With the NHL All-Star weekend fast approaching, we thought that we’d dive into some of the memorable All-Star moments for Vancouver Canucks in attendance as well as some interesting tidbits along the way.
We’d love for you to share your best memories in the replies on social media, so be sure to let us know the moments that you remember most about Canucks players in the All-Star festivities.
Let’s kick things off with arguably the most fun moment in Canucks All-Star history.
1983 - Cheech
John Garrett was a last-minute replacement for Richard Brodeur at the 1983 game and looked to be taking home the All-Star MVP as well as a nice new black and gold Pontiac Firebird.
Then came Wayne Gretzky. He scored four goals in the final 15 minutes of the game and snatched the keys to the Firebird right out of Garrett’s glove hand.
1977 & 1998 - Homestar
The Canucks have hosted the ASG twice in their history.
The first was in 1977, when they had one representative with Ring of Honour member Harold Snepsts.
1998 was the second and last time the Canucks hosted the festivities. Pavel Bure and Mark Messier were the two reps for the Canucks.
Both All-Star games played in Vancouver have resulted in one-goal games: a 4-3 win for the Wales Conference in 1977 and an 8-7 win for Team North America in 1998.
1993 - Buremania
At the 44th All-Star game in NHL history, Pavel Bure made his first appearance at the event. He scored two goals in a game where his Campbell Conference lost in a lopsided 16-6 walloping.
Bure was selected to five All-Star games as a Vancouver Canuck and seven total throughout his career. He did not participate in the 1996 game due to an injury.
1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004 - Nazzy and the West Coast Express
Markus Naslund leads the way with five appearances at the ASG. He was joined by a teammate at each of his five appearances and head coach Marc Crawford joined Naslund for the 2003 and 2004 games.
Fellow Swede Mattias Ohlund went with Naslund to the 1999 game.
Ed Jovanovski went for the 2001, 2002 and 2003 game.
Todd Bertuzzi joined Naslund, Crawford and Jovanovski at the 2003 game and then he was back for the 2004 game as well.
2003 & 2011 - A Pair of Foursomes
The Canucks have brought four representatives twice before this season.
We have already mentioned the 2003 game with Crawford, Naslund, Bertuzzi, and Jovanovski.
There were also four reps at the 2011 game with Ryan Kesler, Alain Vigneault, Daniel Sedin, and Henrik Sedin representing Canucks colours.
We had a back-and-forth game in 2003, with the Western Conference winning 6-5 in a shootout.
Jovanovski scored the West’s fourth goal of the game, while Naslund had an assist and scored in the shootout.
Kesler was named an assistant captain for Team (Eric) Staal in the 2011 game while Vigneault was named coach of Team (Nick) Lindstrom.
The 2011 game was the infamous game where there was a draft prior to the weekend when Phil Kessel had to sit around and be selected last. Daniel Sedin was selected in the third round by Team Staal and with the next pick in the draft, Team Lindstrom picked Henrik.
After being split up at the draft, the 2011 game marked the first time that the Sedin brothers played against each other in an organized game.
Daniel Sedin won the accuracy shooting event with a time of 7.3 seconds.
Henrik was part of the group that won the challenge relay.
Kesler lost to Martin St. Louis in the fastest skater contest by a mere 0.023 seconds.
Remembering some guys...
Radim Vrbata was the Canucks’ rep at the 2015 game. Vrbata had 18 goals at the All-Star break and came sixth in the accuracy shooting competition.
Alexander Mogilny played in the 1996 game and picked up an assist in a 5-4 loss.
Darcy Rota replaced Tony Tanti in the 1984 game. He picked up a pair of assists in an 8-7 loss.
Dale Tallon was the first Canucks representative at an All-Star game, and he did it at both 1971 and 1972 games.
This Year’s Hefty Crop
The Canucks have never sent five players to an ASG before this year.
