Dallas Stars vs. Anaheim Ducks
February 8, 2013
American Airlines Center
First hockey game of this very short season. After months and months of a lockout, the owners and players finally came to an agreement, and none too soon. I planned a trip out to Dallas months ago and would have been really disappointed to only see a basketball game. Less than three weeks ago I thought the entire season might be cancelled for the second time under Gary Bettman reign, but everyone came to their senses and the worlds greatest game is back!
I have been to the Dallas area before, Greg Kopotic and I hit up a Texas Rangers game a couple years ago but that was in Arlington. I didn’t realize how big the city of Dallas really was, I just found out that if I stayed closer to the Rangers/Cowboys stadiums I would be 20 miles away from the Stars/Mavs arena. The American Airlines Center is in the heart of downtown and for all purposes is a really nice arena. I was a little disappointed about the fan experience in and around the building though. Again, when a team wins a championship like the Stars in the late 90’s or the Mavs just two years ago, I would like to some representation of those wins. I walked around the inside and outside of the arena and literally didn’t see a single picture, glass display case, mural, nothing depicting a championship team played there. It kind of baffles me that in a new building where the fans flock to games everyday, there is no thought to celebrating the teams people are spending tons of money to go see.
More importantly, on to the game. Both the Stars and Ducks have players I really enjoy on the ice. Teemu Selanne is one of my favorites dating back to his rookie year with the Winnepeg Jets (my first hockey poster ever when I was 10), and Jaromir Jagr is perhaps one of the greatest forwards to every lace up skates in the NHL. In fact they are number one and two on the leader board for active goal scorers in the league. Neither had a huge impact on this game, but both have been extremely important to the game as a whole.
The Stars built a 2-0 lead with goals from Trevor Daley and superstar (too bad the rest of the NHL doesn’t know this) Jaime Benn. The Ducks dominated the second period with strong performances from their top players that include Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, and a goal by Nick Bonino but the best player on the ice was the stars goalie Kari Lehtonen who made some key saves and preserved the 2-1 lead heading into the third. When Loui Eriksson sealed the game with a third Dallas goal the arena jumped to their feet and to be completely honest, I was super stoked because the Ducks are the Kings biggest and closest rival…never a bad time when they lose.
A fun part of the night involved the family sitti
ng next to me. The father is a huge hockey buff originally from Toronto, we hit it off early in the night and just talked about the game for hours. Between the second and third period he took his two young daughters down to the ice and they got to ride around on the party zam
boni. I got some cool pics and passed them on to him a couple days later.
Normally I would be really excited to see a team who recently won a championship, especially when they have a ton of stars on their team like Dirk Nowitzki, Sean Marion, OJ Mayo, and Vince Carter, but this team has been lackluster at best in 2013. They have one of the worst records in the league and they are playing a really up tempo, young squad from the golden state lead by Stephan Curry. I really thought it would be a GS blow out but the home team really surprised me. They were draining shots from all over the court and went into the half with a 64-36 lead. I honestly think the Warriors were plain and simply tired since this was the 4th game in 5 days but whatever, highscoring games are more exciting. The Mavs were lead by Marion who netted 26 points off of a ridiculous 11 for 16 night eventually winning the game 116 to 91.
Not a lot of exciting things went on during the game. That could be because it was a blow out, or that I was being fed gigantic beers to pay for the tickets I bought for the group, but it was clear that I was well on my way to a fuzzy night. Perhaps the best parts of the night were seeing the NBA championship trophy in the lobby (as I stated in the Stars review, there are absolutely no fan fun zones in the arena so the trophy surprised me) as well as the Grambling State marching band at half time.
All I know is, I have completed only 3 of 10 teams in this state. I have a lot of time left in Texas over the coming years.
