NOTEBOOK: THIS IS OLD HAT FOR MVP SAKIC, WHO SCORES THREE GOALS.

Byline: Matt McHale Staff Writer

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Every night is an All-Star Game for Colorado's Joe Sakic.

Peter Forsberg, Rob Blake, Paul Kariya, Alex Tanguay and Milan Hejduk are among the league's best players. They also are Sakic's teammates.

The result is a 30-11-9-4 record and the top spot in the NHL for the Avalanche.

But all that took a break Sunday at the 54th annual All-Star Game. This was Sakic's night with three goals and an MVP trophy.

``Going into the game, you're just trying to get into the flow and we had a lot of opportunities early,'' said Sakic, who won the award even though the Western Conference lost 6-4 at Xcel Energy Center.

``There was the first one and then the second. So after that, they started trying to feed me and went to get the third one. Obviously, it felt really good.''

Sakic was put on the same line with Dallas' Bill Guerin and Vancouver's Markus Naslund, who assisted on all three goals.

``It was fun to play with Joe and Markus,'' Guerin said. ``We had a lot of quality chances. It was nice to see Joe get the hat trick. He is so good for hockey. It was a very fun game overall.''

Now, the tough part. Sakic received a Dodge truck for winning MVP and isn't sure what to do with it.

``I'm going to go home to think about it,'' he said. ``I'm going to have to give it away or keep it myself.''

Ya think?

--The Roenick show: Philadelphia forward Keith Roenick usually is one of the biggest reasons to come to All-Star weekend. He is outspoken and funny and every year usually lands the only hit during the game.

On Sunday, Roenick tangled with Keith Tkachuk, his former teammate in Phoenix. Tkachuk jokingly referred to the game as the ``Jeremy Roenick All-Star classic.''

``No question he is a great guy,'' Vancouver's Todd Bertuzzi said. ``This game means a lot to him. He does a super job promoting the game. I thought he was great.''

--All-Time team: Before the game, the all-NHL first team was introduced to the crowd: Patrick Roy (goaltender), Bobby Orr and Ray Bourque (defense), Gordie Howe (right wing), Bobby Hull (left wing), and Wayne Gretzky (center).

The team was introduced to the crowd but Orr and Hull were not in attendance.

Roy retired at the end of last season from Colorado and is enjoying time running a junior hockey team in Quebec. His replacement, David Aebischer, is tied with Toronto's Ed Belfour for victories with 23.

``I have been enjoying myself very much in Quebec,'' Roy said. ``It's exactly what I always wanted it to be, working with younger players, helping them to develop and helping them to get to the next level. I could not ask for any better challenge.''