48th National Hockey League All-Star Game

The 48th National Hockey League All-Star Game took place at General Motors Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, home to the Vancouver Canucks, on January 18, 1998.
== The International Showdown ==
The 48th game was held in the very same year as the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, providing the NHL to show its players from all over the world. To this extent, the NHL had the all-star teams consist of a team of North Americans playing against a team of stars from the rest of the world. The format change also helped to intensify the game, as national pride would also become a factor. These provisions only applied to the players - coaches would still be selected based on which teams were the best from each conference at the time of the break. Furthermore, this was the last All-Star Game to feature the Honorary Captains and Commissioner's Selections system that began in the 1990 and 1991 All-Star Games. 
The Canadian Hockey Association took the all-star weekend as a way of assembling their team as a tuneup for the Olympics by inviting all 23 of its players and immersing them in what they would see at the Olympics. As the 1998 Olympics would also feature 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.
The weekend also saw its usual share of radical ideas and for various hockey persons to vent out their frustrations: most notably, Bob Clarke used it as a way of trying to convince others not to use the neutral zone trap, a dreaded defensive play that epitomized boring hockey at the time. As the NHL was being outclassed in terms of revenue by other major sports, some such as Bob Gainey also proposed to change the rules so that a game consisted of four 15-minute quarters rather than three 20-minute periods, an idea that was unpopular among hockey's elite. Others vented their frustrations about the poor ice quality found in certain arenas, especially in the South, where the ice could melt easily.
== Super Skills Competition ==
The World All-Stars won the first Super Skills Competition in the new International All-Star format. In the individual events Ray Bourque, Peter Forsberg and Brendan Shanahan would share the victory in the Accuracy Shooting event. Al MacInnis won his second-straight and fourth all-time Hardest Shot event, while Dominik Hasek won his second Goaltenders Competition.
====Individual Event winners====
* Puck Control Relay - Teemu Selanne (Mighty Ducks of Anaheim)
* Fastest Skater - Scott Niedermayer (New Jersey Devils) - 13.560 seconds
* Accuracy Shooting - Ray Bourque (Boston Bruins)/Peter Forsberg (Colorado Avalanche)/Brendan Shanahan (Detroit Red Wings) - 4 hits, 6 shots
* Hardest Shot - Al MacInnis (St. Louis Blues) - 100.4 mph
* Goaltenders Competition - Dominik Hasek (Buffalo Sabres) - 3 GA, 16 shots
== The game ==
The North America All-Stars overcame a 3–0 deficit to the World All-Stars, setting the stage for the largest comeback victory in All-Star Game history in the first International showdown. Prior to the 1998 Game, no team had come back from a three-goal deficit to win. Mighty Ducks of Anaheim' rightwinger Teemu Selanne recorded a hat trick to become the first European player to be named All-Star M.V.P. Selanne also became the first player from a losing squad to receive the honor since Grant Fuhr accomplished that feat at the 1986 All-Star Game.
