Out of Town Notebook: The Forgotten All-Star Classic
Usually – you know, when the league’s marquee player isn’t in a snit and boycotting the All-Star game – the narrative surrounding the NHL’s mid-season classic (in this case classic is defined as “tired tradition”) is as follows: “How can we make this game suck less?” Ironically, 2012 represents the 25th anniversary of the best hockey that’s ever been played during an NHL All-Star event. Wayne Gretzky himself called it the fastest-paced hockey he had ever played in. Rendez-Vous ’87 , which pitted a team of NHL All-Stars against a team from the Soviet Union, was the brainchild of then Quebec Nordiques owner...
