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Thursday, January 16
Updated: January 29, 12:07 PM ET
 
Naslund chosen to his fourth All-Star game

Associated Press

NEW YORK -- Markus Naslund, the NHL's leading goal-scorer, was one of three Vancouver Canucks added to the Western Conference All-Star team when the reserves were announced Thursday night.

 Markus Naslund
Naslund

Naslund was chosen for his fourth All-Star game along with teammates Todd Bertuzzi and defenseman Ed Jovanovski. The Canucks have had the best first-half turnaround from last season and ended 2002 with the NHL's best record for the calendar year.

The Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars, also in the West, were the only other teams with three All-Stars chosen for the Feb. 2 game in Sunrise, Fla.

Avalanche forward Peter Forsberg returns to the All-Star game after a one-year absence, caused by a foot injury that cost him the entire regular season. In his fifth career All-Star game, he will join goalie Patrick Roy and defenseman Rob Blake, who were announced as starting players last Saturday.

Marty Turco, who has earned five shutouts this season, is the third Dallas Stars player on the 21-man Western roster. His teammates, Bill Guerin and Mike Modano, are on the starting forward line.

Turco replaced Ed Belfour in Dallas and has done very well as he is among the league-leaders in wins and goals-against average. He has even picked up much fan support as he garnered 33,320 write-in votes on the All-Star ballot.

Jocelyn Thibault of the Chicago Blackhawks was the third Western goalie chosen for the team.

Belfour has not disappointed his new fans in Toronto, either, as he earned a spot on the Eastern Conference team in his first season with the Maple Leafs. He is joined by teammate Mats Sundin.

Other forwards chosen in the East were Atlanta's Dany Heatley, making his first All-Star appearance; Boston's Glen Murray and Joe Thornton; Jeff O'Neill of Carolina; Philadelphia's Jeremy Roenick; Martin St. Louis of Tampa Bay, who will also make his All-Star debut; Marian Hossa of Ottawa; and Saku Koivu of the Montreal Canadiens.

Koivu will be making his third All-Star appearance. He missed all but three games the previous regular season while recovering from cancer.

Pittsburgh Penguins forwards Mario Lemieux and Alexei Kovalev are in the East starting lineup along with former teammate Jaromir Jagr, now with the Washington Capitals.

The reserve defensemen in the Eastern Conference are Zdeno Chara of Ottawa, Sergei Gonchar of Washington, Roman Hamrlik of the New York Islanders and New Jersey's Scott Stevens.

Brian Leetch of the New York Rangers, who is injured and not expected to play, and Florida's Sandis Ozolinsh were elected to start on defense. They are the only members of their teams to be picked as All-Stars.

Martin Brodeur of New Jersey, who earned his 60th career shutout on Wednesday, is the third Eastern goalie. Nikolai Khabibulin of Tampa Bay will start.

The other Western defensemen are: Eric Brewer of Edmonton, Al MacInnis of St. Louis, and Mathieu Schneider of Los Angeles. Blake and leading vote-getter Nicklas Lidstrom of Detroit are starting on the blue line.

On the forward lines for the West will be: Paul Kariya of Anaheim; Calgary's Jarome Iginla, who is having a down season after leading the NHL in goals and points last season; Ray Whitney of Columbus; Sergei Fedorov of Detroit; Marian Gaborik of Minnesota; and St. Louis' Doug Weight.

Teemu Selanne of San Jose is on the starting line with Modano and Guerin.

Ottawa coach Jacques Martin will lead the Eastern team along with Philadelphia's Ken Hitchcock, who is serving as the assistant. Vancouver's Marc Crawford will coach the West All-Stars with Detroit rookie Dave Lewis assisting.






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