A Star is Rising… and Rising, and Rising

Jul 16, 2014

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April 27^th, 2013. The Dallas Stars finish 5^th in their division with a record of 22-22-4. They fail to make the playoffs for the fifth straight season.

July 4^th, 2013. Tyler Seguin is traded to the Dallas Stars.

September 19^th, 2013. Jamie Benn is named the new Captain of the Dallas Stars, after Brenden Morrow was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins in March.

For the Stars, the 2013-2014 season was a fresh start. They had a new Captain, a new coach (Lindy Ruff, fresh off of sixteen seasons coaching the Buffalo Sabres) a new look (replacing the old black and gold jerseys with ‘victory green’ and silver), a new top line (Benn, Seguin, and promising rookie Valeri Nichushkin), and a new motto: A Star Is Rising.

April 11^th, 2014. the Dallas Stars shut out the unstoppable St Louis Blues and clinch their first playoff spot since 2008. This season, Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin have combined for seventy one goals and 163 points. Valeri Nichushkin adds another thirty four points on top of that

April 27^th, 2014. The Stars get eliminated in the first round against the powerhouse Anaheim Ducks (one of the only teams in the league with a duo that combined for more points than Benn and Seguin), but they achieved more this season than anyone thought possible.

The Dallas Stars, it seems, have arrived. But they’re not done yet.

July 1^st, 2014. Almost a year after the now-famous Seguin trade, Jim Nill, GM of the Dallas Stars, makes another move. Jason Spezza, the captain of the Ottawa Senators, is now a Star. Hours later, his linemate, Ales Hemsky, joins him.

The Central Division, already top heavy with almost unbeatable teams like the Chicago Blackhawks and the surprise of the 2013 season, the Colorado Avalanche (fresh off of their own new head coach, goaltending legend Patrick Roy and leaning heavily on 2013 first overall pick Nathan MacKinnon) just gained another reason for the Eastern Conference to fear road trips out west.

October 8^th, 2014. The Dallas Stars open their season at home against the Chicago Blackhawks. No one knows what the outcome of that game will be, or indeed their season as a whole, but as a Stars fan and as a hockey fan, all I can say is that I’ll be on the edge of my seat, waiting impatiently for my team to explode.