The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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Category: Dallas Stars (Page 7 of 10)

The Chase for the Cup

April 17, 2023 / / 0 Comments

The heart-stopping, gut-punching, throat-clutching, edge-of-your-seat postseason that is the NHL Playoffs begins tonight in Dallas when the Stars drop the puck on the Minnesota Wild. The chase for Lord Stanley’s Cup is an excruciating and exhilarating journey and by far the greatest season of all the seasons. There is no faster sport played – not even close. There’s nothing as hard-hitting – no way. And no other sport has a true sudden death overtime. This is it – the most exciting and unpredictable drama there is on TV. And my hopes are high for the guys wearing Victory Green.

Dallas begins the second season with 108 points, their best record in seven years, in a Western Conference playoff field crowded with six other teams boasting at least 100 points. It’s tight. But the Stars seem to have the advantage in all the key areas. They have the highest goal differential in the conference, they’re number five in the NHL on the power play and number three on the penalty kill, and they’re red hot, having won six straight and eight of their last nine.

Jason Robertson broke Mike Modano’s single season scoring record this year while Miro Heiskanen broke Sergei Zubov’s franchise scoring mark for a defenseman. Jake Oettinger won 37 games, anybody on this team can score, and they’re all healthy.

Last year Calgary broke our hearts with the Game Seven win over the Stars in the first round. It was all over in a flash, faster than anyone expected. Three years ago Dallas inexplicably made it all the way to the Finals, losing in six games to Tampa Bay. This year’s squad has the perfect blend of wily playoff veterans and quick young snipers, hard-nosed defense and wide open offense, the best combined special teams in the league and a 24-year-old stud of a goalie with a 92% save percentage. I see Dallas beating Colorado in a game seven in the second round and all of it boiling down to a game seven against Edmonton in the Western Conference Finals, reminding all of us of those Stanley Cup glory days in ’99 and 2000.

First team to 16 wins gets the Cup. And it starts tonight. Go Stars.

Peace,

Allan

Sports Joy

April 12, 2022 / / 0 Comments

Baseball season has begun and the Rangers have a cool new logo to promote this as their 50th Anniversary Season. I love the logo because it incorporates the old cowboy hat from their very first logo in 1972, still my favorite Rangers logo of all time. Never mind that this is the Rangers’ 51st season – the Cowboys pulled the same math miscalculation in 2010 with their 50th anniversary patch during their 51st season, and nobody seems to care. It’s a neat little design that highlights a milestone moment for a beloved baseball team.

And it’s probably going to be the highlight of the season.

This is still the same ol’ Rangers. What other team can average seven runs per game and still be 1-3? What other team can be up 7-0 in the 4th inning and lose 10-8? What other team places its ace starting pitcher on the injured list with a finger blister three innings into Opening Day? What other team loses in extra innings on an overturned illegal slide video replay call from New York City?

I watch and cheer for the Rangers mostly out of duty. They’re my team. I’ve been with them for all fifty years. Rooting for the red dot in three stadiums. “It’s baseball time in Texas!” Sunny, Pudge, and Chad Krueter. Feliz versus A-Rod. Nellie Cruz’s drop. Chan Ho Park. Expectations are low and nobody gets hurt. It’s an obligation for me. There’s not a ton of joy.

Over the past couple of months, I have become really excited for the Mavericks and their sure-to-be deep playoff run that starts this weekend. They have the second best record in the NBA since January 1 and they’re playing as well as anybody in the league. They’ve secured home court advantage for the opening round of the postseason for the first time since they won it all back in 2011. And they’re not facing the Clippers! I’ve been enthusiastically following this team and looking forward to these playoffs for weeks.

But Luka strained his calf in the second half of the season finale Sunday night and he’s questionable for Saturday’s tip-off against the Jazz. If he can’t go, this is a quick series and it’s one-and-done, again, for the little Mavericks. That excitement is now gone.

The Stars are barely hanging on, backing into their NHL playoff spot via the wild card. Hard to get too excited about that.

