I’m really enjoying my season tickets to Austin’s AHL team. Currently the Stars are in second place for their division at 9 points. Not too shabby for an “expansion.” After a few years of being awful, I’m really stunned to see the San Antonio Rampage being so excellent and holding the best record in the league right now. Then I discovered they’re holding on to a sizable chunk of Anaheim’s prospects in addition to Phoenix’s, which would double the talent on the team while we only have Dallas.
Last week we saw our team successfully beat the Grand Rapids Griffins (Detroit Red Wings) with less than two minutes to go. The game had been going back and forth all night without any goals. Tense would’ve been an understatement. The Stars finally got a break on a rebound to put the biscuit in the basket. Quite an accomplishment, the opposing goalie (McCollum) will probably be at least the backup for the Red Wings in a season.
I had to wait another five days before another game. In the meantime, they went to Houston and tore the Aeros a new one the weekend, 5-1.
Upon their return they hosted the Lake Erie Monsters (Colorado Avalanche). Technically this team is based in Cleveland so I don’t know why they chose a body of water and a monster; when I was a kid Lake Erie had a reputation for being very polluted to the point of toxic. On this home stand, the Stars were great during the first period. They peppered the Monsters’ goalie for 14 shots, a two-to-one ratio over the visitors. After the first intermission, the Stars were flat-footed, giving up a goal in the first minute of the second’ scored by Hadar, a guy I saw play for the Milwaukee Admirals during a long weekend in San Antonio! I felt the Stars’ will to carry on with this game evaporated as they went on to lose 4-zilch.
Can’t win every game, then it would be pretty dull and victories wouldn’t be savored. A very hard lesson I had to learn as a child playing for schools which loss 90 percent of the time.
My Stars continue their run of home games tomorrow and Saturday night: a rematch with the Monsters and a visit from the Hamilton Bulldogs (Montreal Canadiens). I’m going to miss both too. The Friday game is no major loss for I’m seeing Glenn Tilbrook at the Saxon Pub. Saturday will consumed by a wedding in Waco which is more important yet it’s going to be Hamilton’s sole appearance at our rink, next to Toronto, the Canadiens (by proxy) are the oldest functioning team in the history of professional hockey. Hopefully Jeremy gets a cool fan to join him.
I will be attending come hell or high water next weekend, it’s the Chicago Wolves’ debut in Austin. To make it sweeter, they signed (future) American hockey legend Chris Chelios! He may be skating with the assistance of a walker (he’s 47, Gordie retired at 52) yet I gotta’ see this guy in action.
Tonight, I shall close with a great joke I read in the Toronto Star over the Leafs’ pitiful 0-6-1 start.
What does a Toronto fan do after the Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup? He gets up and turns off his PlayStation.