North America beats the World
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Changing the NHL All-Star game from an East-West format to North America against the World didn't make for the defense-minded, tighter-checking game some players envisioned.
Instead, goals came at the fastest clip in All-Star history three in the first four minutes as North America rallied to beat the World team 8-7 Sunday.
The World set a record for fastest three goals at the start of an All-Star game, including two by Teemu Selanne. The right wing finished with three goals the first European to record a hat trick in the game's history and the first to be named MVP.
``We can make this game a lot better when we use a little bit more speed and more tempo,'' said Selanne, a Finnish Olympian. ``You don't necessarily have to have hitting and hooking and all those things.''
In three weeks, 36 of the 46 participants 18 on each roster will head to Nagano for the first Olympics ever to include NHL players. The league will take a 16-day break, beginning Feb. 8.
``It's just going to be great hockey, something we'll never forget,'' said Canadian Wayne Gretzky, whose two assists in his record 17th consecutive game helped him pass Mario Lemieux as the game's career scorer with 22 points.
The United States and Canada are favored to win the gold medal. In a unique twist, the countries will be pitted against each other just a few weeks after teaming up to win the All-Star game.
``When they put on the Canadian jersey and we put on the U.S. jersey, there's a lot of pride,'' said Keith Tkachuk, who had two goals for North America. ``It's going to be feisty. That's the way it should be.''
Finland, the bronze medal winner in the 1994 Olympics, isn't expected to win a medal in Japan. But the Finns made their presence felt Sunday, with Selanne, Jari Kurri, Saku Koivu and Jere Lehtinen combining for four goals and six assists.
``Europeans can bring a lot of good things in the league,'' Selanne said. ``I think North American players, they respect Europeans more and more.''
The teams combined for 15 or more goals for the seventh time in All-Star play during the 1990s. Twelve of the last 14 games have produced double-digit goal totals after that happened only four times in the first 37 years.
``After they made it 3-0, it really kind of gave us a wake-up call and we got going,'' Gretzky said. ``We didn't want to be embarrassed, no question.''
The North Americans came back and took control, going up 8-5 as Mark Messier celebrated his 37th birthday with a goal on an assist from Gretzky in a play reminiscent of their Stanley Cup championship days in Edmonton.
Patrick Roy had a rough outing in goal for North America. He allowed three first-period goals to become the most scored-upon goalie in All-Star history with 24 goals.
The World beat Roy on three of its first five shots, with Jaromir Jagr scoring in between two goals by Selanne. North America rallied, outshooting the World 13-2 the rest of the eriod and beating Dominik Hasek three times to tie on goals by John LeClair, Tkachuk and Scott Niedermayer.
Theo Fleury gave North America a 4-3 lead in the second period, but Selanne followed with his third goal and Kurri also beat Ed Belfour as the World went up 5-4.
``Everybody said, `Hey, we've got to pick it up here or it's going to be a long afternoon,''' Fleury said. ``The other team had so much talent, so much skill. We try to muck it in the corners, get our goals that way.''
Eric Lindros scored on a rebound to tie it at 12:36 of the second, the first of four consecutive North America goals. Tony Amonte gave the team a 6-5 lead, then Tkachuk and Messier scored in the first four minutes of the third.
``This is a great warmup to the Olympics,'' said Brendan Shanahan, who'll play for Canada. ``It got everybody into the international spirit.''
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