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The 55th National Hockey League All-Star Game was held in Dallas, Texas on January 24, 2007. The Western Conference was victorious, defeating the Eastern Conference 12–9. Calgary's Dion Phaneuf scored the longest empty-net goal in All-Star history when from behind his own net, he used the boards to bank the puck, which rolled into the East's vacated net. On January 23, 2006, National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman announced that the event to be held during the 2006–07 NHL season would take place at American Airlines Center, home of the Dallas Stars.[1] The starting lines for both conferences were announced on January 9, 2007, and the full rosters were announced January 13, 2007. This was the first NHL All-Star game since 2004. The 2004–05 NHL lockout forced the cancellation of that year's game and the 2005–06 season did not include an All-Star game due to the 2006 Winter Olympics. This event was broadcasted by Versus, CBC and RDS.
[edit] Rory Fitzpatrick voting campaignThe fan voting process had been revised so as to allow fans to vote for their favorite players as many times as they wished. This had created a humorous fan voting campaign around Vancouver Canucks defenceman Rory Fitzpatrick, urging many to vote him into the game as a write-in candidate, designed to show that the revised system would lead to ballot box stuffing, in an effort to get the league to change the system. Despite having no points in 18 games and one point in 22 games, Fitzpatrick had surprisingly accumulated 428,832 votes, good for second-place (and a starting spot) among the defencemen when preliminary results were released.[2] Reaction to the campaign was mixed—supporters of the campaign saw an opportunity to consider sending a hardworking but otherwise unspectacular player onto the all-star teams as recognition for their hard work, while opponents claim that it would take spots on the team away from players who generate interest in the league. Among notable opponents of the campaign were Phoenix Coyotes head coach Wayne Gretzky[3] as well as Hockey Night in Canada commentator Don Cherry[4]. Ultimately, the campaign was unsuccessful, as Fitzpatrick finished third among Western Conference defencemen and was not named as an all-star reserve. Slate suggested that Fitzpatrick had the requisite number of votes and that the NHL altered the results in reaction to ballot stuffing by an automatic script.[5] [edit] Criticism of season scheduleAnother issue for the league heading into the all-star break was the schedule adopted as a result of the lockout: while Eastern Conference teams were content with the new schedule, Western Conference teams faced complaints over the increased travel times brought forth by the schedule and the fact that rising Eastern Conference stars such as Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin could only visit a Western Conference team once every three years. A motion by the National Hockey League's board of governors during the break to restore the pre-lockout schedule (which would have at least guaranteed one game against every other team in the league, but having two fewer divisional games) was defeated falling one vote short of the 2/3 majority needed to make the change. [edit] New league-wide uniforms (Rbk EDGE)Finally, the league chose to unveil the new Rbk EDGE uniform designs, which would be employed by all 30 teams in the following season. The new uniforms are designed to retain less water, potentially leading to less fatigue and improved performance. Similar designs have been employed in recent international hockey competitions. Critics of the new uniform design claim that the uniforms are more form-fitting than ever before, and that the new sweaters would not allow horizontal striping at the bottom of the sweater, a design that is a part of many current jerseys, including those of all six Original Six teams. However, some players have embraced the new uniforms, claiming that the new jerseys made them feel faster on the ice. [edit] Boxscore
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