== Boxscore ==
 	North America 	World
Final Score 	8 	7
Head Coach 	Jacques Lemaire (New Jersey Devils)	Ken Hitchcock (Dallas Stars)
Honorary Captain	Yvan Cournoyer 	Ken Dryden
Lineup 	Starting Lineup:
* 2 - D Brian Leetch (New York Rangers)
* 10 - LW John LeClair (Philadelphia Flyers)
* 14 - LW Brendan Shanahan (Detroit Red Wings)
* 33 - G Patrick Roy (Colorado Avalanche)
* 77 - D Ray Bourque (Boston Bruins, Captain)
* 88 - C Eric Lindros (Philadelphia Flyers)
Commissioner's Selections:
* 11 - C Mark Messier (Vancouver Canucks)
* 22 - D Al MacInnis (St. Louis Blues)
Reserves:
* 4 - D Scott Stevens (New Jersey Devils)
* 5 - D Darryl Sydor (Dallas Stars)
* 7 - D Chris Chelios (Chicago Blackhawks)
* 8 - RW Mark Recchi (Montreal Canadiens)
* 9 - C Mike Modano (Dallas Stars)
* 12 - RW Tony Amonte (Chicago Blackhawks)
* 17 - LW Keith Tkachuk (Phoenix Coyotes)
* 19 - C Joe Sakic (Colorado Avalanche)
* 20 - G Ed Belfour (Dallas Stars)
* 27 - LW Shayne Corson (Montreal Canadiens)
* 28 - D Scott Niedermayer (New Jersey Devils)
* 30 - G Martin Brodeur (New Jersey Devils)
* 39 - C Doug Weight (Edmonton Oilers)
* 74 - RW Theoren Fleury (Calgary Flames)
* 99 - C Wayne Gretzky (New York Rangers)	Starting Lineup:
* 2 - D Viacheslav Fetisov (Detroit Red Wings)
* 6 - D Sandis Ozolinsh (Colorado Avalanche)
* 8 - RW Teemu Selanne (Mighty Ducks of Anaheim)
* 21 - C Peter Forsberg (Colorado Avalanche)
* 39 - G Dominik Hasek (Buffalo Sabres)
* 68 - RW Jaromir Jagr (Pittsburgh Penguins)
Commissioner's Selections:
* 7 - C Igor Larionov (Detroit Red Wings, Captain)
* 17 - RW Jari Kurri (Colorado Avalanche)
Reserves:
* 5 - D Nicklas Lidstrom (Detroit Red Wings)
* 9 - C Saku Koivu (Montreal Canadiens)
* 11 - RW Daniel Alfredsson (Ottawa Senators)
* 12 - RW Peter Bondra (Washington Capitals)
* 13 - C Mats Sundin (Toronto Maple Leafs)
* 15 - D Dmitri Mironov (Mighty Ducks of Anaheim)
* 16 - C Bobby Holik (New Jersey Devils)
* 18 - LW Valeri Kamensky (Colorado Avalanche)
* 24 - RW Zigmund Palffy (New York Islanders)
* 26 - RW Jere Lehtinen (Dallas Stars)
* 29 - D Igor Kravchuk (Ottawa Senators)
* 35 - G Nikolai Khabibulin (Phoenix Coyotes)
* 37 - G Olaf Kolzig (Washington Capitals)
* 56 - D Sergei Zubov (Dallas Stars)
* 96 - RW Pavel Bure (Vancouver Canucks)
Scoring Summary 	
* LeClair (Gretzky, Chelios) 4:13 first
* Tkachuk (Fleury, Chelios) 10:50 first 
* Niedermayer (Sakic, Recchi) 18:25 first
* Fleury (Modano, Tkachuk) 1:53 second
* Lindros (Chelios, Messier) 14:46 second
* Amonte (Sakic, Bourque) 16:19 second
* Tkachuk (Modano, Fleury) 1:36 third
* Messier (Gretzky) 4:00 third (GWG)	
* Selänne (Koivu) 0:53 first
* Jagr (Bondra, Mironov) 2:15 first
* Selänne (Lehtinen, Fetisov) 4:00 first
* Selänne (Lehtinen, Koivu) 7:11 second
* Kurri (Koivu, Lehtinen) 12:36 second
* Kravchuk (Sundin, Forsberg) 7:03 third
* Larionov (Bure) 9:41 third
Penalties 	
* Fleury, tripping-obstruction 18:48 second
* Weight, tripping 16:32 third	
* Fetisov, cross-checking 10:04 first
Shots on Goal 	13–17–13–43 	7–11–11–29
Win/Loss 	W - Martin Brodeur 	L - Nikolai Khabibulin
*Referee: Paul Stewart
*Linesmen: Mike Cvik, Shane Heyer
*Television: FOX, CBC, SRC.
==See also==
*1997–98 NHL season
National Hockey League All-Star Game
Category:NHL All-Star Games