[1995-1996 FHL All-Star game as reported by Jean-Henri Duteau on January 30, 1996]
With some amazing goaltending heroics and by pummelling their opposition into
the ground, the Western All-Stars have beaten the Eastern All-Stars 3-2.
Although the Eastern team dominated the Western stars all night with many
glorious chances, the last laugh was had by the West since there were able to
bump and grind the East all night with impunity since their goaltending was up
to the challenge.
The East dominated the opening faceoff with two quick goals by the centres
extraordinaire Mario Lemieux and Mark Messier. Mario took the puck from Ray
Bourque and dipsy-doodled his way in around the defence. He caught Jyrkki
Lumme flatfooted and deked Brodeur to put the East up 1-0 quite early. Less
than two minutes later, Mark Messier was able to beat Joe Sakic in a race to
the puck and, using Peter Forsberg as a decoy, put it top-shelf on Brodeur.
After that shaky start, Martin Brodeur refound his game and stonewalled the
Eastern squad, even though they had a number of glorious chances. Play ground
to a halt in the 2nd half of the 1st period and the 1st half of the 2nd
period as the West took a number of penalties clutching and grabbing the
Eastern squad in an attempt to slow them down. The West scored a disputed
goal the puck went in off of Brendan Shanahan's equipment. The East claimed
that it was intentional, but after consulting the replays, the officials let
it stand.
After the half-way point, it was still 2-1 for the East when the goalies had
to be switched. Then the star of the night, Sean Burke, took over. Not being
able to afford giving up more power plays, the West abandonned their
trap-style play and again allowed the game to open up. But Burke was able to
close the door. Stopping players like Lindros, Roenick, Mogilny, and Jagr,
Burke was the main reason the West won. On the other side of the rink, Hasek
wasn't having an easy night as the all-star game jitters seemed to be
affecting him. Just before the end of the 2nd period, Bernie Nicholls scored
on a 3-on-1 with Damphousse and Zubov setting him up. Zubov got a jump on
Keith Tkachuk and sent a sharp pass over to Damphousse. Damphousse held on
until the last minute before finding Nicholls wide open at the side of the
net.
In the 3rd period, Burke once again held the fort. With the East pouring on
the pressure, he had to remain calm to keep his team in it. And keep them in
it, he did. On another freak play by the West, Tomas Sandstrom was able to
get the puck away from Jaromir Jagr and, with help from Wayne Gretzky, was
able to put it past Hasek for the go-ahead goal. However, the officials
seemed to miss an obvious foul when Chris Chelios literally axe-chopped Scott
Young from behind. Since the foul was behind the play, it went unnoticed by
all but the fans and the coaches.
After some furious action from both teams, the game ended in a victory for
the West having won 3-2 and taking the all-star game record to 2 wins and 1
loss.
Here are the official statistics for the all-star game:
WESTERN TEAM Chris Chelios 1 4 14 5.00 Brian Leetch 1 3 2 6.25 Sergei Zubov 1 5 0 1.00 Jyrkki Lumme 0 0 2 -2.75 Paul Coffey 1 0 2 3.25 Dmitri Mironov 0 3 2 3.00 Wayne Gretzky 1 4 0 2.25 Pat Verbeek 2 2 6 1.50 Joe Sakic 1 1 0 -0.75 Tomas Sandstrom 5 2 2 1.25 Scott Mellanby 1 2 12 0.50 Ron Francis 1 3 2 2.25 Brendan Shanahan 2 2 2 1.25 Trevor Linden 0 1 2 1.25 Brian Bradley 1 2 15 2.75 Vincent Damphousse 1 8 6 4.00 Bernie Nicholls 2 5 4 1.00 Brad May 1 1 2 3.00 Martin Brodeur 9.35 Sean Burke 10.55 EASTERN TEAM Ray Bourque 1 6 4 3.50 Roman Hamrlik 1 1 2 0.50 Gary Suter 0 4 6 2.00 Craig Wolanin 0 0 0 -1.00 Nikolas Lidstrom 1 2 0 4.25 Eric Desjardins 0 3 0 0.75 Mario Lemieux 5 4 2 1.25 Eric Lindros 3 3 6 1.75 Jaromir Jagr 2 5 8 1.75 Keith Tkachuk 2 0 4 -1.50 Peter Forsberg 1 3 2 4.25 Mark Messier 5 2 0 3.50 Jeremy Roenick 3 1 11 -1.00 Alexander Mogilny 3 4 2 2.25 John LeClair 0 1 4 1.75 Steve Yzerman 2 3 0 2.50 Adam Oates 1 7 2 1.50 Scott Young 0 0 0 -0.75 Patrick Roy 6.85 Dominik Hasek 4.95
TOTALS -- WEST 22/48/75/36.00/19.90 EAST 30/49/53/27.25/11.80
WEST wins the categories 3-2 on the strength of Burke's 10.55 GStat almost
single-handedly beating the Eastern goalies.
STAR OF THE GAME -- Sean BURKE