What I'm Thankful For This Thanksgiving

I tend to be a negative person from time to time... a grumpy old man in a grumpy young man's body. So I could dedicate today's blog to last night's loss to St. Louis... about how I didn't get to watch it, because DirecTV and Versus are still being jerks... or the Stars finding a way to lose to another team that they're better than on paper, and how we suck at shootouts, and how shootouts themselves are stupid even when we win them.

But I will not. It's Thanksgiving. It's a day for negative people like myself to fill their complainy mouths with turkey and beer and cranberry sauce, and think about what doesn't suck in their lives. With that in mind, I'm dedicating this post to the things that make this Stars fan grateful. I'm giving thanks... (but not in that creepy way, like John Lithgow made his family do on Dexter this week. John Lithgow is awesome, for the record. I give thanks for him as well.)

I'm Thankful for Our Broadcast Team

Ralph and Razor have Stars fans spoiled. Anyone who's ever spent any time listening to out-of-town announcers call games knows exactly how lucky we are. When Razor's got "national" broadcast duties like last night, we even have guys like Brent Severyn and Craig Ludwig filling in. John Rhadigan doesn't get on my nerves, either. Other than Ric Renner, who I haven't seen much this season (I'm thankful for that too), we've got a pretty solid crew supporting our broadcast legends in the booth. One day when Ralph and Razor retire, they both deserve a banner of their own at the AAC. They're as a big a part of this team as anyone, and certainly more important than a "Western Conference Regular Season Champions" banner.

I'm Thankful for the Texas Stars

As I hit on earlier, with Trevor Seelert's mail bag suggestion, the Texas Stars are the cream of the AHL crop, down in Austin. They currently sit atop the league with 34 points in 23 games, and a record of 15-4-2-2. Stars fans have never experienced any level of success at the minor league level, since the team moved to Dallas... so this is just fun to see. Even though the Stars are one of the more experienced and older teams in the AHL, it's still something to take pride in, and it gets our future NHLers into a winning environment early in their careers.

I'm Thankful for Brett Hull

I didn't get a chance to see his ceremony in person, but I wish I could have. Brett Hull is a class act, a legendary talent, and a fantastic ambassador of the game. I'm proud to say he's the man who scored our Cup winning goal, and I'm proud to say he's still part of the Dallas Stars family after retirement. The Stars announced he would be the first player inducted into their new "Walk of Legends" at the AAC, which I'm dying to learn more about. I'd be thankful if they included some North Stars greats in there, too... but I understand why they may not... just yet.

I'm Thankful for "Loser Points"

I hate loser points. I hate the entire points system, when you play in a league that has no ties. If there's no other option but wins and losses, why do you even need "points" to begin with? It doesn't matter. I can't change the rules... all I can do is accept them as law, and be thankful they're there this season. The Stars have thus far accumulated 7 of these pity points, awarded for losing the game in overtime or shootouts... That's the most in the Western Conference, and tied for most in the league. If you took our pity points away, we'd currently have 22 points... dropping us well out of the playoff race, and into the cellar of the Western Conference. With our beloved loser points, however, we're sitting in 7th place in the West. Not ideal, but if the season ended today, we'd be back in the playoffs. I'd be thankful for that.

I'm Thankful for the Stars Internet Community

Since starting my blog this summer, I've been blown away by how cool all of the other bloggers and readers have been to me. I've made some friends over at Vintage Minnesota Hockey, The Sign Girls and Defending Big D... even served as a guest on one of their podcasts... I can now say that me and Brent Severyn have something in common, as he was their guest right after me. That was pretty great... I check my "sitemeter" religiously, but not to check how many hits I'm getting. I do it to see how people are finding my site. It's been great to see all the people who've added me to their Google Readers, linked to my articles on message boards, and found me through other Stars blogs. Everyone has been great, and I enjoy sharing my thoughts with people who inexplicably care what I think about the Stars.

I'm Thankful for Shiner Holiday Cheer

It's the holidays, and as such, many of my favorite breweries are coming out with delicious holiday beverages. Most of them, like my beloved Sam Adams and St. Arnold, have cinnamon in their holiday beers. I'm allergic to cinnamon, so most of the goodies from the cold months are tempting yet depressing for me. Not Shiner's Holiday Cheer. It's made with pecans and a couple peaches, in a good old school German-style dark wheat beer. This is what I'll be filling up on before, after, and during turkey time, as I watch 3 football games that I don't really care who wins. I love beer... and I love snobby pretentious beer... but Shiner is a good American beer from the great State of Texas that I'm thankful for on this very American holiday. I plan to top it off with my Mom's legendary Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie. Thankful for that too.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Enjoy the football and the beer and the festivities, and your family's legendary food recipes and traditions. In closing, speaking of football, it sucks that Detroit and Dallas both play under a roof. I want a Thanksgiving snow game... don't you? If you're going to give us such subpar matchups, at least give us something visually stimulating while we fight off our turkey comas.

