First face-off, won by Sakic, Jagr picks it up, Dumps it in, Tanguay beats Poti to the puck, puts it in the slot, Joe Sakic scores!! Seven seconds in. Marty Brodeur absolutely nowhere. The veteran Mario Lemieux rattling a shot in off the post 90 seconds later.. 2-0. Give it 2 minutes, shot 4 from the East from Alex Mogilny, top shelf! 3-0! Martin Brodeur couldnt stop a beachball right now. Around the ten minute mark, Brendan Morrison released Marian Gaborik and the Minnesota faithful were on their feet, Gaborik flying past the blueline, Dekes it, shoots.. Cross bar! And it struck the netting.. a sign of things to come? Four minutes left in the first period, the shots are favouring the East at 7-6.. Brendan Morrison released Marian Gaborik and the Fans were on their feet again.. Gaborik past Lidstrom, shot! Glove Save, Nabokov! He cant shut him out forever.. Three minutes.. Joe Thornton dumps the puck in for a line change, Mike Comrie intercepted the pass, 4-On-1 for the West, Bryan McCabe the only defensemen back as Kariya gets the puck, wrist-shot from Kariya! Heavy Metal!! Flying in from the wing was Markus Naslund who picked up on the loose puck and flicked it up past a despairing Nabokov. 1:17 left on the clock, Brendan Morrison released Marian Gaborik again! The Wild on their feet for the third time!! Past the blue line.. Shot.. Save Again Evgeni Nabokov! But he gave up the rebound, Gaborik stuffs it home before Nabokov even moves!! 3-2 to the East with the West buzzing. Ten seconds to go Eddy Jovanovski dumps the puck in hopefully, Kovalchuk beats the icing call, goes along the boards, centers the pass.. Modano deflects the shot past Nabokov!! 3-3 and thats the first intermission.

Evgeni Nabokov hands over the goaltending duties to Jose Theodore, while the poor Martin Brodeur hands his to Marty Turco.. Jose Theodores shut-out lasted a full 59 seconds, Mike Comrie going stick-side on the young Hab. Turco lasted only 30 seconds longer, Joe Thornton breaking a Western streak of 4 straight goals. He tied the score.. at four. Kovalchuk assisted Modano on his first period goal, so it was only common courtesy that Mikey return the favour with a sublime drop pass in the slot, Kovalchuk ripped it past the glove of Jose Theodore. Lemiuex and Jagr combined with two very simple passes, and the puck ended up with Nick Lidstrom who shot over the shoulder of Turco. 5-5. Mario and Jaromir (Sounds like a bad foreign sitcom) Combined again, but this time it ended with Jagr shooting through traffic. 6-5. Halfway point of the game, Yushkevich, to Modano, Modano plays it out to Poti, who passes the puck up to Gaborik along the boards, he takes the hit and gets the pass off, Kariya picks it up, some excellent puck control from Kariya, he holds it.. holds it.. holds it.. Fakes the shot, Theodore goes down.. Kariya strikes it and Theodore sticks up a skate! The puck pings off the blade and hits the netting.. And thats as good a save.. as you will see all year.

Not that it mattered too much though, Gaborik again takes the hit along the boards, gets the pass off, but no mistake this time from Kariya, Jose Theodore.. Close your five-hole! Game is tied at 6. That deadlock stood for just 45 seconds, Billy Guerin finishing off a fantastic pass from Boston team-mate Joe Thornton. Alexei Kovalev stretched the lead 2 minutes later with his second point and first goal, not finished there, though, the most senior player on the ice - Mario Lemieux AGAIN combined with Jaromir Jagr for the Legend's second goal of the game. The East Led the game 9-6. 90 Seconds to go, the West staged another late comeback, A Vancouver 1-2-3 as Markus Naslund scored with the assists from Jovanovski and Brendan Morrison. 40 Seconds to play, this time a Dallas-orientated attack, Yushkevich feeding Modano who shot low, it hit the skate of Marian Gaborik and Theodore did NOT have a chance. The second and final intermission began with the East leading the game 9-8.

