They were advertising this on their tickets since the first season out of the lockout. As part of the celebrations the Habs will have like a two hour ceremony every night before a home game and will retire all numbers between 1 and 99. They will also wear a variety of alternate jerseys and will play host to the 2009 All Star Game. Which got me to thinking what the jerseys will look like. Also, what past all star jerseys have looked like. So here we go. The top 5 NHL All Star Game jerseys of all time.
Number 5
This was the jersey of the first all star game. This is from 1947 when the NHL All Stars played the Stanley Cup Champions. The game was held in the Champs' home arena. The jersey (or a white variation of it) was used from 1947 to 1960. A replica was also used for the 1992 All Star Game in Philadelphia. The NHL was celebrating its 75th year.
Number 4
This all star jersey was first used for the 1983 All Star Game in Uniondale, New York (NY Islanders). That is the game where Gretzky scored four goals to set a record. This jersey was also used in 84, 85, and 86. The hosts were New Jersey, Calgary, and Hartford.
Number 3
This jersey is from the 1998 NHL All Star Game in Vancouver. This was also the first game that featured the North American team versus Team World. This was done to hype the NHL's involvement in the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics. Interesting note, I believe in the history of that format no team ever won both the skills competition and the actual game in the same year. This jersey was also used in 1999 for the game in Tampa. In 99 Team World continued to wear white while North America stayed in maroon. The jerseys were replaced by a new design for the 2000 game in Toronto, where the goalies wore white and the players wore the coloured jerseys.
Number 2
These vintage look jerseys were only used for one game. The 2004 NHL All Star Game in St. Paul, Minnesota. Which was the final all star game before the lockout. It wasn't until 2007 another game was held, in Dallas. The jersey had and old style, wool look to them just like a jersey from the 60's. This was the first game that returned to the East versus West format.
Number 1
These jerseys premiered at the 1989 All Star Game in Edmonton. This was Wayne Gretzky's return to the Northlands Coliseum as a member of the home team. Before Gary Bettman renamed the conferences (that a whole 'nother can of worms) the format was the Clarence Campell Conference (West) versus the Prince of Wales Conference (East). The home team always wore white and the home team was always the conference in which the host city was located. The jerseys were also worn for the 1990 game in Pittsburgh, the 1991 game in Chicago and the 1993 game in Montreal. In 1994 after the renaming of the conferences the jerseys were changed to aqua (home team) versus purple (away team).
There we go, top 5 all star jerseys of all time. There aren't really enough All Star jerseys to make a worst 5 list. I can really only think of one really bad one. It was used for the 2000 NHL All Star Game in Toronto and the 2001 NHL All Star Game in Denver.
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