Busy, Busy, Busy!

It’s been a hectic past few days, what with a back-to-back and a new contract.  Let’s sum it up in some gifs, shall we? 

And we’re doing it Jonathan Groff-style, too!

The game against Nashville:

Trevor Daley’s new contract:

Detroit game:

And then…

Next Up: New Year’s Eve against the Canucks

GO STARS.

Merry Christmas!

Here’s my Christmas card to you all, featuring Jamie Benn adn Brenden Morrow:

Don’t Let Me Down Now

The Flames were the better team last night and rightfully won.  After dominating Montreal two nights before, the Stars came out energetic like they wanted to keep the power.  But by the time the second period came around, they were dull and flat and slow.

This was me during the second period:

I just wanted it to end tied at one.  When Morrow scored in the third, I was jubiliant like yeah…

But then Alex Tanguay and his goddam wrist shots went and ruined the night.  I guess that’s better than that time last season when we lost the game in OT on a terrible delay of game call.  I never forget these things.

The highlight of the night goes to Jamie Benn for his epic fight with Jarome Iginla.  Iginla’s all, “Hey you knocked down my guy.  You wanna go?”  Then Benn’s all, “Bitch, I am Jamie Benn.  I do whatever the fuck I want.  Yes, I’ll go.”

And so they went.

It was pretty awesome.

Have a happy holiday(s)!

And GO STARS.

Top of the West, bitches.

Personally, I think that might have been the best game the Stars have played all year.  They just looked so, I don’t know, into it.  They had a strong forecheck, the defensemen did their job and more, the depth showed, Kari was outstanding, and special teams were special for a change.  It was just a really fun, rewarding night as a Stars fan.

Many Stars had an outstanding game such as Jamie Benn, Stephane Robidas, Kari Lehtonen, Loui Eriksson, and Steve Ott. 

The Bennster had (another!) beautiful shortie and basically played a hell of a game.  Robi had three assists and was just his bad-ass self throughout.  Kari kept us in the game by making key saves at key times and not letting the Habs ever catch up.  Loui was stoned by carey Price, but made up for it with a beautiful tip late in the game.  Otter had the primary assists on the first two goals and was just outstanding the entire game.

Highlights:

There were certainly times throughout the game where I got a tad angry.  The refs weren’t very consistent, which is always just lovely, isn’t it?  A lot of stuff went uncalled, and the calls they did make were thin at times.  But whatever, I’m not complaining.  We won, didn’t we?

However, PK Subban coninuously managed to piss me off last night.  Now I see why a lot of people don’t really like him.  There were times when I was all, “Bitch, really?”

Then again, I think I look like Mr. Schue at some point during every game. /Kanye shrug

It’s pretty fucking awesome, though, how we lead the West now.  That hasn’t happened in a really long time.  Last night, Pierre LeBrun tweeted something like, “The Stars are rolling again.  When do we accept that it’s for real?” 

To be honest, I won’t accept that it’s real until we make the playoffs.  I can’t believe that we’re even in this situation.  Last season, I would have given anything to make the playoffs.  Now, my goals for the Stars are bigger than that.  I want them to win the Pacific.  I want them to win the West.  I wan them to win the Cup. 

Right now, there’s a belief that we can do all that.  Perhaps we’ve finally arrived after two devastating years of medicocrity.  And damn, it feels good.

Next up: Thursday versus those poor, pitiful Flames

GO STARS.

Nuthin’ but heart and perseverance, babydoll.

I’ll admit that I’ve had my doubts about how good the Stars actually are.  Well…they’ve just about convinced me that they’re the real thing.  They showed so much heart in yesterday’s win.   Perhaps it was even the heart of a champion.

The task: defeat the top-of-the-West Detroit Red Wings less than twenty-four hours after defeating the Blue Jackets.  Mission accomplished.

Of course, the Stars came out extremely flat and didn’t even register a shot-on-goal until about ten minutes into the first.  They surrendered two goals to the Wings and already looked defeated.

But then, Brad motherfuckin’ Richards took a swing at a bouncing puck and got a few lucky bounces, thus narrowing the Wings’ lead to one.  By the end of the first, it was a tied game set to turn into a thriller.  And we all know that it did.

However, the Wings weren’t through with us.  With 16 seconds left in the second period, Johan Franzen scored a truly deflating goal to put the Wings in front again.

The third frame was thrilling as we Stars fans waited for a game-tying goal to occur.  Morrow was the one who scored it, and it was pretty sweet the way he dished it through his legs into the goal.  And so the game went to overtime…

Fun fact: the Wings haven’t won a game in OT or the shootout against Dallas since Halloween 2001.  So basically we had history on our side.

And history prevailed.  Who else but Loui Eriksson would even score the OT winner?  That guy is a game-winning goal machine.  With that goal, the Stars denied Chris Osgood his 400th career victory.

I can imagine how awkward the Detroit locker room was after the game.  I’m sure the team convinced Babcock to start Osgood as the Stars had so many factors going against them that ensured a loss.  Awkwaaaaaaaard!

But whatever.  We did it, and look who’s STILL at the top of the Pacific, bitches! Haters gonna hate.

