NHL
NHL All-Stars take serious approach as East beats West

By Los Angeles Times and The Associated Press

	DAVE SANDFORD / GETTY IMAGES East All-Star Mark Messier of the New York Rangers takes a shot at West goaltender Dwayne Roloson of the Minnesota Wild during yesterday's All-Star Game in St. Paul, Minn. The 43-year-old Messier had a goal and an assist in the East's 6-4 win.
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ST. PAUL, Minn. — As these things go — and the best way for an NHL All-Star Game to go is quickly and without bloodshed or dental damage — the 54th All-Star event was remarkable mostly for something that didn't appear in the game statistics.

And that was players taking the game seriously, albeit not in the sense the league might have hoped.

They dished out a few hits in the East All-Stars' 6-4 victory over the West at Xcel Energy Center, though most involved West forward Keith Tkachuk of St. Louis and his pal and vaudeville partner, East center Jeremy Roenick of Philadelphia.

Colorado center Joe Sakic was outstanding in scoring three times and winning most-valuable-player honors in a losing cause. The goaltenders were fine, and Minnesota's Dwayne Roloson made several spectacular stops in the third period that merited the chants he got from his hometown crowd.

In the end, though, nostalgia outweighed intensity.

With contentious labor talks creating an uncertain future, nearly every player acknowledged having wondered if this was his last All-Star Game for a while, if not forever.

With that in mind, they took their children, nieces, nephews, parents and cameras with them everywhere to share and preserve precious memories.

"I brought my whole family on the assumption this will be my last one," Roenick said. "I'm expecting it to be the last one for a while, but I'm hoping it's not."

Tkachuk said he had his two sons, ages 6 and 4, close by all weekend because he doesn't know if they will have such a chance again. Looking at 4-year-old Brady in the West locker room, he said, "Did you see J.R. hit Daddy?"

The boy nodded vigorously and replied, "Yes, but you hit him back!"

Indeed, he did.

	DAVE SANDFORD / GETTY IMAGES Joe Sakic had a hat trick in the All-Star game.

The Tkachuk-Roenick byplay was partly choreographed — Roenick said he told Tkachuk beforehand to expect to be bumped but claimed Tkachuk's retaliation went overboard — but it provided amusing moments for the enthusiastic crowd of 19,434 in the self-proclaimed "State of Hockey."

Fans, displaying their knowledge and sense of history, gave a warm ovation to Mark Messier, the 43-year-old New York Rangers center who scored a goal and recorded an assist in his 15th All-Star Game.

"You never know what tomorrow brings," said Messier, who invited several family members to Minnesota for the weekend. "It's always nice to go out with a win, that's for sure. ...

"I didn't expect (the ovation). I just tried to play an honest game, a hard game."

His linemates, Rangers teammate Jaromir Jagr and Washington's Robert Lang, paid their own tribute by trying to set him up at every opportunity. Jagr, especially, was impressed by the applause Messier received.

"It's special. He deserved it," Jagr said. "I don't know how many years he's played in the league — 25 maybe — and he won a lot of Stanley Cups. This one is maybe the last All-Star Game he's in.

"You always try to help him. He helped a lot of players during his hockey career and you want to make it special for him and give something back."

Jagr and Messier assisted on the East's first goal, by defenseman Adrian Aucoin of the New York Islanders at 5:44 of the first period. Sakic tied it at 13:37 on a shot against Martin Brodeur.

Ottawa and East center Daniel Alfredsson gave the East a 2-1 lead 51 seconds into the second period, but Sakic, sent in alone on a pass by Vancouver's Markus Naslund, pulled the West even at 5:44. Phoenix's Shane Doan put the West ahead at 13:02 when he beat Jose Theodore from close range, but Messier, Gary Roberts and Alfredsson scored in a span of 4:16 against Nashville's Tomas Vokoun.

Ilya Kovalchuk of Atlanta padded the East's lead to 6-3 when he converted a breakaway at 4:03 of the third period, and the West wrapped up the scoring when Sakic got behind the East defense to complete his hat trick at 7:22.

Note

• Vancouver Canucks forward Todd Bertuzzi is perceived as a bully and a villain by Minnesota Wild fans.

Accumulating five shots on goal, two assists and plenty of jeers from the crowd, Bertuzzi became one of the rare guys who gets booed while playing for the home team. Though rooting for Bertuzzi's West squad, the crowd booed Bertuzzi in warmups and almost every time he touched the puck.

The fans' anger is a carryover from last year's rugged Western Conference semifinal playoff series, won in seven games by Minnesota. "I just think it's fun leaving an impression on people like that," Bertuzzi said.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company