"Old" C.H.L. All-Stars Games 1981/82 and 1982/83

The Central Hockey League would have an All-Star Team each year but did not have an All-Star game until the 1981/82 & 1982/83 seasons. Both All-Star games were played in Salt Lake City.

In fitting fashion, the first Central Hockey League All-Star Game wasn't decided until the final shot of the game. At the 4:09 mark of the overtime session, rookie defenseman Joe McDonnell of the Dallas Black Hawks earned the hero honors as well as the most valuable All-Star award. The first-year professional from Kitchner, Ontario blistered a shot from the blueline past Eagles goaltender Rick Heinz to bring the All-stars a 4-3 overtime victory over the defending Adams Cup Champion Salt Lake Golden Eagles in the first ever Central Hockey League All-Star game. The goal also signaled the conclusion of a brilliant two-day series of events as the Central Hockey League enjoyed its finest hour in Salt Lake City.

The game had been tied at 3-3 since the 2:36 mark of the third period after the Eagles Steve Harrison notched the tieing goal which enabled the Eagles to rally from a two goal deficit. For the next twenty one minutes, both goaltenders provided the individual heroics. All-Star goalie Lindsay Middlebrook of the Nashville South Stars and the Eagles Rick Heinz dueled in superb fashion to maintian the tie game through the first four minutes of the overtime period. Following a cross checking penalty to the Eagles Bill Stewart at the 3:22 mark of the overtime, McDonnell earned the All-Stars their exciting triumph as well as the Most Valuable All-Star Award in this first All-Star game.

M.V.P. of the 1981/82 C.H.L. All-Star Game Joe McDonnell of the Dallas Black Hawks.

The game itself, was as well played and as exciting an All-Star contest as ever played. The players applied the appropriate finish to two days of glory for the Central Hockey League.

A soldout (850) Hilton Hotel Grand Ballroom watched this festive All-Star banquet with delight. Highlighting the banquet was the appearance of two most colorful and interesting guests of honor. Joining the Central Hockey League for the celebration was recently retired scoring machine from the National Hockey League, Phil Esposito. Also speaking to the audience was the captain of the 1980 United States Gold Medal winning Olympic team, and a man whose game winning goal against the Russians helped to bring that moment of glory to the United States, Mike Eruzione.

Feeling that the success of the banquet would be a tough act to follow, the players from both teams proved equal to the challenge. The appreciative crowd of 7,695 enjoyed this well played game by the finest talent in the league. Both clubs skated well and displayed an intensity that appeared unique to All-Star games in all professional athletics.

The Central Hockey League's second leading scorer and top assist man, Richie Hansen of the Golden Eagles, captured the honor as the first player to score a goal in the Central Hockey League All-Star competition. Midway through the first period, Hansen broke in alone on All-Star goalie Kelly Hrudey and beat the CHL's top goaltender to score a shorthanded tally and give the host team their only lead of the night.

Thirty one seconds after Hansen's opening score, the All-Star retailiated. Drew Callander of the Dallas Black Hawks knotted the count with a power play goal. The scoring for the first period was completed one minute later when Callanders' teammate from Dallas, Kelly Kisio, put the Stars ahead 2-1 after one period.

Second period action was wide open but no goals were registered until twenty one seconds after both coaches changed goalies at the midway mark of the period. Replacing Hrudey for the Stars was Lindsay Middlebrook of the Nashville South Stars, the CHL's second leading goaltender while Rick Heinz joined the action for the Golden Eagles. Bob Attwell of the Fort Worth Texans welcomed Heinz to the game by beating him on the first shot Heinz faced to give the Stars a 3-1 advantage. John Markell brought the Eagles to within a single goal before the end of the second period.

In the third period with Greg Hotham of the All-Stars in the penalty box, Harrison collected the Eagles second power play goal of the night to tie the score 3-3, setting the stage for the overtime period. Both goalies were magnificient throughout the third period. Heinz made a pair of game saving stops late in the third period while Middlebrook was just as sharp at the other end of the rink. Then, in the overtime, a rookie defenseman claimed his own moment of glory and one for the All-Stars, ending two spectacular days for the Central Hockey League.

Joe McDonnell accepting the C.H.L.'s All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award from C.H.L. President Bud Poile (middle) and All-Star Coach Danny Belisle.

