OT: Remembering the 48th NHL All-Star Game in Vancouver (January 16th - 18th, 1998)

[Zombotron]

The 1998 NHL All-Star Game was arguably the lone positive in a season of negatives for Vancouver hockey fans. The Canucks, led by their new captain Mark Messier, finished dead last in the Western Conference and parted ways with many long-time Canucks. Trevor Linden, Kirk McLean, Gino Odjick and Pat Quinn would all depart the franchise in 1998, but at least the team had snazzy new uniforms …

The 1998 NHL All-Star game also happened to precede the NHL’s return to the Winter Olympic games in Nagano the following month. Sensing an effort to market the game globally, the league instituted an All-Star Game format that sought to create a sense of rivalry in the hopes that the players would actually give a damn about the All-Star Game for once. Introducing: Team North America (V. 1.0) and Team World.

January 16th:

As the 1998 Olympics also featured the first-ever Olympic women's hockey tournament, an exhibition game between the Canadian national women's hockey team and the American national women's hockey team was also scheduled as part of the all-star festivities. 14,000 people watched the game, making it the highest attended women's hockey game in the sport's history to that time.

January 17th:

The World All-Stars won the first Super Skills Competition in the new International All-Star format.

Event	Winner	Team	Record
Puck Control Relay	Teemu Selänne	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
Fastest Skater	Scott Niedermayer	New Jersey Devils	13.560 seconds
Accuracy Shooting	Raymond Bourque [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/48th_National_Hockey_League_All-Star_Game']Peter Forsberg Brendan Shanahan

[TBODY]

	Boston Bruins Colorado Avalanche Detroit Red Wings	4 hits on 6 shots
Hardest Shot	Al MacInnis	St. Louis Blues	100.4 miles per hour
Goaltenders Competition	Dominik Hašek	Buffalo Sabres	3 goals against on 16 shots

[/TBODY]

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Viacheslav Fetisov and Igor Larionov talk during the skills competition during NHL All-Star Weekend at General Motors Palace in Vancouver, Canada. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Vinnick /Allsport

January 18th:

Sadly, the only thing resembling an international incident at the first edition of Team North America versus Team World was Bryan Adams’ botched rendition of ‘O Canada.’

The Game

I'm sorry to say the only existing footage of the All-Star Game on YouTube is a highlight video of the game's Finnish participants. It is in Finnish. Embedding appears to be disabled, insultingly enough.

Finnish Hockey Legends - NHL All-Star Game 1998

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Selanne receives congratulations from NHL commissioner Gary Bettman after earning MVP honors in the 1998 NHL All-Star Game in Vancouver, British Columbia. Selanne, who had a hat trick for the World team in an 8-7 loss to the North America team, became the first European player to earn MVP honors and the first player from the losing team to win the award since 1986. (Rick Stewart/Getty Images)

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[Grub]

Boeser hardest shot or bust.

 

[SeawaterOnIce]

No one repped LA, SJ or the Florida teams.

 

[Melvin]

If there's one thing that could sum up the Vancouver Canucks as a franchise... We hosted the all star game during the year when Mark Messier was named our captain.

 

[Jyrki21]

No one repped LA, SJ or the Florida teams.

For a few years the NHL dropped the every-team-represented policy, as the number of teams made it difficult. I was actually kind of surprised when they brought it back. Then for a while they tried to diluet it by making it representation on the All-Star or Young Star teams.

If there's one thing that could sum up the Vancouver Canucks as a franchise... We hosted the all star game during the year when Mark Messier was named our captain.

And he was also the Commissioner's "Special Veteran Selection" in the game, to greatly please the home fans!

 

[krutovsdonut]

so i didn't see the game but i went to the skills competition day or whatever exactly the non game day event was for that all star game with my brother. i think it was at the pne. anyway, it was his greatest ever moment. we got accosted by two "models" dressed in spandex who the nhl had flown in to add "glamour" for one of the displays. they were from new jersey and used to working car shows and knew nothing about hockey but they thought they recognized my brother from the "party last night" and they came right over to us thinking he was an nhl player. god knows who they thought he was, but he went with it and told them he was steve yzerman and he lived on a farm in saskatchewan. he had both of them following us around for 10 minutes until they went back on shift. he also got their names and room numbers of the hotel where they were staying.

he looks nothing like steve yzerman. i've always wondered who they thought he was. we think roenick because my brother had acne scarring.

we were both freshly married with kids. so no follow up.

/csb

 

[The Stig]

The jerseys from the year before were better.

I would kill for one of each.

 

[y2kcanucks]

I remember going to the fan fest before the game and really enjoyed all the festivities. I got a Mark Messier jersey that year with the All-Star patch on it. Was so excited when he was credited with the GWG.

 

[MS]

25 HHOFers in that game plus Jagr and Alfredsson who will get in. Crazy.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

I remember going to the fan fest before the game and really enjoyed all the festivities. I got a Mark Messier jersey that year with the All-Star patch on it. Was so excited when he was credited with the GWG.

That fan festival was insane. Although my biggest memory is how my Dad said it was time to go about ten minutes before Wayne Gretzky was set to arrive to meet fans. I was so choked. And we ran into Mike Keenan in the parking lot on the way out, too.

 

[y2kcanucks]

That fan festival was insane. Although my biggest memory is how my Dad said it was time to go about ten minutes before Wayne Gretzky was set to arrive to meet fans. I was so choked. And we ran into Mike Keenan in the parking lot on the way out, too.

Damn I would be choked too lol. I remember winning a hat from a slapshot contest, and all the fun game stops they had. I wonder what the fan fest is like before current all-star games.

Hard to believe this was 20 years ago.

 

[Hollywood Burrows]

I was a pimply teen then, in the midst of my "hang around the arena and harass the players after practice" phase. I didn't go to the game, but the fan fest owned. I remember standing in a crowd in the PNE showroom watching Mike Keenan answer questions. He made eye contact with me and it was terrifying.

 

[Tim Calhoun]

25 HHOFers in that game plus Jagr and Alfredsson who will get in. Crazy.

Not to mention a bunch of HHOFers who missed the game due to holdouts/injuries. Fedorov, Yzerman, Kariya off the top of my head.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

I was a pimply teen then, in the midst of my "hang around the arena and harass the players after practice" phase. I didn't go to the game, but the fan fest owned. I remember standing in a crowd in the PNE showroom watching Mike Keenan answer questions. He made eye contact with me and it was terrifying.

I spoke to him in the parking lot. I can't remember exactly what I asked, but it was something about Linden/Messier and how I was unhappy with it. I do remember Keenan looking at my Dad and saying "where do they get this stuff?" And my Dad replying "he will always speak his mind".

I'd like to say it was something badass and uppity like "how could you you giant bag of dicks" but it was probably a bit more meek. I was about 14.