History
The National Hockey League held three benefit All-Star games during the 1930s. The first was staged at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens on Feb. 14, 1934, to benefit Ace Bailey of the Maple Leafs, who had suffered a skull fracture that nearly took his life.
Toronto beat a team of All-Stars from the other NHL teams, 7-3, in that game.
On Nov. 3, 1937, an All-Star team beat the Montreals, 6-5, in the Howie Morenz Memorial Game at the Forum. The Montreals team was made up of players from two Montreal teams, the Maroons and the Canadiens. Morenz had died in March of a heart attack while recuperating from a badly broken leg.
The third such game was the Babe Siebert Memorial Benefit, also played at the Forum, on Oct. 29, 1939. Seibert, a star with both Montreal teams, had drowned earlier that year at the age of 35. The NHL All-Stars beat the Canadiens, 5-3.
The first regular NHL All-Star Game was held in 1947. It was originally a pre-season game between the defending Stanley Cup champions and an All-Star team of players from the league's other five times.
For two years, 1951 and 1952, the first team all-stars played the second team all-stars, but in 1953 the game went back to its original format.
The NHL moved the game to mid-season in 1966-67, and in 1969 it became a contest between the East and West All-Stars, representing the Wales and Campbell Conferences from 1975 through 1993. From 1998 through 2002, the All-Star teams represented North America and the rest of the world. In 2003, the NHL went back to the East-West format.
Beginning with the 2010 game, the NHL adopted an unusual format. Two captains are named, and they essentially choose up sides from a pool of players chosen by fans and the league itself.
Skills Competition
Following the lead of the National Basketball Association, the NHL added skills competition on the day before the All-Star game in 1990. Originally called the NHL All-Star Skills Competition, it's now known as the NHL All-Star Game SuperSkills Competition.
The events that are included in the competition have changed from time to time. The current events are:
Overall Team--A team is awarded a point for each team competition won and for each individual competition won by a member of the team.
Fastest Skater--Skaters compete in pairs, racing a lap of the rink. The loser is eliminated and the winner goes on to another round of competition until there are two finalists who compete for the championship.
Breakaway Challenge--In a contest akin to the NBA slam-dunk competition, skaters create showy breakaway moves to score on a goalie. The winner is chosen by fans through text messaging.
Accuracy Shooting--Skaters shoot at four targets, one in each corner of the goal. There are two contests, for individuals and for teams.
Skills Challenge Relay--This is a team competition that has five parts: One-time shooting, passing, puck control, stick handling, and accuracy shooting.
Hardest Shot--As in the fastest skater competition, shooters compete in pairs to decide on two finalists for the championship round. The puck has hit the net for the speed to be recorded by a radar gun.
Elimination Shootout--This is similar to the shootout used to decide the winner in a tie game, but unsuccessful shooters are eliminated, while the successful shooter continue until only one remains.