1981/ 82 CHL All-Stars

Salt Lake City Golden Eagles

Name                      Team  G  A Pts PIM

Lindsay Middlebrook (Nashville) 0  0   0   0
Mike Antonovich     (Nashville) 0  0   0   0
Bobby Francis   (Oklahoma City) 0  0   0   0
Bruce Boudreau     (Cincinnati) 0  0   0   0
Joe McDonnell          (Dallas) 1  0   1   0
Greg Hotham        (Cincinnati) 0  0   0   2
Walt Poddubny         (Wichita) 0  0   0   0
Drew Callander         (Dallas) 1  0   1   0
Dan Poulin          (Nashville) 0  1   1   2
Kris Manery             (Tulsa) 0  0   0   0
Kelly Kisio            (Dallas) 1  1   2   0
Reg Thomas         (Cincinnati) 0  2   2   0
Mike Hordy       (Indianapolis) 0  1   1   2
Bob Attwell        (Fort Worth) 1  0   1   0
Rick Bowness            (Tulsa) 0  0   0   2
Lance Nethery         (Wichita) 0  1   1   0
John Marks       (Indianapolis) 0  1   1   2
Kelly Hrudey     (Indianapolis) 0  0   0   0
--------------------------------------------
Totals                          4  7  11  10

Goaltenders            MIN GA Saves

Kelly Hrudey         29:53  1   18
Lindsay Middlebrook  34:16  2   18

Coach - Danny Belisle (Dallas)

(Neil Belland was chosen to play in the All-Star
game but did not play. Drew Callander was added
to the roster in Neil's place)

Name             G  A Pts PIM

Rick Heinz       0  1   1   2
Alain Vigneault  0  0   0   0
Steve Harrison   1  0   1   0
Neil LaBatte     0  0   0   2
Claude Julien    0  0   0   0
John Taft        0  0   0   0
Bobby Crawford   0  0   0   0
Mark Reeds       0  0   0   2
Alain Lemieux    0  1   1   0
Richie Hansen    1  0   1   0
Ken Federko      0  0   0   0
Denis Houle      0  0   0   2
Floyd Thomson    0  0   0   2
John Markell     1  0   1   0
Bert Wilson      0  1   1   0
Bill Stewart     0  0   0   2
Mike Boland      0  0   0   0
Doug Palazzari   0  1   1   0
Perry Anderson   0  0   0   0
Paul Skidmore    0  0   0   0
-----------------------------
Totals           3  4   7  12

Goaltenders     MIN GA Saves

Paul Skidmore 29:53  2    8 
Rick Heinz    34:16  2   17

Coach - Jack Evans

First Period: 1, Salt Lake, Hansen (unassisted) 10:13 (shg). 2, All-Stars, Callander (Nethery, Hordy) 10:44 (ppg). 3, All-Stars, Kisio (Thomas) 11:54. Penalties - Thomson, SL (tripping) 9:54; Poulin, All-Stars (interference), 15:06.
Second Period: 4, All-Stars, Attwell (Poulin, Marks) 10:04. 5, Salt Lake, Markell (Wilson, Lemieux) 13:18 (ppg). Penalties - Labatte, SL (slashing), 1:04; Bowness, All-Stars (slashing), 2:05; Marks, All-Stars (hooking), 13:06; Houle, SL (holding), 14:07; Hordy, All-Stars (holding), 16:08.
Third Period: 6, Salt Lake, Harrison (Palazzari, Heinz) 2:36 (ppg). Penalties - Hotham, All-Stars (holding), 1:22; Reeds, SL (Reeds), 10:02; Heinz, SL (high sticking), 16:29.
Overtime: 7, All-Stars, McDonnell (Kisio, Thomas) 4:09 (ppg). Penalty - Stewart, SL (cross checking), 3:32.

The following is a article on the 1981/82 C.H.L. All-Star game that came from the Tulsa World:

Salt Lake City - Joe McDonell, Dallas Black Hawks rookie defenseman, let fly from the blue line through a maze of legs and skates and scored a power play goal after 4:09 of overtime to give the Central Hockey League All-Stars a 4-3 victory over the champion Salt Lake Golden Eagles before 7,695 screaming fans in the Salt Palace Tuesday night.

McDonnell won the Most Valuable Player Trophy in the CHL's inaugural All-Star game, and an expense-paid trip for two to Hawaii.

Although the Eagles outshot the All-Stars decisively in the three regulation periods, they were down 3-1 midway of the second. Former Tulsa Oiler John Markell narrowed the deficit for the champions before that period ended, and Steve Harrison tied it up on a power play early in the third.

The Eagles opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal, as Richie Hanen stole the puck in the All-Star zone while penalty-killing and raced in for a short shot at 10:13 of the first.

Just 31 seconds later, on the same power play, Drew Callander of Dallas tied it for the Stars with a short shot out of a melee in front of the net.

Another Dallas forward, Kelly Kisio, put the Stars in front with a 35-foot screen shot at 15:06. Although outshot, 15-4 for the opening period, the All-Stars had a 2-1 lead.

