This Day in Hockey History – November 15, 2002 – A Stars’ Points and Avalanche in Minutes
The Dallas Stars hosted the Colorado Avalanche at the American Airlines Center on November 15, 2002. Both franchises had experienced significant moves in the mid-1990s. The Stars moved from Minnesota to Texas in 1993, and the Avalanche had been the Quebec Nordiques until 1995. The Avalanche had won the Stanley Cup championships in 1996 and 2002, while the Stars won the Cup in 1999. This particular game in 2002 would not have been significant but for a player from each team – Mike Modano and Patrick Roy – reaching milestones.

Mike Modano (Photo: Elliot from Castro Valley,
Calif. [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons)

Patrick Roy
Goalie Patrick Roy had already had 12 stellar years with the Montreal Canadiens before joining the franchise he’d cheered on as a child. However, he joined them for their first year in Colorado instead of remaining in Quebec, Canada. Rather than midway through the first period like Modano, Roy did not reach his milestone until halfway through the third. At that point, he passed Terry Sawchuk’s record of 57,194 minutes played. It took Sawchuk 21 seasons to accomplish, and Roy had passed him in his 19th. Roy finished the night with 57,202 minutes and had stopped 18 shots of 22. The Avalanche still lost 4-2. When Roy retired at the end of the season, he had played 60,214 minutes. Only one goalie, Martin Brodeur (with 74,439 minutes), has passed him thus far.
Of the four games the two teams played against each other during the 2002-03 season, the Stars won two games and tied two games with the Avalanche. Both teams finished first in their divisions, but the Stars had more points at 111 (46-17-15-4) than the Avalanche with 105 points (42-19-13-8). During the playoffs, the Stars failed to make it through the conference semi-finals while the Avalanche could not make it past the quarter-finals. Still, Modano was tenth in points and fourth in assists for that season. Roy was sixth in save percentage and goals against average.
Additional Sources:
- Liam Maguire, Next Goal Wins! (Toronto: Random House of Canada, 2012), 176.
- https://www.hockey-reference.com/boxscores/200211150DAL.html
- https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/col-vs-dal/2002/11/15/2002020249#game=2002020249,game_state=final
- https://www.hockey-reference.com/leaders/#all_alltime_leaders
- https://www.nhl.com/news/mike-modano-100-greatest-nhl-hockey-players/c-285495020?tid=283865022
- https://www.hhof.com/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/LegendsMember.jsp?mem=p201404&type=Player&page=bio&list=ByName
[…] of those connections was Mike Modano, who had been drafted by the North Stars in 1988 and moved to the Dallas Stars in 1993. Seven years […]