26 Jan
The 2012 All-Star NHL game, an exhibition ice hockey game, which is held at the midway point of the season, will be held on Saturday, January 26, 2012 in Ottawa. The All-Star fantasy draft will be held on Thursday before the Saturday game.
All-Star games began before the modern NHL. The very first game was held on January 2, 1908 in Montreal Arena as a benefit to a player who drowned several months before. Most of the subsequent games were also held to benefit players. The official All-Star game was held during the 1947-48 season for the first time and is continuing to date. The current format of the game, held during the mid-way point of the season, started in 1966.
Ice hockey fan ballots and the NHL Hockey Operations Department select a pool of players to pick for the All-Star game. The captain and the assistant will pick the players from the pool.
The 2012 Team Chara will be captained by Boston’s Zdeno Chara and assisted by Toronto’s Joffrey Lupul. The Team Alfredsson will be captained by Ottawa’s D. Alfredsson and assisted by NY Rangers Henrik Lundquist.
The current All-Star game benefits the player’s pension fund.