Wallpaper Wednesday: The Captain

This Brenden Morrow wallpaper comes from my good friend Will Telfer... a man lucky enough to own a 1991 Mike Modano Minnesota North Stars jersey with the actual correct number font! Enjoy, all.

Was There Something To That Morrow/Gleason Fight?

Since blogs are meant for rumor mongers with nothing better to do, I think I'll stoop down a few levels and spew out some unfounded tomfoolery of my own. That's the price my readers have to pay for getting news and reaction from a blog.

For those who missed it, 25 seconds into the Stars/Canes game on Monday night, Brenden Morrow and Tim Gleason dropped the gloves for no apparent reason. Brenden looked pissed, and came away with a victory (according to me, and the votes from hockeyfights.com). Why though?

Well... one comment on Heika's blog says this:

the "Apparent reason" is Gleason Vs. Ott.
Gleason recently stole the wife of life long (ex)friend Steve Ott. Gleason and Ott have been best friends until Ott learned that his wife was hanging with Gleason.
Otter has had this date circled for over a month. The fight was Captain Morrow representing Ott & the Dallas Stars.
THAT is why I love hockey.

Normally, you can take blog comments with a grain of salt (except for you guys... you can comment on my blog all you want, and I'll treasure it forever), but since this seemed like something interesting to look into, I googled about it during some down time at work tonight... the first match on Google for "tim gleason steve ott" was a fairly strange forum conversation from "talk-sports.net," where they talk about Ott's personal life.

Cliff's Notes version (or Cole's Notes, if you're Canadian... which is probably more fitting, given the circumstances):
Comments on there say that Ott's wife cheated on him with Tim Gleason, and that they're now divorced... then they discuss if he's dating someone new, something about a baby sitter, and how Ott's dating someone 'super hot' now. Sometimes the internet is awesome. Not this time... but at least it added fuel to the fire of explanation for the fight.

Now I've said before on this blog, that I do my best to stay out of the personal lives of players, because it's really none of my business... but this one is just too interesting to avoid discussing. Especially given the way Ralph and Razor reacted to the fight.


"Wow! That's a teammate!"

Indeed. <3 Morrow. <3 The Otter. Go Stars.

It's like a page out of Slapshot... If Slapshot were a book, since movies don't generally have pages.

Quick Notes: I had to switch back and forth between the Stars game and the Titans on Monday Night Football. This is why I hate when the Titans play night games, or the Stars play weekend afternoon games. Don't make me choose, sports gods. It tears me up inside..... Grossman missed the game with a lower body injury. Let's pray it's not serious, because he's a very important member of this team..... A few days ago, DallasStars.com put up a "Pick 3" deal, where you can guess who will score the Stars first 2 goals of the game, as well as the final score. I'm apparently a genius, because I picked Jamie Benn to score our first goal against the Canes, and he did. I don't remember who I picked for our second goal, but it was either Richards or Modano. If it was Richards, I'm pretty much a genius now... Only problem is, I said the final would be 4-2 Stars, instead of 2-0. Maybe I'll win something? I deserve it, cause I'm pretty awesome.....

A Brand New Stars Uniform?!

Actually, the total opposite. One that's so old and so random, that no one seems to remember or care that it existed. Once again, our friends over at VintageMinnesotaHockey.com have bestowed upon me a visual gift from Stars history... making me revise my Uniform History Project for probably the sixth time now.

It turns out the North Stars had a uniform design before they ever played their first NHL game... one that didn't even last until the start of the regular season. Slightly different striping, and a noticeably different logo.
As you can see, those uniforms have a sort of "crooked" serif on the N, and a solid gold star. Different than the logo that would be used at the start of the 1967 season.
The uniforms also featured a tie-up collar, which would be long gone before the first regular season game played at the Met Center in 1967... but the thing that stands out most to me, is the uniform numbers. They were vastly different than what we're used to seeing, and rounded. They remind me of the 1960 Houston Oilers throwbacks that my Tennessee Titans are wearing this season... and they're the reason why I've yet to completely update my uniform history project with these new (to me) Stars sweaters. Once I figure out what font they used, I'll slap it up there... but all I've been able to find so far are "pretty close" fonts... but not close enough for my tastes. If anyone can do a better job of figuring out what that font is, leave me a comment or drop me a line. I'm desperate.