My sports hope this spring and summer is in the Midland RockHounds. They will be my sports joy. The AA affiliate of the Oakland A’s and our new hometown team plays their home opener tonight against Corpus Christi and we’re there. They are also celebrating their 50th anniversary season with updated logos, featuring a more anatomically correct Rocky the Hound and including a cool paw print made up of five drops of oil. They’re off to a 2-1 start after opening the season on the road in Amarillo, atop the standings in the Texas League South Division.

We show up early, we wear the gear, we cheer for the players by first name, we toss dollar bills when they hit homeruns, and we always have a great time. I can get pretty excited about that.

Peace,

Allan

What If?

January 28, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Prediction: Stars lose tonight. The Dallas Stars are off to the best start in ten years, not just in the win-loss column, but in several other categories, too. The Stars’ power play and penalty kill are both on an NHL record pace. Dallas has scored nine power play goals in their first three games with a league-leading 56.3% scoring rate. And Joe Pavelski and John Klingbert are killing it at both ends of the ice.

But they lose tonight. This evening at home against Detroit, Dallas will debut their new alternate sweater and uniform and it is hideous. They’re calling it “Blackout,” but it looks like something out of Tron. Black is the primary color and the trim is called “Skyline Green” to match the neon tubes that outline the legendary 72-story Bank of America Plaza (InterFirst Plaza a long time ago) building in downtown Dallas. On a hockey player, it looks more like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle green. They’re not as bad as the alternate unis and logos they suffered through for two seasons back in 2003-2005 . But they will lose tonight with these awful sweaters and they will become a jinx for this club. They’re too gimmicked up. They don’t look real. It looks like something out of an energy drink commercial.  They won’t be able to win in these things. Starting tonight.

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Ten months into the global pandemic and counting, the national surveys and polls show that the people around us are searching for what’s significant and lasting. They’re looking for something solid and dependable and real. Transitioning now into the post-pandemic future, they’re seeking what’s trustworthy and true. The people you’re running into every day are disappointed, disillusioned, and divided; but they’re open to something different. They want an answer to everything that’s gone wrong; they’re looking for a solution to everything that’s broken. That way, that truth, that life is our Lord Jesus Christ and you’ve got him! And the time is right now to make him known to our desperate and dying world.

Your life, your words, your attitude can be the walking, talking proof that good overcomes evil. You can show people that love is greater than hate, that unity is more fun than division, that peace is far more effective than violence, and that forgiveness always beats revenge.

What if you and I remained calm when the people around us are anxious and demanding? Everything is turned up so loud right now, what would it mean to others if you were quiet and calm? I think it would be noticed.

What if you and I spoke with humility and grace? Instead of saying things so other people will like you or approve of you, what if you only said things that were encouraging to others and built others up? That kind of language would really stick out.

What if you and I tried to love everybody? What if we were known for how kind and graciously we treated others, even when we disagree? Wouldn’t that get people’s attention?

And what if we committed to that right now? Instead of being paralyzed by what we’ve lost in the past or stuck while we wait for the conditions to be perfect later, what if we committed to seizing the opportunities all around us right now? Opportunity is not something that happens at a dim distance somewhere in the future; opportunity is what you and I have right in front of us today!

Here’s our new normal: the virus and the political and social chaos have laid us bare. We’ve been cooped up in our homes with our broken habits for months and it’s revealed to us that our lives, this country, and the world are in more trouble than we thought. The folks around us know right now, more than they’ve ever known in their lives, that the answers cannot be found in government, science, technology, or in just trying harder. They’re looking for the way, the truth, the life right now more than they ever have. And you’ve got that in Jesus Christ!

The new normal is not to be feared. It is to be embraced and engaged as God’s time and place for something beautiful and eternal and new. What if right now you committed to living in a way that points others to what and who they need the most?

Peace,

Allan

Thoughts and Prayers

September 26, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Only one team in NHL history has ever come from down three games to one in the Stanley Cup Final to win the championship.

The Toronto Maple Leafs in 1942.

So, you’re telling me there’s a chance!

Go, Stars.
Allan

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