Get it girl.

Dean Morton was there in spirit…

Last night’s game was dominated by bad calls and non-calls alike, which mostly favored the Sharks.  The first period saw a terrible delay of game penalty that sent Toby Petersen to the box and the Sharks’ number 5-ranked power play to a 5-on-3.  What followed was an epic penalty kill by the Stars.  It was one of the highlights of the night.  It was fuckin’ amazing.

However, the refs weren’t done fucking things up for us.  One instance included Devin “Star-Killer” Setoguchi drawing a call and embellishing it with an obvious dive.  The penalty was real (Skrastins tripped him), but Setoguchi should have been called for diving.  The call that really made me mad, though, was the non-call toward the end of the game.  I can’t remember what exactly happened, but I’m pretty sure it was a blatant trip that was ignored.  Then, like five seconds later, Ribs stabbed Dany “Douchebag” Heatly’s mouth and drew blood.

We all know what happened next- Utter. Shit.

This was me:

Logan Couture, a guy who I initially liked and don’t really anymore, scored on the power play in overtime.  I blame Dean Morton for all of this.  He was obviously there in spirit.

But, hey, at least we got a point out of it.  We need every point we can get with how tight is in the Pacific.  And we played pretty well despite letting in the first goal…again.

Gilbert (aka Tom Wandell) had a sick goal last night.  He just kind of floated in with the puck and shot it without even looking at his target.  LIKE IT WAS NO BIG DEAL.  Fuck yeah.  That guy can be slick when he wants to be.

Next up: those damn Blue Jackets.  I’m really starting to loath them…

GO STARS.

Have another gif…

I thought it was funny though, admittedly, not relevant.

Highlight of the Weekend

More memorable than the win on Friday and that horrific loss last night was the tribute and ovation given to Jere Lehtinen during Friday’s game.

It was so touching, and I’ll admit that it got me choked up.  God, Lehtinen’s so classy.  He’s so humble that he probably only expected a few seconds of a tribute on the video board, not a two-to-three minute standing ovation.

It’s nice that we got to honor Jere like that.  With any luck, we can someday honor Sergei Zubov with his own standing O as he never did get a proper send-off.

No matter, some day in the not-so-distant future, we’ll get to honor all three of our franchise guys, Lehtinen, Zubov, and Mike Modano when we retire their numbers.

Thanks for everything, guys.

I’ll Miss You, Mr. Lehtinen

A great hockey player retired yesterday.  If you’re not a Stars fan, there’s a good chance you’ve never heard of Jere Lehtinen, but that’s basically the story of his career.

Jere retired the way he played: quietly, with grace.  All summer long, we Stars fans worried and moaned over Mike Modano’s impending departure but never really gave much thought to the quiet Finn who had faithfuly served us for 14 seasons.

But that’s ok, because Jere wouldn’t have wanted us to stress over his potential retirement.  Lehts was the kind of guy who never thought about his points, yet would never accept a point that wasn’t rightfully his (that truly happened). 

The thing about Jere Lehtinen is that he was the perfect hockey player.  He never racked up points the way Mike Modano did, but Jere was the perfect balance of offense and defense.  He knew how to play offense, but more importantly, he understood how to play in his own end.  Lehts was only ever a minus once in his entire career (last season) and he finished with a career plus-minus of +176.  A team comprised entirely of Jere Lehtinen clones would win the Cup year after year, no problem.

There really aren’t a ton of moments that really stand out from Jere’s career, but there a couple.  One, is Jere’s goal in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals in 1999.  I will forever be amazed at how that goal went in.  The second, is April 8, 2010.  The night truly belonged to Mike Modano, but it was made even more emotional (for me, at least) when Jere scored the clincher in the shootout.  So perfect that Jere Lehtinen, a complement to everyone he played with, would seal the win.

My hope is that Jere Lehtinen will get his number retired, and it probably will be.  Real Stars fans know just how valuable he was to the franchise.  Jere was one of a kind and is completely irreplaceable.

Thanks for everything, 26.

Billy G. Retires

As a longtime fan of Bill Guerin, this makes me sad.  When he was in Dallas, Guerin was always one of my favorites. 

In fact, being from then younger set of Stars fans, Billy happens to be one of the first players I ever grew emotionally attached to.  I realize that his time in Dallas wasn’t the most stellar hockey of his career, but I loved him.  Because of Billy Guerin, I always wore the number 13 in sports growing up until I came to adopt Jussi Jokinen’s 36 as my number. 

My one piece of Billy Guerin memoribilia, and I cherish it:

Godspeed, Billy G.  keep being your awesome self, even as a retired man.  Love you!

This is fun.

The Stars have their first five-game winning streak since January 2009 with their win against the Caps the other night.

Currently they sit at the top of the Pacific, ahead of teams like LA and San Jose.  This is so crazy.  But it’s so much fun.

Look at these and just let it sink in:

I’m still not totally convinced that this isn’t a mirage, but the Stars are certainly making a case for themselves.

Tonight: The Wild.  The Minnesota Wild.  Just what exactly a Wild is remains to be seen…

GO STARS.