That was all the scoring against the starting goalies. Paul Skidmore for Salt Lake and Indianapolis' Kelly Hrudey for the Stars. Bob Attwell of Fort Worth Scored on the Stars' first shot against Eagle reliever Rick Heinz. Former Oiler Lindsay Middlebrook, now with Nashville, finished in the nets for the All-Stars.

Salt Lake fans (and coach Jack Evans) thought the team were robbed of a goal midway of the first period, which would have evened the score 2-2. Mark Reeds had apparently put the puck in the net, but officials ruled it did not go in.

The All-Stars scored on two of six power play chances, the Eagles on one of six. Salt Lake outshot the Stars, 39-30, but the Stars had the only five shots of the overtime period.

Despite a great number of similarities to All-Star I, All-Star II developed one new outcome. The second time around there was no overtime goal by either side and both teams skated away with a satisfying 6-6 tie in the Salt Palace on Tuesday January 18, 1983. One year earlier in the same building, the host Golden Eagles dropped a 4-3 overtime decision to the All-Stars in the first ever Central Hockey League All-Star game.

Some of those similarities for the second All-Star contest included the host team being the Salt Lake Golden Eagles, the first goal of the game for the second straight year was shorthanded tally, the Golden Eagles staged a late rally to force the extra period for the second straight year and for the second time in two attempts, there was overtime in All-Star competition. Yet one distinction remains, this season there was no overtime goal which enabled both teasm to skate away in proud fashion.

In this second venture, both clubs and coaches displayed their talents quite well before 3,735 fans. With only 1:33 remaining in regulation time, veteran Pat Hickey of the Golden Eagles tallied his second goal of the game and one that was eventually to become the final goal of the game. For his game tieing goal as well as his three point effort and fine all around game, Hickey was selected as the Most Valuable All-Star.

M.V.P. of the 1982/83 C.H.L. All-Star Game Pat Hickey of the Salt Lake Golden Eagles.

For the second year, the All-Star festivities began with the All-Star banquet on Monday evening January 17, 1983 in the Salt Lake Hilton Hotel. Along with several award presentations, the highlight of the evening was the appearance of the guest speaker, Mr. John Zielger, the President of the National Hockey League.

The following evening the attention turned to the ice and the game itself. As fans were settling into their seats a feeling of deja vu appeared to strike the Salt Palace when rightwinger Dan Bolduc of the Colorado Flames opened the scoring for the All-Stars with a shorthanded goal. Last year's first year All-Star's scoring was begun with a shorthanded tally by Richie Hansen who was then a member of the host Golden Eagles. Bolduc, a former member of the United States Olympic Hockey Team, demonstrated to the fans the reason that he rates as one of the leading penalty killers in the CHL.

Just when it appeared that the Stars would leave the ice for the first period with this 1-0 lead, the Eagles struck in quick fashion. Eagles defenseman Claude Julien fired a shot from the top of the right corner that deflected off and All-Star defenseman's glove into the net and first period of All-Star II was history with the teams tied at 1-1.

The second period saw both teams open in full throttle and the game was to remain at this high speed level for the balance of the evening. Six goals were counted in the second period with each club notching three. Defenseman Alain Vigneault of the Golden Eagles opened the second period scoring while the All-Stars Mike Backman of the Tulsa Oilers ended the six goal barrage. The tally by Backman enabled the All-Stars to rally from a 4-2 deficit and send the game into the final twenty minutes of regulation knotted at 4-4.

The Eagles moved back on top early in the final period of regulation when John Markell fired the puck past the CHL's only two time All-Star performer, goaltender Kelly Hrudey of the Indianapolis Checkers. However, the Stars rebounded quickly and shelled the Eagles for two goals in 44 seconds. Roy Sommer of the Wichita Wind and Pat Conacher of the Tulsa Oilers regained the lead for the All-Stars. Both goalies settled things down and just when it appeared as if the Stars would retain their undefeated All-Star record, Pat Hickey earned the Golden Eagles their tie and Most Valuable Player Award as the CHL's second All-Star contest delighted the fans with a spectacular 6-6 tie.