Please welcome Nikolai 'The Bulin Wall' Khabibulin and the legend that is Patrick Roy. Playing in potentially his final All-Star game. But I wanna know what Darryl Sutter is telling his Western side, but they have a thing about consecutive goals either side of a period, this time, 2 at the end of the second and three at the beginning of this one for 5 consecutive goals, Ed Jovanovski, Milan Hejduk and Paul Kariya down on the scoresheet. 11-9 to the West now and Patrick Roy playing like the best goaltender of all time.. Khabibulin.. playing like... well a girl really. 10 Minutes to play and it doesnt look like the East are even gonna try to get back in this one.. Until Alex Tanguay steals a pass across the blue-line, advancing on Roy.. He shoots five hole.. Roy stones him! Patrick Roy stones him! and he holds on for the face-off. Sakic wins it, Samsonov gets it, plays it back to Schneider on the blueline, he watches Sakic's run across the crease.. he shoots the puck to the net, Sakic stops it, then flicks it past Roy. 12 Minutes it took to beat him but they finally did it. Maybe the floodgates would open now.. and that they did, before the minute was out, Brian Leetch scored top shelf to tie things up at 11. Five minutes left on the second annual NAHL All-Star game and we are far from done.. ANOTHER Vancouver 1-2-3, Naslund and Jovanovski with the assists this time for Brendan Morrison to put the West back in front. Three minutes, five seconds left, enter the Philadelphia effect, Nolan cuts inside from the boards, picks up the loose puck, drops it to Allison.. Fakes the shot, drops it to Kovalev.. SCORES! 12-12 and we have 3 minutes to go. Niedermayer clears the puck, Modano gloves it down, passes to Gagne, back to Modano, to Gagne, to Modano, fakes the pass to Gagne, plays it to Gaborik flying in, he controls it and shoots!! Top shelf in the corner!! The Minnesotans are going nuts as Marian Gaborik scores the hat-trick!! 13-12, The West are back in and have the lead.

But theres still 2 minutes to play.. 1:46 left on the clock, Lidstrom clears the puck, Sakic picks it up, drops the puck behind him for Jagr.. Helluva shot!! Jaromir Jagr just shot a 20 footer past Patrick Roy and the game is at 13-13. 1 minute left, Marian Gaborik pickpockets Mathieu Schneider, the script is written.. Gaborik winds up, shoots.. HE HITS THE POST! It was so close to a dream finish for Marian Gaborik. 20 seconds to play, it looks like were going to OT here.. but it looked like we were going to OT in the Youngstar game too.. Jagr now, to Kovalev, Leetch providing a goaltending screen, Kovalev to Lemieux, he stops the puck, turns it and hits the backhander... MARIO LEMIEUX JUST MADE IT 14-13 TO THE EAST! What Drama here at the Xcel Energy center.. Still.. we have 15 seconds to play.. and for the West to score in.. Comrie, Naslund and Kariya checking forward, 10 seconds..Naslund to Kariya..Seven seconds.. One Timer! Stick Save Nikolai Khabibulin!! Scott Niedermayer picks up the rebound, to his NYR team mate Brian Leetch, he looks up, sees Lemieux, 4 seconds.. Lemieux takes the puck at the blueline, leaves Poti for dead and shoots it from the blueline.. TOP SHELF!! TOP SHELF! Mario Lemieux has just won the game for the Eastern Conference All-Stars with TWO seconds to go. The East win it 15-13 in the highest scoring All-Star game EVER. Lets check out the game stars..

Game Star 3 - From the East, representing the Carolina Hurricanes Jaromir Jagr!!
Game Star 2 - From the West, representing the Minnesota Wild.. Marian Gaborik!!

Game Star 1 - Its obvious, From the East, representing the Pittsburgh Penguins, with 4 goals, 2 assists and a +7 rating.. Mario Lemieux!!

Give the man a car, a memo to all you guys looking for the Stanley Cup.. sign this man. Even if its only for a year - Sign him. He'll give your cup chances a huge boost...

Oh yeah and that "Pittsburgh Line"? 15 points between them for the game.

I said if this game is half as good as the YoungStar game it'll be a classic, it was better than the YoungStar game - make your own deductions

All-STAR GAME RESULTS

Eastern Conference - 15 Western Conference - 13
BOXSCORE
All-Star Game MVP - Mario Lemieux

Articles written by Ant McKeown, general manager of the New York Rangers.
� 2003 North American Hockey League All Rights Reserved.