53rd National Hockey League All-Star Game
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The 53rd National Hockey League All-Star Game was held during the 2002-03 NHL season, and took place at the Office Depot Center in Sunrise, Florida, the home of the Florida Panthers, on February 2, 2003. It was the first All-Star Game since the 1997 All-Star Game to use the Eastern Conference - Western Conference format.
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[edit] All-Star weekend
The All-Star festivities began on February 1 with the YoungStars Game, pitting the best rookies on league rosters against each other. Washington's Brian Sutherby was the Most Valuable Player for the Eastern Conference YoungStars as the East cruised to an easy 8-3 victory. Hometown favourite Stephen Weiss also scored a goal and an assist for the East to thrill the Panthers fans in attendance.
A traditional event followed the YoungStars game, with the NHL Skills Competition. The Western Conference won the competition 15-9, made memorable by hard-shooting defenceman Al MacInnis of the St. Louis Blues winning his seventh hardest shot competition, and future Hall of Famer Patrick Roy allowing only a single goal through both of the goaltending competitions.
[edit] The All-Star Game
On Sunday, February 2, the actual All-Star Game began. The Eastern Conference was forced to name five injury replacements to their roster, as Ed Belfour, Brian Leetch, Mario Lemieux, Saku Koivu, and Mats Sundin were all out with injury. Despite the high-profile names missing from their roster, Atlanta Thrasher sniper Dany Heatley got things off on the right foot for the East, with a fine goal past Roy five and a half minutes into the first period.
Peter Forsberg and Mike Modano struck back for the West to give them a 2-1 lead, but Heatley struck again against Roy, tapping in a Jaromir Jagr rebound to tie the score at 2-2 a bit more than half-way through the first period. Five minutes later, Minnesota Wild young star Marian Gaborik scored a goal similar to Heatley's second against Nikolai Khabibulin, banging in Mathieu Schneider's rebound to restore the Western lead. The score remained 3-2 after the end of the first period, and goaltenders Roy and Khabibulin were replaced by Chicago's Jocelyn Thibault and New Jersey's Martin Brodeur for the West and the East, respectively.
The change of goaltenders made little difference for Heatley, as he finished his hat trick with a tough wrist shot past Thibault to tie the game at 3. Again, however, the West replied, as former Panther and current Vancouver Canuck Ed Jovanovski caught a lucky deflection off the skate of Eastern All-Star Sergei Gonchar. Heatley refused to let the Eastern Conference fall out of it, though, and scored an electrifying fourth goal of the game, converting a pass from hometown hero Olli Jokinen to a strong wristshot over Thibault's glove. Four goals in an All-Star game tied the record, with plenty of time left for it to be broken.
No more goals were scored in the second period, and Patrick Lalime came in for the Eastern All-Stars, while Marty Turco came in for the West. Al MacInnis, however, had no intention of letting the goalies hog the spotlight. The Western Conference All-Star unleashed his patented booming slapshot only a minute and a half into the third period, past Lalime's glove to give the West a 5-4 lead.
Olli Jokinen, however, struck a vital mark of his own for the East. Taking a pass from Jaromir Jagr, the Finn streaked in on a partial breakaway, putting a hard wrister past Turco to tie the game at five. With ten minutes left in regulation, neither team proved able to solve Lalime and Turco to avoid overtime. Lalime, in particular, was spectacular and drew praise in a game usually reserved for offensive pyrotechnics. For the first time since the 39th National Hockey League All-Star Game in 1988, the All-Star game would go to overtime.
Lalime and Turco remained in goal for the overtime, and both were solid to preserve a scoreless extra period. The result would be the first shootout in All-Star history, a tantalizing sight for NHL fans who did not see shootouts in league competition. Ottawa goalie Lalime had been remarkable to that point in the game, but the shootout went against him from the start. Vancouver's Markus Naslund, Dallas's Bill Guerin, and Anaheim's Paul Kariya scored for the Western Conference, while the only Eastern tally went to the star of the night, Dany Heatley. Heatley's shootout goal did not count towards his regulation total of four, leaving him tied for the record. The Western Conference skated out of one of the most thrilling All-Star Games in history with a 6-5 shootout victory. Heatley, with five points, was named MVP.
[edit] All-Star rosters
[edit] Eastern Conference
Head Coach
Assistant Coach
[edit] Starting Roster
- G Nikolai Khabibulin, Tampa Bay Lightning
- D Brian Leetch, New York Rangers1
- D Sandis Ozolinsh, Florida Panthers**
- F Mario Lemieux, Pittsburgh Penguins1
- F Jaromir Jagr, Washington Capitals
- F Alexei Kovalev, Montreal Canadiens
[edit] Reserves
- G Ed Belfour, Toronto Maple Leafs1
- G Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils
- G Patrick Lalime, Ottawa Senators
- D Zdeno Chara, Ottawa Senators
- D Sergei Gonchar, Washington Capitals
- D Roman Hamrlik, New York Islanders
- D Scott Stevens, New Jersey Devils
- D Tom Poti, New York Rangers
- F Dany Heatley, Atlanta Thrashers
- F Marian Hossa, Ottawa Senators
- F Saku Koivu, Montreal Canadiens1
- F Glen Murray, Boston Bruins
- F Jeff O'Neill, Carolina Hurricanes
- F Jeremy Roenick, Philadelphia Flyers
- F Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay Lightning
- F Mats Sundin, Toronto Maple Leafs1
- F Joe Thornton, Boston Bruins
- F Olli Jokinen, Florida Panthers
- F Vincent Lecavalier, Tampa Bay Lightning
- F Miroslav Satan, Buffalo Sabres
[edit] Western Conference
Head Coach
Assistant Coach
[edit] Starting Roster
- G Patrick Roy, Colorado Avalanche
- D Rob Blake, Colorado Avalanche
- D Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit Red Wings
- F Mike Modano, Dallas Stars
- F Bill Guerin, Dallas Stars
- F Teemu Selänne, San Jose Sharks
[edit] Reserves
- G Jocelyn Thibault, Chicago Blackhawks
- G Marty Turco, Dallas Stars
- D Eric Brewer, Edmonton Oilers
- D Ed Jovanovski, Vancouver Canucks
- D Al MacInnis, St. Louis Blues
- D Mathieu Schneider, Los Angeles Kings
- F Todd Bertuzzi, Vancouver Canucks
- F Sergei Fedorov, Detroit Red Wings
- F Peter Forsberg, Colorado Avalanche
- F Marian Gaborik, Minnesota Wild
- F Jarome Iginla, Calgary Flames
- F Paul Kariya, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
- F Markus Naslund, Vancouver Canucks
- F Doug Weight, St. Louis Blues
- F Ray Whitney, Columbus Blue Jackets
[edit] Notes
- the player did not play due to injury
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- Sandis Ozolinsh was chosen as a member of the Florida Panthers but was traded to the Anaheim Ducks the night before the game. The public address announcement was said as followed: "From your Florida Panthers but now playing for the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, #8 Sandis Ozolinsh!!"
[edit] See also
| Preceded by 52nd NHL All-Star Game |
NHL All-Star Game | Succeeded by 54th NHL All-Star Game |
