The 22nd National Hockey League All-Star Game was held in the Montreal Forum in Montreal, home of the Stanley Cup champion Montreal Canadiens, on January 21, 1969. The East Division All-Stars tied the West Division All-Stars 3–3. This was the first All-Star Game played under a divisional format, and the final All-Star Game to end in a tie. Frank Mahovlich was named the game's most valuable player.

League business

After governor discussions at the concurrent semi-annual meeting, Clarence Campbell, president of the NHL, gave the Oakland Seals one month to come up with proper financing and improve its management to be allowed to continue play.^[1]

Uniforms

The East Division All-Stars continued to wear the uniforms worn by the NHL All-Stars since 1964. The only change to the uniform was the addition of the player's name on the back. As the NHL continued to reuse the actual sweaters from previous All-Star Games, the addition of names necessitated a large nameplate to cover the stars on the back of the jersey. The names were displayed in black letters with orange outlines.

For the West Division, new uniforms were created, following the same basic design as the existing uniforms, but in navy blue with orange and white trim. The player numbers were rendered in orange with a triple outline of navy-white-orange, in contrast to the East uniforms which continued to use plain black numbers. The names were displayed in white letters with orange outlines.

The East Division uniforms would receive a slight update in 1971, while the West uniforms remained unchanged through 1972.

The game

Team lineups

Al Arbour made his debut in the All-Star Game at age 36, the eldest to debut in the game to that date. Toe Blake, who had retired after the Canadiens' championship, came out of retirement to coach the East Division.^[3]

East Division All-Stars Coach: Toe Blake (Montreal Canadiens) # Nat. Player Pos. Team Goaltenders 1 Ed Giacomin New York Rangers 30 Gerry Cheevers Boston Bruins Defencemen 2 Bobby Orr Boston Bruins 3 J. C. Tremblay Montreal Canadiens 5 Ted Harris Montreal Canadiens 6 Ted Green Boston Bruins 7 Tim Horton Toronto Maple Leafs 12 Pat Stapleton Chicago Black Hawks Forwards 4 Jean Beliveau C Montreal Canadiens 8 Bob Nevin RW New York Rangers 9 Gordie Howe RW Detroit Red Wings 10 Dennis Hull LW Chicago Black Hawks 12 Phil Esposito C Boston Bruins 14 Norm Ullman C Toronto Maple Leafs 15 Bobby Rousseau RW Montreal Canadiens 16 Bobby Hull LW Chicago Black Hawks 17 Rod Gilbert RW New York Rangers 21 Stan Mikita C Chicago Black Hawks 27 Frank Mahovlich LW Detroit Red Wings

West Division All-Stars Coach: Scotty Bowman (St. Louis Blues) # Nat. Player Pos. Team Goaltenders 1 Glenn Hall St. Louis Blues 29 Bernie Parent Philadelphia Flyers 30 Jacques Plante St. Louis Blues Defencemen 2 Ed Van Impe Philadelphia Flyers 3 Al Arbour St. Louis Blues 4 Elmer Vasko Minnesota North Stars 5 Doug Harvey St. Louis Blues 6 Noel Picard St. Louis Blues 15 Carol Vadnais Oakland Seals 21 Bill White Los Angeles Kings Forwards 7 Red Berenson C St. Louis Blues 8 Danny O'Shea C Minnesota North Stars 9 Bill Hicke RW Oakland Seals 10 Ted Hampson C Oakland Seals 11 Ken Schinkel RW Pittsburgh Penguins 14 Jim Roberts RW St. Louis Blues 16 Claude Larose RW Minnesota North Stars 20 Ab McDonald LW St. Louis Blues 22 Danny Grant LW Minnesota North Stars

C = centre; LW/RW = left wing/right wing Source: Podnieks[2]

See also

• 1968–69 NHL season

References

• Podnieks, Andrew (2000). The NHL All-Star Game: 50 years of tradition. Toronto: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-00-200058-X.