NHL All-Star Game History
The very first official NHL All-Star Game was held a long, long time ago - in the 1947-48 NHL season.
And many things have changed in those 62 years - the format of the All-Star Game, rules etc.
But there have also been "unofficial" ALL-Star games, like the Hod Stuart Benefit All-Star Game in 1908 between Montreal Wanderers and the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association stars.
It was something similar to the modern All-Star Games, but they were held for a beneficial reason.
So this first game was in honour of Hod Stuart who was a IPHL (International Professional Hockey League - the predecessor of NHL) player who had drowned just after winning the Stanley Cup.
And til 1947 there have been several more beneficial All-Star Games like this.
In the 31st NHL season in 1947-1948 the All-Star game was held at Maple Leaf Gardens on October 13th between the NHL All-Stars and the Stanley Cup winner Toronto Maple Leafs.
The All-Stars won 4-3.
Since 1948 the NHL All-Star Game has been held almost every year - except in 1966, 1979, 1985, 1995 2005 (because of lockouts).
And since then the All-Star games are not held only in Winter Olympic years.
The All-Star games have been between an All-Star team and Stanley Cup Champion team, North America and World, Eastern and Western conference.
For some time the Eastern and Western All-Star teams were called Wales and Campbell.
After gathering results of NHL All-Star Games between the East and West, we can see that the Eastern All-Star team has won 21 times and the Westners have won only 8 All-Star Games.
But the NHL All-Star Games have come a long way since then and both players skills and the beauty of the game have grown.
So, the Western All-Star team has many years to catch-up.
Of, course, some Americans, the fans of Western All-Star team blame Canada, because there are more Canadian teams in the Western Conference, so that is the reason they are weaker.
:D For more of this, visit http://nhlallstar2011.
blogspot.
com/
And many things have changed in those 62 years - the format of the All-Star Game, rules etc.
But there have also been "unofficial" ALL-Star games, like the Hod Stuart Benefit All-Star Game in 1908 between Montreal Wanderers and the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association stars.
It was something similar to the modern All-Star Games, but they were held for a beneficial reason.
So this first game was in honour of Hod Stuart who was a IPHL (International Professional Hockey League - the predecessor of NHL) player who had drowned just after winning the Stanley Cup.
And til 1947 there have been several more beneficial All-Star Games like this.
In the 31st NHL season in 1947-1948 the All-Star game was held at Maple Leaf Gardens on October 13th between the NHL All-Stars and the Stanley Cup winner Toronto Maple Leafs.
The All-Stars won 4-3.
Since 1948 the NHL All-Star Game has been held almost every year - except in 1966, 1979, 1985, 1995 2005 (because of lockouts).
And since then the All-Star games are not held only in Winter Olympic years.
The All-Star games have been between an All-Star team and Stanley Cup Champion team, North America and World, Eastern and Western conference.
For some time the Eastern and Western All-Star teams were called Wales and Campbell.
After gathering results of NHL All-Star Games between the East and West, we can see that the Eastern All-Star team has won 21 times and the Westners have won only 8 All-Star Games.
But the NHL All-Star Games have come a long way since then and both players skills and the beauty of the game have grown.
So, the Western All-Star team has many years to catch-up.
Of, course, some Americans, the fans of Western All-Star team blame Canada, because there are more Canadian teams in the Western Conference, so that is the reason they are weaker.
:D For more of this, visit http://nhlallstar2011.
blogspot.
com/