Colorado Avalanche Throwback: Joe Sakic, the All Star
The Colorado Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques franchise has one player who’s represented on the All Star team a full 13 times, Joe Sakic.
The Colorado Avalanche have just one representative at the 2020 NHL All Star Weekend. It wasn’t always that way, though. Time was the team was always well-represented.
In fact, there’s one man who represented the franchise more times than any other — former superstar and current GM, Joe Sakic. He recorded an impressive 13 appearances, eight of them as a Colorado Avalanche player.
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His first appearance came in 1990, which was his sophomore year with the Quebec Nordiques. He didn’t get any goals that year, but he did earn two assists. The game took place in Pittsburgh.
Next year, 1991, the All Star Weekend took place in Chicago. Sakic was on the Wales Conference team. He recorded and assist on Rick Toccet’s goal. Alas, the Campbell Conference team won by a score of 11-5.
The following season saw Sakic again earn an All Star nomination. The weekend took place in Philadelphia. And Super Joe was up to two assists.
In 1993, the All Star Weekend was in Montreal, Canada. Sakic was still in the Wales Conference, but this time they were the victors. He recorded three assists that year.
The following year, 1994, saw Sakic record his first All Star goal. The event was in New York. We saw a new format that year, Eastern Conference vs. Western Conference. Still a Nordique, Sakic was in the Eastern Conference. His goal was the seventh of the game for the Eastern Conference, which won by a score of 9-8.
Joe Sakic wasn’t nominated for the 1995 All Star team. That was his last year in Quebec.
The next year saw him back in All Star action, for the first time as a Colorado Avalanche player. He didn’t slay it in the game, which took place in Boston. However, it was awesome to see burgundy and blue at the weekend for the first time ever.
He didn’t do too poorly in the Skills Competition, though. Here’s the old-school version of the accuracy challenge:
He shows up at the 3:14 mark, and, aw, doesn’t he look so young! We also see future Colorado Avalanche players in
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Unfortunately, though he was nominated, Joe Sakic had to miss the 1997 All Star Weekend in San Jose. Poor man. He made it to all the cold weather locations. Yet here the festivities were finally in a warm locale, and he’s out with an injury.
Next year the game was in a cold locale again, Vancouver. And Super Joe was back at it with two assists. That was the year the NHL moved to the weird North America vs World format.
The year is 2000. Sakic attended the first All Star Weekend of the millennium, being held in Toronto. He even scored a goal for Team North America.
The 2001 NHL All Star was a banner year. Why? Because it took place in Denver! (I didn’t get to go — the tickets were so expensive!) Colorado was represented by five players! Sakic, Patrick Roy, Ray Bourque, Milan Hejduk, and, of course, the great Peter Forsberg.
Check out this cool intro from that game.
Joe Sakic wasn’t done with his All Star appearances just yet. He finally made it to one held in a warm locale, Los Angeles. In 2002, he represented at the 2002 NHL All Star Game. He must have been soaking up too much sun because he didn’t record any points.
He made up for it the next year, which was his banner year at All Star competitions. Held in St. Paul, the 2004 All Star Game saw Sakic record a hat trick!
Here’s the bad part of that, though. You might not notice, but one of his wingers in Todd Bertuzzi. Bertuzzi would go on to end Sakic’s teammate’s career, Steve Moore, just eight days later. Such a weird coincidence.
Joe Sakic had one more All Star appearance in him, and he went out in style. In 2007, he represented the Colorado Avalanche in Dallas. In that game, which had gone back to the Eastern Conference vs Western Conference format, Sakic earned four assists.
In all, Sakic earned six goals and 16 assists for 22 points in his All Star career. His 16 assists is still the most by any one player.
Next. Why All Star Appearances are Important. dark
Joe Sakic went on to play for two more seasons for the Colorado Avalanche. Unfortunately, two decades of playing in the clutch-and-grab era of hockey were taking a toll on his late-30s body. However, Sakic will always be remembered as our brightest All Star.