DALLAS, Tesas -- In the National Hockey League's first All-Star Game since 2004, the Western Conference's veteran team outscored an Eastern Conference squad led by young stars, picking up a 12-9 win.
It was the first win by the Western Conference since 2003 and only their second in the six games that have been played in the East vs. West format.
Daniel Briere of the Buffalo Sabres was the game's MVP, scoring a goal and adding four assists in the losing effort.
Rick Nash of the Columbus Blue Jackets scored the eventual game-winning goal, one of his two goals on the night. He also assisted twice.
Other were Yanic Perrault (Phoenix Coyotes), Teemu Selanne (Anaheim Ducks), Martin St. Louis (Tampa Bay Lighting), Eric Staal (Carolina Hurricanes), Libomir Vishnovsky (Los Angeles Kings), Patrick Marleau (San Jose Sharks), Justin Williams (Carolina), Zdeno Chara (Boston Bruins), Martin Havlat (Chicago Blackhawks), Alexander Ovechkin (Washington Capitals), Brian Rolston (Minnesota Wild), Dany Heatley (Ottawa Senators), Sheldon Souray (Montreal Canadiens) and Dion Phaneuf (Calgary Flames).
Marty Turco of the hometown Dallas Stars got the win in goal while Cristobal Huet of Montreal took the loss, despite having the best save percentage of any of the Eastern Conference goalies.
Earlier in the day, the NHL announced that the Montreal Canadiens will host the 2009 All-Star Game as part of the celebration of the Canadiens' 100th season. The Atlanta Thrashers will host in 2008, after originally having been selected to host the cancelled 2005 game.
Anyone actually going to be watching this?
If I stick with it, I'm gonna have to mute the Versus guys, they're already annoying the hell out of me.
A bit in and my only real thought is a question: "Why do Ryan Miller and Martin Brodeur both get to wear #30 while there are no other duplicates? Just because they're goalies? That's never mattered before."
Did they seriously miss the call on a goal because they were too busy talking to Chuck Norris? Oy.
Anyone actually going to be watching this?
If I stick with it, I'm gonna have to mute the Versus guys, they're already annoying the hell out of me.
I enjoy the intros, skill competition and ceremonies, but the game is absolute crap...At least it's not on the weekend and there will be some real hockey soon.
I'm not sure I can say I'm watching it anymore. The TV is still set to Versus but I've been playing a bit of Need for Speed. Interview with Bettman should be interesting.
The sad thing? I swear I used to love the ASG.
Okay, Turco providing commentary throughout the third period was pretty cool. I'll give them that.
Did Lidstrom really play 19:08? I don't remember ever hearing his name.
Highlight of the game had to be that band. How on earth did they get a recording contract? Nick Halling and Russell Chamberlain were taking the mickey out of them so much. Nick said afterwards "let's just hope Simon Cowell wasn't watching" and "they could at least try to sing in tune". Because Russ pre-game that Sidney Crosby would be MVP, he had to agree to buy and listen to one of their albums. Someone emailed in this from Wikipedia:On December 4, 2005, Branch closed down The Wreckers' message board, saying that she was fed up with fans' negativity. The message read as follows: [2]
"What I am most frustrated at, I suppose, is ... I pay money to keep this website up so all of you "fans" can talk about our music. Why would I want to spend the money so the majority of you can sit around and bitch about us?". It was well worth staying up until 4am for.
HA! That's great. Somewhere or another I read something along the lines of, "Hey, American Idol is supposed to be on Fox tonight, not Versus."
Had to Listen Live again! 
Score was out of hand as usual, I noticed on the score summary that Nick had one assist, and can somebody tell me what number he was wearing? Could not find a roster list that seemed to be accurate on NHL.com (go figure). I can also remember once up a time when the all-star game was about hockey and not excess crap! They used to be a lot more fun to watch!
Lidstrom had #5, no one else on the team wears it so it wasn't an issue for him to get it.
That page would not come up for me 
Weird, it works for me.
I have to agree with you Clark, I too used to love watching these games.
I think with inflated salaries, the thought of getting hurt and changes in the game have made it rather boring.
You don't see the grit and determination anymore. It's more like a let's see who can make the prettiest play.
I still however enjoy watching the skills competetion.
Turco (My homeboy) was funny do a little commentating.
Sidney was awesome on the shootouts with Luongo. I thought Luongo seemed a bit p*ssed when interviewed afterwards. Sid was the only one to score on him
Why do Ryan Miller and Martin Brodeur both get to wear #30 while there are no other duplicates? Just because they're goalies? That's never mattered before.
Anyone happen to have an answer for this or know where I could find one? The best I've gotten is a bunch of assumptions and guesses over at Bird's place before someone pitched a fit about why I even care.
No idea
because it's the NHL. 
agreed
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