The Story of a Dallas Stars Fan

Last night the Dallas Stars released the Seattle Kraken (pun intended) from their unlikely playoff run with a 2-1 victory in Game 7. It was a very stressful 3 hours, Pretzel could hardly watch me watch, he kept running to my room to hide. He has never done this during a stars game. I'm a Stars fan, I have been for 30 years, and here is my story of how I came to love the team and the sport.

I became a hockey fan the same way most folks my age who grew up below the Mason-Dixon line: the 1992 movie The Mighty Ducks. I was 8 years old when this movie came out and I absolutely loved it. They even had girls on the team, specifically Marguerite Moreau who went on to star in Wet Hot American Summer (don't worry this movie/series will be the subject of an article at some point). I'm pretty sure I didn't understand the coach Bombay arch at all, but watching kids play a game that seemed to make them so happy made me want to do the same.

At this time in my life I had played one season of 3rd grade contact football, and the coach was fucking crazy. Winning was everything, fun was not important, and I skipped my 4th grade season in fear he'd pick me again in the draft. Fun note: I played from 5th grade through my senior year, even though coach Richard was my 5th grade coach as well. I've never been a good quitter.

Anyhow, one year after The Mighty Ducks came out, a professional team landed in my backyard - the Minnesota North Stars became the Dallas Stars. I'm sure location has a lot to do with picking your favorite team as a kid, but holy shit these guys were IN The Mighty Ducks. The movie was set in Minnesota so it only made sense for the star cameos to be from this team. Despite having never been able to watch the sport on TV or in person, I already knew who Mike Modano was, he was friends with Coach Bombay!

So I started watching Stars games on channel 21. Back in the day local sports were broadcasted locally over an antenna, so it was free, much unlike today where you have to subscribe to 30 different things. Like many young men and women in the DFW area I decided I had to try out this hockey thing, but there was something holding me back: ice. DFW is not known for our ice. My home town of Allen took an old basketball court and put chain link fencing around it, called that a roller hockey rink and decided to start a hockey league for kids.

I got some gear and started playing in the street with my friends, and eventually some of our dads. These were great days. My first game for a team (called the Bruins, I'm pretty sure I had no idea this was an NHL team) would be interesting. Before we had any practices the coach called my house and said we were going to play something called "Spring Breakout"at Six Flags. I had seen "Spring Breakout" on MTV, it was supposed to be an exhibition for what we called "extreme sports" back in the 90's. Lots of skateboards, BMX bikes, and of course roller blades because... the 90's.

I arrived to Six Flags with my gear and met the coach, who quickly told me the other team didn't bring enough players so I'd play for them. We played on asphalt with several large holes in it, it was like skating on a surface made of marbles and holes that would break your ankle if you stepped in them. The boards were a combination of cones and some kind of make-shift foam boarder. I tripped over myself, the puck, and other people constantly. At the end we all smiled and I knew I had found a sport I loved to play.

I spent most of my teenage years involved in every aspect of the Allen Roller Hockey league that would have me. I played every position, including goalie. One time I played forward, defense, and goalie in the same game cause I had scored enough goals to protect the lead from the net by the 3rd period. I refereed every age group I was not personally competing with. I helped to run goalie summer trainings, even though I had no training, other than watching Eddie Belfour on channel 21 every chance I got.

I even got to help my dad coach my sister's team. He was the coach because he was an adult, but I got to tell him some things I had seen on TV and made sure not to referee their games. After several losses I decided to tell dad about the concept of "cherry picking" where one player stays near the opposing team's defensive area of the rink in hopes someone can lob them the puck, hence catching the other team off-guard. It is a risky strategy and requires the other team to blink, otherwise you're playing down a person on defense. That's how Wyatt Johnston scored this game winner last night:

My sister's team scored a goal with this strategy, which was very exciting because we almost never scored goals. Dad thought "If one cherry picker is good, then 2 is better" and we scored another goal. Soon we had our entire offense in the neutral zone waiting on a pass from one defensive player getting battered by the other team. I told him we may want to cool it on that strategy. We went 0-30 in three seasons, losing a lot of games by double digits. It was so much fun.

When I went to college at Texas A&M University I joined the adult recreational league in Bryan, Texas. They had a much nicer rink than Allen, and the Texas A&M ice team (really a club) played under the name the "Screamin' Semen" because they were in college and thought it was funny. I played goalie for the Ice Holes. We met each other in the championship a couple-few times. The "Semen" even asked me to try out for the Texas A&M ice team (club). I would have loved to, but I was already planning to move to Austin - a city that felt like fit my personality a little better than College Station.

Once I got to Austin I found a local league that let me play forward for the B league and goalie for the A league. I played and refereed all the hockey I could manage into my undergrad/student teaching/pizza making schedule. I played one game for two periods with a torn PCL that hurt like hell. The next day I limped into the UT Student Health Center unable to move my knee at all, and the doctor asked if the med students could all move my knee around cause it was a rare injury. As I said, I've never been a good quitter.

I coached a 12-14 year old team for one season in Round Rock - this is when I realized I could not be a coach - the very profession I was paying The University of Texas a lot of money to set me up for. I drafted well and we went undefeated through the regular season. It was a recreational league, so everyone got equal playing time because they all paid money to play. No one told me this was not the case when we got to the playoffs. I still gave my kids equal playing time and we lost our first playoff game 3-2, cause the other team didn't let their 15 year old (near adult, there on a technicality) off the rink the entire game. All the parents were mad at me - the parents of the skilled players and less-skilled - they just wanted to win. I just wanted to be Coach Bombay. I wanted everyone to have fun.

I realize I romanticize a lot of things about life, which is not a great trait to have if you're trying to make a lot of money or be a "winner." The winners we celebrate today are people like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Tom Brady....among others. They have a happy ending without the sense of humor - and while I don't doubt their careers were fun - that was never their goal. Winning is about pushing other people around and being the best. There's nothing wrong with that, it's just not my jam.

But damnit, look at that video of Wyatt Johnston above. Is that kid not having fun? That is why I watch, love the Dallas Stars, and will always be a hockey fan.

-Stein