Brophy on all-star game: Always entertaining

It is quite popular to trash the NHL’s all-star game these days and on many levels, I get it.

It’s a nothing game played at half speed by players; most of whom don’t even want to be there. Even if you understand why they don’t put out like it’s a real game, which it clearly isn’t, you wish they’d try just a little harder. Players often give up golden shooting opportunities and pass the puck instead because they don’t want to be perceived as being greedy. Whatever.

Me, I like the all-star game. Always have … probably always will. I like the fact it is normally a goal-fest with many of the league’s best scorers doing their thing.

I take the game for what it is: An opportunity to see many of the stars aligned with a chance to show off some of the skills they usually reserve for practice when nobody’s around. How many fans get the chance to watch players at practice? Not too many.

What started off as a charity game in 1934 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto to benefit the family of Ace Bailey, who suffered a career-ending injury two months earlier, has developed into a corporate schmoozefest and that’s okay, too. The corporate bigwigs love the opportunity to rub shoulders with the stars of the game.

The NHL has done a good job changing the format over the years to keep things interesting, from having the defending Stanley Cup champions face off against a team of the league’s stars to conference battles (East vs. West, Wales vs. Campbell) to having players from North America battle players from the rest of the world. The NHL also introduced the Heroes of Hockey Game featuring retired NHL stars which was a hit and the skills competition which, despite a few glitches along the way, remains quite popular with the fans.

If the NHL is looking for ideas for future games, I have a few. I have suggested in the past a game between players over the age of 30 against players 29 and younger. There would be motivation on both sides to either prove kids rule or old guys can still play the game, too.

I also believe the NHL could have a tournament-style evening where teams of four players battle one another (playing 4-on-4) until the top two teams meet in a championship round. Of course to make this work, there’d have to be a little something on the line and nothing motivates professional athletes more than cash money.

The NHL is trying something a little different this year to try to attract attention to the contest by having captains (Nicklas Lidstrom of the Detroit Red Wings and Eric Staal of the host Carolina Hurricanes) along with four alternate captains pick the teams. I’m not certain this will make any difference in the way the players approach the game, but at least the selection of the squads will draw some interest.

The fact the sport’s best player, Sidney Crosby, is forced to take a pass on the all-star game because he is recovering from a concussion is a huge drawback, but certainly somebody will emerge as a great story. Somebody usually does.

For me, the golden moment of moments at an NHL all-star game came in 1997 in San Jose. That was the night Owen Nolan of the Sharks, representing the Western Conference All-Stars, broke in alone on Eastern goalie Dominic Hasek. Having already scored two goals in the game, Nolan brought the fans out of their seats when he pointed at Hasek, ala Babe Ruth, and proceeded to skate in and fire a shot over the goaltender’s shoulder for his hat trick goal. In an otherwise meaningless game, it was a thing of beauty — a goal for the ages.

There are other great memories not the least of which was Jeremy Roenick of the, uh, whoever he was playing for at the time, dishing out a body-check in a game that is supposed to be a no-hitter and Brett Hull playing helmet-less proving what most people thought — that he had flipped his lid.

Who can forget Ray Bourque of the Boston Bruins, playing before 17,565 fans at the Boston FleetCenter, scoring the winning goal with just 37.3 seconds remaining in the game. It sent the locals home happy as Bourque was named Most Valuable Player of the contest.

Or how about two years ago in Montreal when Alexei Kovalev, then playing with the Canadiens, was honoured as the best player in the game after scoring the shootout winner — his third goal of the night — to give the East a hard-fought (kidding) 11-10 win over the West. The fans ate it up!

It’s not always the best players in the NHL that are voted MVP in the all-star game. Eddie (The Entertainer) Shack was the first winner of the award in 1962. Shack had one goal and two minor penalties in the game. Go figure. Don Maloney, Greg Polis and Eric Daze were also all-star game MVPs.

If you think the NHL all-star game is a waste of time, then that is your prerogative. But as long as they keep holding the game, they can count on at least one set of eyes tuning in to watch … mine.