Open letter to the Dallas Stars,
You may not have done “the thing” and won the Stanley cup but you did the one thing no other team could’ve, you opened up the world of hockey to me.
I remember catching a late nhl game during spring break one year. It was the only thing on, I thought okay might as well. I wasn’t someone who followed any kind of sport.
I think it was the penguins and they were talking about how the captain Crosby was out or just came back or would be coming back next season ?? I can’t say which it was but I got curious so I looked them and some other hockey stuff up and then the next day promptly forgot about it completely. They didn’t stick with me, it was a passing interest over and done with by the end of the night.
But THEN, freshman year of college hockey pops up on the tv again. And I think “oh hey I kinda remember this, sure cool” and I leave it on.
The Dallas Stars are playing. And it is different.
I do not forget them. I forget whatever the hell it is I’m supposed to be working on. Something about watching them just.. JUST sparks energy, sends this jolt through me and something turns on, starts working.
Like a light being switched on from the inside.
I dive into the team. Jamie Benn a Captain drafted 129TH. Tyler Seguin a problem traded off to another team. They have their strengths and they have their failings. They say,
“Let’s prove them wrong.”
It settles in my chest like oxygen.
It starts with them, but it doesn’t end with them. There are many others. Old Stars players like
Antoine Roussel (now a Canuck) the most stubborn French player ever quite possibly, and his fight to play in the nhl.
Curtis McKenzie (now with the Knights/AHL) who brought life to the front of the opponents net and gave his all everytime he was called up from the Texas stars, who I wish I could have seen more of.
Jason Spezza, Jordie Benn, Devin Shore, Tyler Pitlick, Patrick Sharp etc.
And the players that are still Stars - a chronically under appreciated well of talent and effort who take criticism and come back swinging.
Somehow in that moment, seeing them on my tv screen, my heart recognized them. I haven’t let go since. Heck, I even started playing roller hockey.
The point is that other teams had their chance to do this, but it was out of their reach.
The Dallas Stars brought hockey to life for me.
I... words aren’t enough to share what that means to me.
