With the world's best hockey players trying to keep up, Pavel and Valeri Bure were just two brothers having fun Sunday in the 50th NHL All-Star Game.

	Pavel Bure, left, was happy to share his All-Star glory with his younger brother Valeri.

Pavel reached the high point of his fantastic season with the Most Valuable Player award after a four-point performance. His younger brother got a prize as well -- a rare chance to return, at least in spirit, to the Moscow ponds where they learned the game.

Valeri assisted on Pavel's first two goals and later passed up a scoring chance to give Pavel a shot at a fourth goal. Their mother, Tatiana, watched from the stands as her sons played together for the first time since the 1998 Olympics and on the same line for the first time since their days with the Red Army team.

Playing mostly on a line with his brother and Florida teammate Viktor Kozlov, Pavel Bure had three goals and an assist in leading the World Team to a 9-4 victory over North America.

"That was the one combination we had in mind to play, because we thought they would have a chemistry together," World coach Scotty Bowman said. "I think we were right."

Bure recorded the 11th hat trick in All-Star history and the first since Teemu Selanne did it for the World Team in Vancouver in 1998.

"Obviously, it's a great honor," Bure said. "It was a special night for me because I was playing with my brother."

Bure got his first goal 33 seconds into the second period. Valeri curled a backhand pass to his brother, and Pavel beat Martin Brodeur between the goalie's legs.

Eight minutes later, Kozlov passed to Valeri, who sent a cross-ice pass to his brother that was one-timed into a nearly open net. Bure completed the hat trick by burying a rebound of Nicklas Lidstrom's shot in the third period.

Pavel and Valeri were the eighth pair of brothers to play together in an All-Star game. Their instant chemistry proved their childhood games of pickup hockey hadn't been forgotten.

"We had a frozen lake near our building, and sometimes instead of going to school, we would go play hockey," said Pavel.

Late in the third period, the brothers broke in on goalie Mike Richter on a two-on-one. Pavel passed to Valeri, but the younger brother tried to give back the puck, and neither got off a shot.

"It's kind of a funny situation, because after the second period we were talking in the dressing room," Pavel said. "I said, 'If we have a 2-on-1, just go to the off post. I will give you a pass, and shoot it right away.' But he tried to get me the fourth goal."

"You know the younger brother never listens to the older one," Valeri laughed.

With 61 points in 44 games, Pavel Bure is third in the league in scoring at the All-Star break. He leads the NHL with 37 goals -- a league-best nine of them game-winners -- and is second only to Jaromir Jagr in points per game.

Florida's three All-Stars combined for nine points Sunday. Kozlov had three assists -- two on goals by Pavel Bure -- and Ray Whitney had a goal and an assist for North America.

But before he gets back to the grind of the Panthers' season, Pavel Bure took the opportunity to relish the day he and his brother ruled the hockey world.

"I won't forget this experience," Pavel said. "It will be one of the most special days of my career."