An All-Star Game is an exhibition game played by the best players in their respective sports league. The players are often chosen by a popular vote of fans of the sport and the game often occurs at the halfway point of the regular season. The method of choosing teams varies, but the selection is usually based upon sub-divisions of the league or the nationalities of the players involved.

The 2006 NHL All-Star Game, scheduled for the Glendale Arena, was a casualty of the new collective bargaining agreement with the players' association.

The move was expected because the players have made it clear they wanted to participate in the Winter Olympics and did not want a second break in the season.

"Among the terms set forth in the hundreds of pages of the CBA is an agreement that, in those years when we participate in the Olympic Winter Games, there will be no All-Star Game but will be a Rose Bowl Weekend," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement released by the Phoenix Coyotes on Friday.

Bettman called the Glendale Arena, opened in December 2003, "an exceptional facility, and we are hopeful the people in Glendale will welcome us back for an All-Star weekend in the not-too-distant future."

The game and related events had been scheduled for Jan. 28-29. The Winter Olympics are Feb. 10-26 in Turin, Italy.

Coyotes president and chairman Doug Moss expressed disappointment in the cancellation of what was to be a breakout event for the arena but said the most important Fiesta Bowl Weekend thing is that play will resume this year.

"We support the joint action by the league and the players and we anxiously await word from the NHL that we will be awarded another All-Star weekend," Moss said.

He said the franchise was preparing another bid to host the event.

Dallas is slated to host the 2007 game with Atlanta likely to get the 2008 event after losing out to the NHL lockout that wiped out last season.

In some ways, the cancellation is a good thing, because the Westgate Center development adjacent to the arena -- which was to be the site of many All-Star festivities -Pro Bowl Weekend- is far behind schedule.

The new Arizona Cardinals stadium is being built across the street from the hockey arena. The stadium, scheduled to open in 2006, will be the site of the Fiesta Bowl and a separate national football championship game in early 2007, and the Super Bowl will be played there in 2008.

The first NHL All-Star Game was played in the 1933-34 season as a benefit game for Ace Bailey. The All-Star team played Toronto Maple Leafs and won 7-3. The first annual All-Star Game for the benefit of the players' pension fund was played on 13th October 1947 when an All-Stars team played the Toronto Maple Leafs and won 4-3. In 1966 there was no game because the event was moved from the beginning of the season to mid-season and was therefore not played until early 1967. In 1979 & 1987 series between the USSR and Team NHL replaced the All-Star Game. In 1995 & 2005 there was no All-Star Game because of the player strike