Concussion Stops Messier

Vancouver Canuck center Mark Messier was diagnosed with a concussion and was held out of Wednesday night’s game against the Calgary Flames.

Messier crashed heavily into the the crossbar and fell backward, hitting his head on the ice early in the first period after scoring the opening goal in Vancouver’s victory over Calgary on Tuesday.

Messier, who hadn’t missed a game since joining the Canucks in the summer of 1997, is listed as day to day. His condition will be reevaluated before Vancouver’s next game, Saturday at San Jose.

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Dominik Hasek of the Czech Republic is leading the World all-star team’s fan balloting list with 184,374 votes, the NHL reported in New York. The defending Stanley Cup champion Red Wings, meanwhile, lead in six of the combined 12 positions on both all-star teams.

Hasek, the Buffalo Sabres’ goaltender, holds the lead over his countryman, Pittsburgh Penguin forward Jaromir Jagr (167,422), and Detroit Red Wing defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom of Sweden (149,740) on the World team.

The Mighty Ducks’ Teemu Selanne of Finland was leading in the voting for the other forward position. Duck teammate Paul Kariya was the leader among forwards for the North American all-stars.

Voting ends on Monday.