Game #62- Dallas Stars

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 sitting 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 zamboni. I got some cool pics and passed them on to him a couple days later.