Montreal is hockey town. A better place to host the All-Star game could not be found. Only in Montreal can a Saturday morning practice be sold out with 20,000 fans in attendance as players get a light warm-up and sign autographs.
The NHL All-Star weekend was awarded to Montreal to coincide with the 100th anniversary of hockey’s version of the New York Yankees, the Montreal Canadiens.
The Canadiens have won 24 Stanley Cups and during the game, fans were treated to a sample of their 100 years of history as famous legends like Henri “Pocket Rocket” Richard, Dickie Moore, Jean Beliveau, and Bob Gainey all made appearances.
Tampa Bay’s Martin St. Louis called it “top class.”
The Game
In a game where finesse, skills, and trick plays abound and slap shots, hits, and penalties are non-existent, the East and West ended regulation time tied at 11. With 22 goals scored and 96 shots on goal taken, you might wonder if a goalie would actually want to be nominated for an All-Star game!
“Give the fans a little more intensity,” said RDS analyst and former Stanley Cup winning coach Jacques Demers after a second period in which 10 goals were scored. Yes, back-checking was not high on the list of priorities for forwards during the game.
“Give the car [MVP prize] to Keith Tkachuk! He’s the only one who actually hit someone,” said former New York Rangers coach Michel Bergeron.
With the game ending 11–11, then came sudden death overtime. And it seemed that some amount of pride and competitive nature returned to the game.Canadiens defenseman Mike Komisarek took the game’s only penalty and the Western Conference went on a four-on-three power play. But Boston goalie Tim Thomas came up huge.
Appropriately, after a skills competition elimination shootout, the All-Star game itself would be decided in a shootout.
Hometown favorite Alex Kovalev would score the winning goal and earn himself the MVP award. The Montreal fans who voted him on the starting lineup wouldn’t have it any other way.
“It’s unbelievable, been dreaming about this moment a long time. Staring lineup, [being named] captain, winning this [MVP award and Honda truck], I’m definitely going to remember this,” said Kovalev in an interview with RDS.
