 1990). "NHL finally returns to network television". Chicago Sun-Times.
- New York Times.
- ^ Larry Stewart (January 19, 1990). "Hockey Making Simply Marvelous Network Return". Los Angeles Times.