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Coaching legends, world lines and other all-star memories

January 22, 2009 06:17 PM | Posted by   Marc Crawford  

The first NHL All-Star Game that I had the opportunity to be involved with was the 1996 classic held in Boston. Like most of you I had grown up watching the game and I am old enough to remember when the all stars use to suit up against the Stanley Cup champions of the previous year.

Scotty Bowman was the head coach of the Western All-Stars that year and, by virtue of finishing with the second-most points at the half, I was the assistant coach.

Thinking back, I was in awe of everything.

Sure, I had stars on the Colorado Avalanche, but I was used to them. In that dressing room were Gretzky, Fedorov, Hull, Chelios, MacInnis, and countless others who are now, or one day will be, in the Hall of Fame.

'I followed him around like a puppy dog'

In those days, the teams had extra players - 23 to be exact. I remember Scotty meeting with the players and telling them a story about how when he was coaching the Canadiens in the 1970s, he always had skaters who wanted more ice time.

He explained to our group of superstars that, just like the talent-laden Habs, players would have to understand that there is only 60 minutes of ice time to go around. After you give your top guys their 20 minutes, and you gave your second line their 16 minutes and you gave the checking line their 15 minutes, well, that didn’t leave many minutes for the rest of them.

All of those all-stars sat around the room wondering who was on the top line and someone broke the ice by volunteering to be on the checking line so he could get the quality 15 minutes instead of the five or six minutes left for the extras.

Scotty was very smart and I followed him around like a puppy dog for all the festivities for two days. The game was probably the best of the five that I have been involved in as Raymond Bourque scored with under 40 seconds to go to lead the East to a 5-4 victory.

In San Jose in 1997, the East was at one point soundly thrashing our side 5-0. What I most remember was Al MacInnis getting up on the bench and scolding the rest of the team that they had a responsibility to put on a better show. I always respected Al for doing this and I think it speaks volumes about the character and the respect that he showed for the sport. That game was probably most remembered for Owen Nolan’s Babe Ruth-like gesture as he scored his hat trick goal in the third period.

Same team, same country, same line

The following year the league decided to try the format of North America versus the World in Vancouver. Ken Hitchcock and I were coaching the world team and we decided it would be great to have the lines be made up of players from the same countries.

We had Forsberg, Sundin and Alfredsson on the Swedish line, Larionov, Fedorov and Bure on the Russian line, and Selanne, Koivu, and Lehtinen on the Finnish line. To complete the combinations we had Palffy, Jagr, Holik and Bondra on what we dubbed the re-unification line. The players were excited and we stormed out to an early 3-0 lead and looked as though we were going to blow out the North American side.

One piece of advice: Never underestimate the determination of the North American player. They proved it by mounting a huge comeback to win 8-7 on a late Mark Messier goal.

Families share in the fun, memories

I made my only appearance as a head coach in South Florida in 2003, the first game to end in a shootout. It was an amazing trip because I was able to share the experience with my son Dylan, who was now old enough to appreciate the experience. So many of the participants involve their children and families and it truly is special. He got to meet Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Patrick Roy, and so many of the players.

The highlight for me was that he got to sit in the coach’s room discussing hockey with one of my mentors, Roger Neilson, who was seriously ill and still fighting his losing battle with cancer. Roger still had a huge presence and was in his element speaking about the game he loved with my son who still talks about that day.

The last game I had the pleasure to be involved in was in Minnesota where as the archrivals of the Wild. Markus Naslund, Todd Bertuzzi and I were booed severely when we were announced.

I still love the all-star game and I look forward to it just as I did when I was a little boy.

The pageantry will certainly be front and centre this year in Montreal. You get to see the who’s who of hockey and the game, I’m sure, will end up finding some competitiveness along the way. For the players, it is the last chance to relax with family and friends before the final push towards the playoffs. There will most likely be some special play or moment that will end up being remembered most.

For those lucky enough to be involved they will carry their own personal memories that will last a lifetime.

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