59th NHL All-Star Game

The 59th NHL All-Star Game (also known as the 2012 Tim Hortons NHL All-Star Game) took place on January 29, 2012 at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa, Ontario.

This edition of the All-Star Game featured the "fantasy draft" format first seen in the previous 2011 NHL All-Star Game.

The participating players voted for team captains, selecting Daniel Alfredsson of the All-Star host Ottawa Senators and Zdeno Chara of the defending Stanley Cup champion, the Boston Bruins.

The event marked the first time the city of Ottawa hosted an NHL All-Star Game. Ottawa has hosted two NHL Entry Drafts, a Stanley Cup Final and the World Junior Championships all in the past five years.

It also marked the 20th anniversary of the Ottawa Senators joining the NHL.

It was the second All-Star Game that Canada has hosted in the past three years as the Montreal Canadiens hosted it in 2009. Winning goaltender Tim Thomas became the only goaltender in NHL history to win four consecutive All-Star games.Rosters

Fan Balloting
Voting for NHL all-star players started on November 14, 2011. Online voting required fans to register with the NHL.com web site with votes limited to 30 votes per "platform", i.e. desktop computer, web-enabled mobile devices and SMS text.

Fans were presented a list of 127 players, sub-divided into Forwards, Defence and Goaltending.

Three forwards, two defence and one goaltender could be selected from the League-wide list of players. The selection of League-wide list of players was done in 2011, which used the "fantasy team" format.

After voting closed, Erik Karlsson was the leading vote-getter with 939,951. Senators fans voted in force, electing not only Karlsson but all three forwards as well (Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza and Milan Michalek) to the starting lineup.

The only skater not coming from the hometown Senators was Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Dion Phaneuf. Phaneuf beat out Senators defenceman Sergei Gonchar by only 11,305 votes. Reigning Vezina and Conn Smythe Trophy winner Tim Thomas was elected as the fan-voted goaltender.

Draft
After naming the remaining All-Stars, the participating players voted for team captains, selecting Daniel Alfredsson of the hosting Ottawa Senators and Zdeno Chara of the defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins. Alfredsson's team would wear white while Team Chara would wear blue.

The NHL named the coaches: head coach Claude Julien and assistants Doug Houda, Doug Jarvis & Geoff Ward of the Boston Bruins for Team Chara; and John Tortorella of the New York Rangers & Todd McLellan of the San Jose Sharks as co-coaches for Team Alfredsson.

The draft of the players took place on January 26, 2012, from 8:00 pm to 9:30 pm, Eastern time. It was held at the Théâtre du Casino du Lac-Leamy, in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. Team Chara won the puck flip and selected first.

Withdrawn
Prior to the draft several players withdrew due to injury or personal reasons:

Game Summary
The game was played from 4:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. local time. It was broadcast nationally in Canada on CBC and in the United States on the NBC Sports Network.

Canadian singer Drake performed during the second intermission. W – Tim Thomas L – Brian Elliott


 * Missed Penalty Shot: Stamkos, TAS, 16:33 first.
 * Shots on Goal:
 * Team Alfredsson: 14-15-21-50.
 * Team Chara: 12-13-19-44.