Kyle from VMH has a fairly in-depth look at this new uniform on his blog, as well as some early trading cards from the North Stars featuring these uniforms... His theory is that the original designer of the logo wasn't pleased with how it looked on these original uniforms, so they ripped the crest off and made due with hybrid "new" logo'd, draw-string versions until the start of the season, when they got block letters, V-necks, and the real N-Star shape that lasted into the 90's. Interesting stuff, to nerds like me.

I Miss the Old Jeremy Roenick...

You know... the one who had his jaw wired shut circa April, 1999.
He was certainly less talkative in those days... for a short period of time, at least.

Jeremy Roenick recently chimed in on the James Neal suspension, echoing the recent comments of the victim Derek Dorsett.

''If Neal would have done this 20 years ago, he would have been blackballed from the league,'' said Roenick. ''If you're going to get challenged, then drop your gloves and go to it - fight, but don't come back later on and then give a cheap shot to a guy who has already challenged you.

''To me, that's kind of gutless and I'm sure a lot of guys in the league think that's gutless also.''

Makes me chuckle a little, because Roenick was always known around the league for big talk on situations like this (and everything else)... yet he played a game that was very "on the edge" himself. Just ask Modano how much Roenick respected the health of the guys he played against... Thankfully TSN isn't as ubiquotous in Texas as it is in Canada, because I don't think I'd be able to stand listening to his "Oh, JR!" segments very often. (Seriously... it's hard enough to take JR seriously. They couldn't come up with a more serious name for his segment? It's like he's asking for people to take everything he says as a throw-away comment. Probably for the best, but then again, what's the point?)

My take on the whole situation is this... Roenick is an idiot. Always has been. Dorsett is a cry baby. Not sure if he always has been, because he's mostly famous for getting hurt by Neal. James Neal wasn't trying to hurt Dorsett. Injuries are an unfortunate part of hockey. So are suspensions. It isn't really any of Roenick's business, and if Dorsett doesn't feel the suspension was a stiff enough penalty, the Jackets come back to Dallas on December 23rd. He can handle it then. I'll give Dorsett a free pass though, since he DOES currently have a brain injury. It's okay for him to make dumb statements... what's Roenick's excuse?

James Neal isn't a dirty player, so it's unfortunate that Roenick and Dorsett feel the need to drag his name through the mud. At least Stars fans know and love "Sweet Baby James" for the player and person that he is... even if Blue Jackets fans disagree.

Robidas and Richards Lead Stars Over Devils

The Dallas Stars beat the NHL's best road team at the AAC on Saturday night... and they did it with a four point outing by Stephane Robidas... a three point first period. Robi had 2 goals and 2 assists during his career night. Not to be out-done, Richards added 4 assists of his own. Normally when the Stars meet the Devils, it's a defensive slugfest, isn't it? This one was not. 5-3 the final.

The starting goalies were Turco and Yann Danis, but by the start of the second period, Danis had been chased from the nets in favor of Martin Brodeur. Brodeur gave up 2 goals of his own, and ended up as the goalie of record for the loss.

Overall, the Stars played a good game against a good team. One of the more entertaining games of the season from a competitive standpoint. Robidas was all over the map, making contributions on both offense and defense. Richards made a couple passes that would make any Stars fan have to pick their jaw up off the floor. Warren Peters played in his first game with the Dallas Stars after being called up from Austin, and scored a goal early. He, and his entire line, looked to on top of things. For a team that's missing their best offensive weapon in James Neal, they appeared to come together and play a team game that lead to a formidable 5 goal outing.

Lots to feel good about in this one... but why does my gut tell me my post on Monday night is going to be about squandered chances against a weak Hurricanes team? My gut's a pessimistic jerk, sometimes.

Quick Notes:
I might have some new favorite fans after this game... Ralph and Razor showed us some pretty hilarious guys, dressed in full Devils uniforms, sitting in the stands. They even had their own coach with clipboard. From what I can tell, they remained in character pretty much all night. They showed them twice, and I busted out camera-phone for their appearance at the end of the game. This pic only shows a few of them, but they had at least an entire PK unit up there... complete with goalie. Delightful. That's my kind of fan..... Mark Fistric needs some props for his game, too. He was just knocking people over left and right, and playing solid stay at home defense. When he's on top of his game, he's a very valuable "Fist" indeed..... Nick Grossman was no slouch in the physicality department either. Every game he becomes more and more my favorite Dallas Star..... St. Louis Assistant GM Dougy Armstrong was in the building, too. Probably soaking up the glory from his trade that sent Langenbrunner away all those years ago. Boo that man... He very well might have been booed (or ignored) if he hadn't been sitting next to Eddie Belfour in the press box. Eddie got a pretty solid ovation.