Bowman has fond memories of NHL All-Star Game

TAMPA -- The encyclopedia that is Scotty Bowman was on the phone from Buffalo on Sunday morning, and with his famously accurate recall he had turned the hands of his NHL All-Star Game clock back to 1980.
It was the seventh of Bowman's NHL-record 13 All-Star Game appearances as a coach. This would be his favorite memory of them all.

"I remember that Mike Rogers and Blaine Stoughton of the Hartford Whalers were having great years," Bowman said. "But a coach could fill out his roster I told the League that that was no question mine was going to include Gordie Howe at the new Joe Louis Arena in Detroit."
It was a wonderful choice steeped in sentiment and Bowman's love of hockey history, albeit a selection that brought the coach more than a little criticism. Howe, with the Whalers, was nearing his 52nd birthday, playing in his fifth decade, and he was having an entirely respectable season that would produce 41 points (15 goals, 26 assists) in 80 games.
"[Bowman] took some heat for the choice but he stuck to his guns," Howe wrote in his 2014 autobiography, "Mr. Hockey Gordie Howe: My Story."
"I can still remember the announcer calling the lineups that night. When my turn came around, he just called out 'Number 9.' The standing ovation from the crowd for my 23th All-Star Game seemed to last forever."
Representing Bowman's Wales Conference, this was Howe's final All-Star Game. On the Campbell Conference roster was 19-year-old phenom Wayne Gretzky, playing his first of 18.
"I gave Gordie a regular shift and I remember he assisted on our final goal," Bowman said of Howe having assisted on Real Cloutier's goal at 16:06 of the third period in the Wales Conference's 6-3 victory. "For the next 20 or 30 years, whenever I saw Gordie he always wanted to thank me for the gesture of having him on the team. But really, it was a natural."

Bowman had a career All-Star Game record of seven wins, five losses and a tie. He coached games in five decades and represented each of the five NHL teams he led during his Hall of Fame career. No one is even close to his body of All-Star Game work; Toe Blake coached in nine; Punch Imlach and Dick Irvin in six each; Al Arbour and Glen Sather in five each; and Tommy Ivan, Pat Quinn and Fred Shero in four each.
The four coaches in Sunday's 2018 Honda NHL All-Star Game had a combined three appearances: Peter Laviolette had two, Barry Trotz had one, and Jon Cooper and Gerard Gallant were rookies.
Bowman's first All-Star game appearance came in 1969, when his West Division team tied the mighty East Division 3-3 at the Montreal Forum. It was the first of three straight years in which he guided the West team as coach of the St. Louis Blues. His next three appearances came in the 1970s while he coached the Montreal Canadiens, then two each while with the Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins. His last three -- including his final appearance was in 2002, a win with the World team at Staples Center in Los Angeles -- came while he coached the Detroit Red Wings.
Bowman marvels at having had five French-Canadian players on his 1980 team -- goalie Gilles Meloche and forwards Cloutier, Marcel Dionne, Guy Lafleur and Jean Ratelle. He also remembers that four of his games were decided by a single goal.

"Look up the heck of a game we had in Boston (in 1971)," he said, having coached the West Division to a 2-1 victory against the East, coached by Harry Sinden of the Boston Bruins. "The East had Bobby Orr, Brad Park, Phil Esposito, Gordie, Yvan Cournoyer, Gilbert Perreault. … Oh my God, that was a team. And how many [Chicago] Blackhawks did we have on the West?"
Nine, in fact, on a roster of 20: goaltender Tony Esposito, defensemen Bill White, Keith Magnuson and Pat Stapleton, and forwards Pit Martin, Stan Mikita, Chico Maki and brothers Bobby and Dennis Hull.
Bowman was away from his TV in Buffalo on Saturday night, but he did record the 2018 GEICO NHL All-Star Skills Competition for later viewing. True to form on Sunday, he linked a memory from an earlier era to the Enterprise NHL Fastest Skater contest, won for the second straight year by Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid with a lap of 13.454 seconds.
"My memory is of a puck-carrying contest at the Montreal Forum, a show for the fans, maybe between the Canadiens' Floyd Curry and Chicago's Bill Mosienko, just before the start of a period," Bowman said. "I think Curry won it in the realm of 15 or so seconds, picking up the puck at center ice and carrying it around the rink.
"But they were warmed up. When I see a contest like Saturday's, I'm always nervous about a player pulling a groin."
Happily, McDavid was none the worse for wear after successfully defending his fastest-skater, walking into the Tampa night with a smile and without a limp.

Scotty Bowman's NHL All-Star Game Coaching Record

Wins: 7Losses: 5Ties: 1
2002 (Detroit Red Wings): W, 8-5, World team
2000 (Detroit Red Wings): W, 9-4, World team
1996 (Detroit Red Wings): L, 5-4, Western Conference
1993 (Pittsburgh Penguins): W, 16-6, Wales Conference
1992 (Pittsburgh Penguins): L, 10-6, Wales Conference
1981 (Buffalo Sabres): L, 4-1, Wales Conference
1980 (Buffalo Sabres): W, 6-3, Wales Conference
1978 (Montreal Canadiens): W, 3-2, Wales Conference
1977 (Montreal Canadiens): W, 4-3, Wales Conference
1974 (Montreal Canadiens): L, 6-4, East Division
1971 (St. Louis Blues): W, 2-1, West Division
1970 (St. Louis Blues): L, 4-1, West Division
1969 (St. Louis Blues): T, 3-3, West Division