1982/83 CHL All-Stars

Salt Lake City Golden Eagles

Name                      Team  G  A Pts PIM

Rob Holland      (Indianapolis) 0  0   0   0
Grant Ledyard           (Tulsa) 0  0   0   0
Darcy Regier     (Indianapolis) 1  0   1   0
Dave Richter       (Birmingham) 0  1   1   0
Mike Forbes           (Wichita) 0  2   2   0
Garth MacGuigan  (Indianapolis) 0  0   0   0
Dan Bolduc           (Colorado) 1  2   3   0
Kevin Devine     (Indianapolis) 0  0   0   2
Scott Howson     (Indianapolis) 0  0   0   0
Wes Jarvis         (Birmingham) 0  2   2   2
Richie Hansen         (Wichita) 0  2   2   0
Pierre Rioux         (Colorado) 0  1   1   0
Mike Backman            (Tulsa) 1  0   1   0
Pat Conacher            (Tulsa) 1  0   1   0
Warren Young       (Birmingham) 1  0   1   2
Roy Sommer            (Wichita) 1  1   2   0
Howard Walker        (Colorado) 0  0   0   4
Kelly Hrudey     (Indianapolis) 0  0   0   0
--------------------------------------------
Totals                          6 11  17  10

Goaltenders            MIN GA Saves

Kelly Hrudey         41:08  3   23
Rob Holland          28:52  3   10

Coach - Fred Creighton (Indianapolis)

Name             G  A Pts PIM

Gord Donnelly    0  0   0   0
Blaine Peerless  0  0   0   0
Claude Julien    1  0   1   0
Alain Vigneault  1  0   1   2
John Smyth       0  1   1   0
John Taft        0  1   1   0
Mark Reeds       0  2   2   2
John Markell     1  0   1   0
Jock Callander   0  1   1   2
Charlie Skjodt   0  1   1   0
Dan Wood         0  1   1   0
Pat Hickey       2  1   3   2
Bert Wilson      0  0   0   0
Bill Stewart     0  1   1   2
Rob Tudor        1  2   3   0
Perry Anderson   0  0   0   0
Cary Eades       0  0   0   0
Paul Skidmore    0  0   0   0
Bart Hunter      0  0   0   0
-----------------------------
Totals           6 11  17  10

Goaltenders     MIN GA Saves

Paul Skidmore 28:52  2    8 
Bart Hunter   41:08  4   17

Coach - Jack Evans

First Period: 1, All-Stars, Bolduc (Richter, Sommer) 4:34 (shg). 2, Salt Lake, Julien (Smyth, Shjodt) 18:26. Penalties - Devine, All-Stars (holding), 3:38; Stewart, SL (hooking), 11:43.
Second Period: 3, Salt Lake, Vigneault (Callander) 2:21. 4, All-Stars, Regier (Jarvis) 6:32. 5, Salt Lake, Tudor (Tapp, Hickey) 8:52. 6, Salt Lake, Hickey (Reeds, Tudor) 12:17. 7, All-Stars, Young (Howson, Rioux) 13:34. 8, All-Stars, Backman (Hansen, Forbes) 18:22 (ppg). Penalties - Walker, All-Stars (tripping), 4:03; Callander, SL (tripping), 17:25.
Third Period: 9, Salt Lake, Markell (Wood, Stewart) 5:43. 10, All-Stars, Sommer (Bolduc, Jarvis) 7:47 (ppg). 11, Conacher (Forbes, Bolduc) 8:31. 12, Salt Lake, Hickey 2 (Tudor, Reeds) 18:27. Penalties- Reeds, SL (tripping), 6:15; Vigneault, SL (holding), 7:32; Jarvis, All-Stars (roughing), 8:06; Young, All-Stars (roughing), 9:04; Hickey, SL (roughing), 9:04; Walker, All-Stars (holding), 9:29.
Overtime: No scoring. Penalties - none.

Attendance - 3,735
Officials: Terry Gregson (Referee), Robert Firth and Jim Kehm (Linesmen)

The following is a article on the 1982/83 C.H.L. All-Star game that came from the Tulsa World:

Salt Lake City - Salt Lake's Pat Hickey scored with less than two minutes remaining to give the Golden Eagles a 6-6 tie with the Central Hockey League All-Stars Tuesday night before 3,755 at the Salt Palace.

Hickey, named the game's most valuable player for his two-goal, one assist performance scored at 18:27 of the third perod and the Eagles and the All-Stars through a scoreless overtime period.

Pat Conacher of the Tulsa Ice Oilers appeared to have scored the game-winning goal as he gave the All-Stars a 6-5 lead at 8:31 of the final period by blasting a 22 foot slapshot past Salt Lake goalie Bart Hunter. The All-Stars protected the lead until Hickey deflected in Rob Tudor's shot from short range.

Mike Backman of Tulsa scored the All-Stars' fourth goal at 18:25 of the second period. Backman knocked home a rebound of Scott Howson's shot on a power play to tie the game at 4-4.

Jon Markell of Salt Lake and Wichita's Roy Sommer traded goals early in the third period before Conacher gave the All-Stars their last lead.

Last year's All-Star game also went into overtime, with the All-Stars defeating the Eagles, 4-3, on a goal by Joe McDonnell of the now defunct Dallas Black Hawks.

1981/82 & 1982/83 Old C.H.L. All-Star Games