All-Star Weekend Declared a Success Ken Dryden had the right to smile. He felt he had just seen the best All-Star weekend ever. ``It was great. The people of Toronto deserved it,'' said the Maple Leafs president and Hall of Fame goalie. ``In the 50th year, we wanted to set the standard for All-Star weekends, and I think we did that.'' The World All-Stars' 9-4 win over the North American team capped an exhausting, exhilarating week-long celebration of everything that is good about Canada's game. From the league-wide retirement of Wayne Gretzky's No. 99 to the sight of Eddie Shack wheeling Vladimir Konstantinov onto the ice, there was something to entice, excite and touch every hockey fan. ``Toronto is the hockey capital of the world, so there couldn't be a more suitable city to have an All-Star game in,'' said Mats Sundin, a World team member and the Maple Leafs' captain. ``This is something I will take with me for the rest of my life.'' Behind it all was Dryden, who first proposed to the NHL that the 50th All-Star game should feature the most hockey-crazy city in the English-speaking world playing host to the largest gathering of hockey heroes and fans in history. The league agreed, returning the game to Toronto for the first time since 1968. ``It wasn't a tough sell,'' Dryden said. ``I think everyone liked the concept of a great weekend of hockey in Toronto.'' Since being named Maple Leafs' president in 1997, Dryden has stressed the importance of tradition and respect for hockey's past while reviving a franchise whose success Dryden said was vital to the game. If hockey is to thrive, Dryden said, it needed a team in Toronto that was worthy of the city's affection. Likewise, Toronto's All-Star festivities had to be held to a higher standard than those in hockey outposts like Tampa Bay and San Jose. Dryden and the NHL didn't disappoint. The festivities began early in the week, with everything from a marathon 72-hour pickup game featuring local minor-hockey teams to a massive interactive pavilion called NHL FANtasy. Hall of Famers made appearances throughout Toronto as the city reached a fever pitch before Saturday's skills competition and Sunday's big game. ``I've been telling people that All-Star games are about everything but the game,'' Dryden said. ``The best part is seeing so much of our history in the game all in one place.'' When Gretzky's number was raised to the rafters in a pregame ceremony, the crowd stood and cheered. Later, a short film by ABC - featuring Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Gordie Howe symbolically passing the torch to the game's young stars - brought down the house with applause. But perhaps the most impressive moment came a day earlier. After the skills competition, more than 100 Hall of Famers joined the All-Star teams on the ice for a photograph that might have destroyed the camera with the sheer wattage of its star power. North America coach Pat Quinn, with his grandson on his shoulders, stood between Howe and Bobby Orr. Shack, the cowboy-hat-wearing former Maple Leaf dubbed ``The Entertainer,'' toured the ice with Konstantinov, who smiled from his wheelchair. Maple Leafs greats like Darryl Sittler, Lanny McDonald and Borje Salming craned their necks up at the photographer, who needed to get 30 feet in the air to fit everyone in the frame. Somewhere in the photo was Dryden. The man many call the smartest person ever to play hockey was quietly basking in the glow of a success.