St. Louis Blues defenseman Chris Pronger shared his entire All-Star experience with ESPN.com. Pronger, 25, played in his second All-Star Game (he played last year as well) -- this time as a starter for the North American squad. The native of Dryden, Ontario, is third on the Blues in scoring with 39 points and second-best among NHL defensemen.

Roman (Turek) stood on his head in the first period, which really hurt my feelings. Hopefully, Pavol (Demitra) and his two goals don't give him a big head. I'm going to have to hear now from them. Bragging rights are important and I don't have them right now. Bummer.

The ceremony for Wayne Gretzky before the game was quite moving. That video ABC and ESPN did with him and Gordie and Mario and the new blood of the NHL was pretty interesting. They played it on the big screen in the arena and I'm sure it would have looked even better on TV. It was weird not having him in the game, but I'm glad he was here. There will never be another Gretzky.

ESPN.com users were able to ask some questions of the players on the bench during the game, which I'm told was a first. Darren Pang was there asking them, but I really didn't notice. He just looked like another assistant coach, although a little shorter. With the number of guys out there, the benches seemed to be shortened, too.

It was very, very scary watching them tic-tac-toe around out there. Hopefully, now that we're back to regular season play, I won't have to deal with that as much.

The scoring was amazing. You want to do well, and when we cut the lead, it seemed like things were turning around. They went crazy in the third and that last shift, I just said to Al (MacInnis), "Let's just make sure they don't score a couple more to make it double digits." It worked, thank goodness.

This was a great weekend, as it always is. The highlights were seeing all my family and friends, and being able to hang out with them. I think my family and friends enjoyed the weekend immensely. I think everyone involved had fun. I was able to get a couple of jerseys signed for charities, some friends, and some kids of friends. I don't really get a lot of stuff for myself, but it's great to see the reaction of the people who really appreciate the stuff when they get it.

So it's time for the stretch run now. I think we're really going well now, but we can't just be happy with a strong regular season. The Stanley Cup playoffs is a long grind and you have to prepare mentally and physically for that. You can't be happy with just getting there. You have to think beyond that. I think we're going to have that kind of attitude. There's only one goal and it's not being in first at the end of the year. It's skating around with the Cup.