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| Date | February 8, 2004 | |||||||||||||||
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| Arena | Xcel Energy Center | |||||||||||||||
| City | Saint Paul | |||||||||||||||
| MVP | Joe Sakic (Colorado) | |||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 19,434 | |||||||||||||||
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The2004 National Hockey League All-Star Game was held on February 8, 2004, at theXcel Energy Center inSaint Paul, home of theMinnesota Wild. TheEastern Conference defeated theWestern Conference 6–4. This was the final All-Star Game until2007.
The city of Saint Paul in honor of the All Star Game being held built the Ice Castle for the first time in over 20 years at theSaint Paul Winter Carnival right across the street from the Xcel Energy Center.
TheYoungStars game, featuring rosters composed entirely of rookies and some second-year players, saw the Western Conference YoungStars defeat the Eastern Conference 7–3.Anaheim'sJoffrey Lupul scored a hat trick,San Jose'sJonathan Cheechoo picked up four assists andColorado goaltenderPhilippe Sauve was named the Game MVP, stopping 18 of 21 shots. It is notable that instead of a regular 5-on-5 hockey game, the YoungStars game is played in a four-on-four format with each roster consisting of six forwards, four defencemen, and one goaltender. The game was played in three 10-minute running-clock periods and a four-minute intermission between each period.
TheEastern Conference were the overall victors of the SuperSkills Competition, in which selectall-stars compete in various competitions, including a shootout, arelay race and a fastest skater competition. The East defeated the West 13–6.Panthers goaltenderRoberto Luongo won theGoaltenders Competition,Islanders defencemanAdrian Aucoin won theHardest Shot competition andDevils defencemanScott Niedermayer won theFastest Skater competition.
The Eastern Conference were struck with injuries asScott Stevens andWade Redden were forced to pull out of the game.Brian Rafalski andPavel Kubina replaced the defensemen, respectively, putting the starting rosters atIlya Kovalchuk,Joe Thornton andMartin St. Louis on offense,Scott Niedermayer and Stevens injury replacementBrian Rafalski on defense andMartin Brodeur in goal for the East, andTodd Bertuzzi,Mike Modano andBill Guerin on offense,Rob Blake andNicklas Lidstrom on defense andMarty Turco in goal for the West.
The Eastern Conference cruised to a 6–4 victory on goals byAdrian Aucoin,Daniel Alfredsson (who scored twice),Mark Messier,Gary Roberts andIlya Kovalchuk. However, it wasJoe Sakic of the Western Conference who walked away with MVP honors as he scored ahat trick.Coyotes forwardShane Doan also scored for the West.
For the first time, the NHL used All-Star uniforms inspired by the host team, and opted to go with a retro flavor. The uniforms were distinct for the lack of white - the Eastern Conference uniforms were cream-colored (officially the Minnesota Wild's "Minnesota Wheat" color) with red trim, while the Western Conference wore green jerseys with cream trim. In a departure from the overall retro theme of the uniforms, the names on the back of the jersey were in theKabel typeface used by theToronto Maple Leafs at the time.
| Eastern Conference | Western Conference | |
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| Final score | 6 | 4 |
| Scoring summary |
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| Penalties | none | none |
| Shots on goal | 10–12–7–29 | 11–12–9–32 |
| Win/loss | W -Jose Theodore | L -Tomas Vokoun |
