To throw some perspective on how expansive this weekend’s NHL All-Star game and festivities have become, aside from it honoring the 100th anniversary of the league, go back 36 years to the first time Southern California was given the opportunity to play host.
For one, it wasn’t even a weekend. The 1981 exhibition at the Inglewood Forum was on a Tuesday night. The Canada Broadcasting Company, aka “Hockey Night in Canada,” owned the TV rights, so a group in Philadelphia cobbled together 13 affiliates to carry its version of a broadcast to major U.S. cities.
You want some Snoop Dogg for the festivities? He was 10-year-old pup in Long Beach, long before the Ice Dogs.
“No fan fest, no skills competition … just a banquet before the game that had some Hollywood involvement that made it feel big-time,” said Jim Fox, the Kings’ long-time TV analyst who was in his rookie season as a player with the franchise at the time.
“Looking back, especially after having two All-Star games now in L.A. since then, that one in ’81 almost seems kind of small-town. It really just shows how far all this has come — shutting down the league for a long stretch is more a celebration of the entire NHL instead of just the All-Stars.”
Here is a look at how the two previous L.A.-based (there has not been one yet in Anaheim) All-Star events played out:
Feb. 10, 1981: The Forum
The 33rd edition of the game was the first time the league ventured to the U.S. West Coast — it had been in Vancouver in 1977 — and this was somewhat new territory. But Jerry Buss, who had taken the Kings ownership from Jack Kent Cooke less than two years prior, again had the vision to get the spotlight turned on the city.
As much as it could be, as the Campbell Conference posted a 4-1 victory over the Wales Conference in front of 15,761.
L.A. had plenty of star power to light it up, as the Triple Crown line of Marcel Dionne, Dave Taylor and Charlie Simmer were the Wales Conference’s starting lineup. Teammate Mario Lessard was the backup to 19-year-old Don Beaupre of Minnesota in the nets.
A long ovation from the Forum crowd greeted the Triple Crown line as they were introduced together as the last players to take the ice.
“It was a pretty big deal, a lot of excitement, the first time the game was here,” said Hall of Fame play-by-play man Bob Miller, calling the game on radio for L.A. with Nick Nickson. “As the score shows, it was not as All-Star games would become offensively.”
Edmonton’s Wayne Gretzky, who just turned 20 and was in his second NHL season (after one WHA season), didn’t even start. He assisted on the final Campbell Conference goal by Kent Nilsson, the only Swede on either roster (there were only four U.S.-born players, and 33 Canadians among the 39 players picked from the 21 teams at the time). It was Gretzky’s first All-Star point of a record 25 in 18 appearances.
In watching video of the game today, it’s striking to see several players without helmets. And those who did had no face shields. The NHL put in a rule requiring helmets in 1979, but it had a “grandfather” clause allowing veteran players to go without a helmet if they wished.
There were just two minor penalties called, and the game ended in just over two hours.
Mike Davis of the San Bernardino Sun wrote: “It never would have played in Philadelphia. There was no bullying, no intimidation. … It was a lot of fast skating, quick shooting, clean checking and most of all terrific goaltending.”
The star of the night became St. Louis goalie Mike Liut, one of 23 players making their All-Star debut. He turned back 25 shots in 31 minutes, including 18 in the first period. His MVP award came with a new Toyota Celica Supra.
“Luit deserved the car,” Simmer, coming off a season where he had a league-high 56 goals, told reporters after the game. “We fired a lot of shots but we ran into a hot goalie.”
The Triple Crown line took a combined six shots — two each — with nothing to show for it.
“I wish we could have scored a goal for our fans,” future Hall of Famer Dionne, who, at 29, was the oldest player on either roster, said to reporters. “We just wasted too many scoring opportunities. But it was a lot of fun. Now back to the serious business — the rest of the season.”
Feb. 2, 2002: Staples Center
As formats adjusted over the years, this 52nd edition continued a “league of nations” theme that played well into the storyline as it was 12 days before the Winter Olympics were to start in Salt Lake City, and nationalism was prevalent.
From the rosters of 30 NHL teams, the North American squad had 16 players from Canada and five from the U.S. So when North America coach Pat Quinn put Mario Lemieux, Joe Sakic and the Mighty Ducks’ Paul Kariya on the same line, it was really an experiment as to how Quinn would do it for Team Canada’s eventual gold-medal winning top line, along with former King Rob Blake on defense and Patrick Roy in the nets.
The World Team, in addition to stars like Jaromir Jagr, Sergei Fedorov, Dominik Hasek and captain Mats Sundin, included the Kings’ Ziggy Palffy and Jaroslav Modry. Former Ducks star Teemu Selanne, who would score twice, was there as well.
The World won, 8-5, in front of 18,118 on a Saturday in order to avoid conflict with Super Bowl XXXVI between the New England and St. Louis in New Orleans. The date of the NFL championship game had been pushed back a week in the wake of the still-fresh 9/11 attacks.
The NHL had its own patriotic hook, bringing back the 1980 U.S. Olympic gold medal “Miracle On Ice” team for its first reunion since its feat.
Once the game started, the shot heard around the arena was provided by Jeremy Roenick, the Philadelphia Flyers center (and future King) who slammed defenseman Alexei Zhitnik of Buffalo (and ex-King) against the corner wall about halfway through the first period. The crowd came alive, as did the North American team, which quickly took a 2-0 lead.
“I knew Zhitnik and I were not destined to be lifelong friends, whether that mattered or not,” Roenick, working for NBC this weekend as part of the game coverage, said Wednesday. “I didn’t throw any kind of bone-breaking, demoralizing hit, but it did rattle the boards and got people out of their seats. There was no better place to do that in L.A.”
Roenick said he wasn’t concerned about getting injured just prior to the Olympics, where he helped Team USA to a silver medal.
“Back then, not many things exciting happened in All-Star games, and I had a reputation for hitting and being physical. That was just my mentality. Getting injured wasn’t in the thought process.”
North America had a 5-3 lead after two periods, and Chicago’s Eric Daze had accumulated enough MVP votes as ballots were collected midway through the third period.
But that’s when World goalie Nikolai Khabibulin took over. The Russian star shut out the North Americans in the final period, while his teammates scored five unanswered goals (two of the empty netters) to pull off the comeback.
Fast-forward to today
That would be the final year of the North America-World format. It reverted to East-West (2003-2010), then a players draft of teams (2011-2015). But four times since that 2002 L.A. stop, the exhibition wasn’t played at all because of a league lockout or Winter Olympics break.
Now the 3-on-3 format is in place, with four teams of 11 players from the Pacific, Central, Atlantic and Metropolitan divisions in a tournament.
“It was pretty cool having that North American-Europe setup that made everything more intriguing for bragging rights,” said Roenick, a Del Mar resident who would play in nine All-Star games. “It was one of those crazy scenarios and it was a lot of fun.
“Now having it a tournament style, it’s a very bold change and has created a lot of excitement. This is one of the better rule changes they’ve made over the last 10 years.
“One thing that I’m very happy about is the country is going to see how passionate the L.A. fans really are. That stadium is filled every single night with sold‑out crowds, and it’s one of the loudest buildings that I’ve ever played in.”