NHL IN PARTY MODE AT ALL-STAR GAME
Nobody cares who wins — it's all about fun and celebrating hockey's best players
The NHL should change the name from all-star game to allstar party.
That's what this all-star weekend in Florida is all about, with the skills competition on Friday night at FLA Live Arena and the game on Saturday (3 p.m., SN, ABC, TVA Sports 2). It's actually not even a single game anymore, but a 3-on-3 tournament between teams representing the four divisions.
Nobody really cares who wins — unless the gambling websites that have taken over TV hockey advertising (including betting segments that have become part of the Gambling Night in Canada show every Saturday) have convinced fans to actually bet on all-star outcomes. The NHL is promoting the skills competition “presented by Draftkings Sportsbook.”
If you're betting on the outcome of an all-star game (or games), you might have a problem.
The all-star game has always been more about partying than anything else — whether you're a player, a coach, an NHL sponsor (or potential sponsor) being wined and dined by the league, or media members lucky enough to be in Sunrise, Fla., this weekend.
ESPN, which will televise the all-star weekend in the U.S., held a preview Q-and-a session with sportscaster Steve Levy and former players Chris Chelios, P.K. Subban and Mark Messier, who work for the network.
Chelios, a former Canadiens star like Subban, was asked about the 1993 all-star game at the Montreal Forum when hungover goalie Ed Belfour had a tough time after partying the night before on Crescent St.
“Yeah, Eddie Belfour had a better night at Thursday's (bar) the night before than he did that game,” Chelios said about the goalie who was his Chicago Blackhawks teammate at the time. “I'll be flat out honest. It was a great time, for me especially, going back there.”
It wasn't such a great time on the ice for Belfour, who allowed six goals in the first period before being replaced, as his Campbell Conference team lost 16-6 to the Wales Conference.
On the second goal against Belfour, he came racing out of his crease trying to reach a loose puck before Mike Gartner got there on a breakaway. A few feet inside the blue line, Belfour misplayed the puck and it went through his legs, allowing Gartner to score into an empty net. It was one of three goals Gartner scored on Belfour during the first period. Gartner finished the game with four goals and was named most valuable player.
“Yeah, I remember Eddie, the shot when he came out to play went right through his legs in the net. He had a tough one,” Chelios recalled.
“Again, it was a great city, and everybody enjoyed themselves. The game, I believe, I think was it Gartner who won the car that game? Mike Gartner might have won the car that game. But real high scoring and lots of fun, that's for sure.”
It was a party — not a game. That's what the all-star game has always been, even if today's players don't party as hard as their predecessors did.
After the 1993 game, Belfour told reporters: “I was laughing after the second goal. Really, I was.”
The goalie added: “I'm not embarrassed. What did I face, 22 shots? I must have made two or three big saves.”
Phil Esposito played in 10 all-star games during his Hall of Fame career, but recently told Nhl.com: “I recall very little about any of them.”
Esposito did recall seeing legendary Boston sports writer Leo Monahan getting stuck going around and around in a revolving door at the Waldorf-astoria hotel at 2:30 a.m. the day of the 1973 all-star game in New York.
“Don't say I was breaking curfew because there was none,” Esposito said. “The all-star game was a fun time. You tried to play as well as you could, but most of the time it was a big party.”
It still is.
Friday night's skills competition included something called the Pitch 'n' Puck event in which players use a combination of hockey and golf shots and play a par-4 hole featuring an island green. Lowest score wins. Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki was one of the participants.
During the ESPN Q-and-a session, it was noted that last year's all-star game was the least watched since 2009, while the skills competition was the most watched since 2012, and that the difference in viewership for the two was “pretty minimal.”
“I just think the weekend is about celebrating the game, and I don't think that an all-star game is a true reflection — if we play it just as a regular game 5-on-5 is a true reflection of the game itself,” Messier said. “You can't play an all-star game without contact, without any physicality and expect it to be named hockey. It's not hockey. So what you do is you try to make the best of the situation and you highlight fun and entertainment through the skills, and the 3-on-3 was a great concept because it's exciting for the fans because you can see the skill, but it's not hockey. But it's a form of it that is more entertaining under this format.”
Call it the all-star party.