The NHL All-Star Game – The Showcase Game Has Tragic Beginnings

by Dennis "The Viking" Altenburg

The 55th NHL All-Star Game will be played in Dallas on Wednesday, January 24 as the crown jewel amid the pomp and festivities of the week-long event. There will be events such as All-Star cookoffs, a celebrity hockey game, trading card and memorabilia shows, and a street hockey competition between students from a Dallas elementary school. Players from the 1999 Stanley Cup Champion Dallas Stars will reunite and lead the Stanley Cup into American Airlines Center, and a “Young Stars” game on Tuesday will feature some of the best first year players in the NHL. The NHL SuperSkills Competition, always a fan favorite, follows the Young Stars game and will match the abilities of selected players against one other in categories such as hardest shot, most accurate shot, fastest skater, best defenseman, and best goaltender.

The All-Star celebrations conclude with the game itself, the first played since 2004. No game was staged in 2005 because of the NHL lockout, or in 2006 because of the Winter Olympics. The talented stars of today will put on a show for the ages, and there will be a tribute to many former NHL All-Stars who will be in attendance.

The pageantry of the All-Star celebrations has developed slowly through the years to the grand show it is today, but most hockey fans are unaware of how the game came into existence. In the short 5 year period between 1934 and 1939, the fledgling NHL was devastated by three heartbreaking player losses.

Walter Irvine “Ace” Bailey

The first NHL All-Star Game was born out of injury and tragedy in 1934. A series of events during a regular season game at the Boston Gardens on December 12, 1933 between the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins, resulted in life-threatening injuries to one of the NHL’s first All-Stars, Ace Bailey of the Leafs. The injuries he received would end Bailey’s playing career -- although he miraculously recovered from his injuries, Bailey never played professional hockey again. He served in various positions with the Toronto Maple Leaf organization from 1938 to 1984.

Walter Gilhooley, sports editor of the Montreal Journal, is credited with proposing the benefit game, and the NHL Board of Governors was swift to answer – the Ace Bailey Benefit Game was held on February 14, 1934 at the famed Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. The Maple Leafs played against a team of All-Stars made up of players from the other seven teams in the NHL at the time. The final score was Toronto 7, All-Stars 3. During the game, Ace Bailey’s #6 was the first NHL number ever to be retired. Years later, Bailey allowed Ron Ellis to wear jersey #6 for Toronto. Bailey introduced the notion of an annual All-Star Game that he hoped would benefit injured players and presented the NHL with a trophy that he wanted to be awarded to the winning team.

Howarth “Howie” William Morenz

Three short years after the Ace Bailey Benefit Game, tragedy struck again. On January 28, 1937, in a game at the Montreal Forum between the Montreal Canadiens and the Chicago Black Hawks, Howie Morenz of the Canadiens suffered a devastating injury from which he never recovered. On March 8, 1937 at the age of 34, Morenz died in the hospital from complications associated with the injury. His funeral took place at the Montreal Forum, which was filled with thousands of his fans, and the service was broadcast on radio across Canada.

On November 3, 1937 at the Forum, the Howie Morenz Memorial Game was played between a team made up of players from the two Montreal area teams, the Canadiens and the Maroons, and an All-Star team with players from the other six NHL teams. The All-Stars won the game 6-5. The day before the game, Morenz’s #7 was retired by the Canadiens. Howie Morenz was one of the first players to be inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame and many of his contemporaries named him the best player the NHL has ever seen.

Albert Charles “Babe” Siebert

Less than two years after the Howie Morenz Memorial Game, the Montreal Canadiens were dealt yet another loss. After 14 successful years as a player with four teams in the NHL, Babe Siebert retired from the game and was instantly hired as the Montreal Canadiens’ coach for the upcoming 1939-1940 season. While on vacation during the summer, Siebert drowned in Lake Huron near St. Joseph, Ontario on August 25.

The Babe Siebert Memorial Game was played at the Montreal Forum on October 29, 1939 to raise money for his widow and two daughters. The Montreal Canadiens faced an All-Star team made up of players from the rest of the National Hockey League. The final score was All-Stars 5, Montreal 2. Ironically, two years before, Siebert was the reigning Hart Trophy winner as the NHL MVP and played in the Howie Morenz Memorial Game to honor his fallen team mate. Eight years would pass before the first official NHL All-Star Game was played at Maple Leaf Gardens on October 13, 1947.

October 13, 1947 – A Tradition is born

The entire world was anxious for an era of peace, renewal, and prosperity when World War 2 came to an end. Eager to do its part, the NHL Board of Governors took Ace Bailey’s vision of an annual game that would feature the best hockey players in the National Hockey League, and made it a reality. The first NHL All-Star Game would take place prior to the start of the 1947-1948 hockey season, with the defending Stanley Cup Champion Toronto Maple Leafs hosting a team selected from the rest of the NHL. In keeping with the ideal envisioned by Ace Bailey, the proceeds from the game went to the NHL Players’ Pension Fund. The All-Stars won the inaugural game 4-3, but that is not really important. What IS important is how the Game has evolved to display the finest that the NHL has to offer. From the sorrow and grief that led to the birth of the All-Star Game, to the festival of events and celebration that it has become, the NHL All-Star Game can be proud of its history, then and now. Here’s to you Ace, Howie, and Babe.

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