Zeroes At The NHL All-Star Game

If you're an NHL fan, you've likely known for some time that the numbers zero and double-zero are both outlawed by the league. The reasoning for this was that the NHL's statistic database didn't recognize those numbers as valid numbers being used, so the NHL outlawed them in 1996-97. That ended the hopes of seeing Martin Biron carrying on in his career wearing #00, Kevin Weekes never wearing the number despite wearing it in junior and the AHL, and Neil Sheehy losing his single zero on his jersey. Somehow, players like John Davidson, who briefly wore #00, still have their stats intact, so I'm not certain that this databse theory holds much water, but we'll let the NHL have that history because we're going back to 1993 to look at the All-Star Game in Montreal where #00 made an appearance on a player who never wore it any other time!

Ed Belfour broke into the NHL in a big way in 1991 after spending time with the Canadian National Team. He had originally debuted with the Blackhawks in 1989-90 where he went 4-12-3 with a 3.87 GAA and an .877 save percentage that year, but he seemingly found his game while with Team Canada while the Blackhawks were building a solid team featuring notable players such as Jeremy Roenick, Steve Larmer, Chris Chelios, Michel Goulet, and Steve Thomas.

Belfour's return to the Blackhawks in 1990-91 saw him post a 43-19-7 record as the Blackhawks run rampant up the standings of the Norris Division while winning the Presidents' Trophy before they were shockingly upset by the Minnesota North Stars in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Belfour, though, was recognized for his fantastic season as he was awarded the Calder Trophy, the Vezina Trophy, and the William M. Jennings Trophy as he announced his place among the NHL's elite goaltenders.

The 1991-92 season saw Belfour putting together another solid season despite a lighter workload thanks to a few injuries, but it was in the playoffs where Belfour shone as he helped the Blackhawks eliminate the St. Louis Blues in six games, sweep the Norris-winning Detroit Red Wings, and sweep the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference Final to meet the Pittsbugh Penguins in the Stanley Cup Final. The Penguins were simply too much for the Blackhawks with all their weapons, though, and the Blackhawks were swept by the Penguins.

Questions were raised about what happened to the Blackhawks following that sweep, but Belfour went back to his winning ways in 1992-93 as he'd finish the season with an incredible 41-18-11 record, but it was pretty clear that he was one of the best, if not THE best, goaltender playing in the league during that season. As such, he was voted to attend the 44th NHL All-Star Game as part of the NHL's Campbell Conference team in Montreal on February 6, 1993.

One of the fun quirks at NHL All-Star Games is when players who wear the same numbers on different teams become teammates at the All-Star Game. There's normally a "respect for your elders" idea used by the players where the more veteran player of two players who want the same number gets to wear it. We've seen that happen with players like Boston's Ray Bourque and Pittsburgh's Paul Coffey where Bourque kept #77 for the All-Star Game while Coffey wore #7.

That happened at this game where Ed Belfour wanted to wear #20 to honour Vladislav Tretiak, his hockey hero, in this game. However, Luc Robitaille of the Los Angeles Kings had been voted to participate and he was the more veteran player, so Belfour abandoned that idea and went to his normally-worn #30. Again, that posed a problem as Calgary's Mike Vernon was at the game, and he opted to wear #30 as the more veteran goalie. That left Belfour without his two favorite numbers, so he solved it by choosing a rather unique number: 00!

Belfour was voted in as a starter, so he stood in the Campbell Conference crease wearing his new jersey number as the Wales Conference All-Stars - missing Mario Lemieux, Mark Messier, and Brian Leetch - looked to find ways to beat him in the opening period. At the time, Belfour was the Campbell Conference's best stopper.

Normally, I wouldn't crack a joke about a guy's play being related to his jersey number, but I'm almost certain that he made the same number of saves as the number worn on his jersey. Example below.
Belfour surrendered six goals in the opening period as the Wales Conference led 6-0 after 20 minutes en route to a 16-6 victory. Mike Gartner had a hat trick, including the goal above, in 13:22 of play while Adam Oates assisted on four of the six goals scored. In short, it was not a good period by any standard for the Campbell Conference.

"I'm not embarrassed," Belfour said to Mike Kiley of the Chicago Tribune of his performance. "What did I face, 22 shots? I must have made two or three big saves."

We all know that goalies went to the conference-vs-conference All-Star Games just to keep players honest when it came to goals and points scored. Belfour absolutely shouldn't have been embarrassed about getting scored on in the game. The NHL All-Star Game is about players having fun and trying to outscore one another. Goalies are just there to make sure the nets aren't empty.

We can add one more goalie to the #00 list as Ed Belfour gets credit for appearing for the first period of the 1993 NHL All-Star Game where he would have accumulated statistics that would be used for future all-star games. Belfour won't necessarily be associated with that number over the course of his career, but he certainly wore it for one memorable game in 1993!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!