Turco shines brightest, stops 33 shots
Turco's 19 saves enough for 3-2 win
10 Facts About the American Airlines Center in Dallas
I got back late yesterday afternoon from my first annual hockey pilgrimage to Dallas, where I saw the Stars beat the St. Louis Blues 2-0 behind a "stand on your head"- quality goaltending performance from Marty Turco. (Last night, the same two teams met up at the Savvis Center in St.Louis. Marty Turco wasn't perfect on this night, but he was certainly good enough for preserve a 3-2 victory over the Blues.)
Our trip was short, but it was a blast. Well, at least it was for me. My travelling companion is from St. Louis originally, and he's a huge Blues fan. Understandably, he wasn't nearly as excited with Friday's final score, especially since the Blues did in all honesty outplay Dallas. I can only imagine his dismay with last night's result in St. Louis.
I'm hardly in a position to gloat, however. St. Louis currently sits in fifth place in the Western Conference playoff standings. While Dallas' win last night allowed them to sneak into eight place, they have been on the outside looking in all season. No, Dallas may not be quite as overpaid and undermotivated as the NY Rangers, but they're not far off.
If the season were to end today, Dallas would play Colorado in the first round. The Avalanche have toyed with Dallas each time they've met this year, and I doubt a playoff series between the teams would be anything more than a four- or five-game massacree. St. Louis would play Vancouver, which would at least be an entertaining and competitive series to watch.
The truly fun part of the trip was driving to Dallas in a rented Jaguar. It seemed a better option than my '96 Ford F-150, especially with two sets of golf clubs. For two days, at least, I felt like the moneyed elite. Do you have any idea how easy it is to hit 90 MPH in one of those things (and have NO idea until you happen to glance at the speedometer)??
For those of you who haven't had a chance to go an event at American Airlines Center, I would highly recommend it. Yes, Houston's Toyota Center is a beautiful building in it's own right, but it doesn't hold a candle to the Big A. Personally, I'm not a big fan of Dallas. There are a few areas, like Rowlett, f'rinstance, that I find quite attractive, but most of the Metroplex impresses me as artificial, contrived, and somewhat pretentious. Still, I LOVE American Airlines Center. The people who designed Toyota Center in Houston could have picked up a thing or two from the folks who designed and built the Big A.
I was crushed in 1993 when the Minnesota North Stars (then owned by the evil, bloodsucking Norm Green) announced that they were moving to Dallas. I still wish that they were in Minnesota, but everyone seems to have come out of the scenario better for. Minnesota has a team in the Wild that they are head-over-heels in love with, and they play in a brand new playpen which makes the old Met Sports Center look like a Soviet-era Gulag. Dallas has a team and the Stanley Cup (1999) that my North Stars could never win, despite trips to the finals in 1981 and 1991. They also have a state-of-the-freakin'-art playpen of their own. Not only that, but Mike Modano, the last remaining North Star, is still playing and playing brilliantly for Dallas.
Oddly enough, now that I've grown used to the idea of the team I grew up worshipping playing in Dallas, I actually rather enjoy it. They're now less than a four-hour drive away from me, about what they were when I was growing up in northern Minnesota. Who says life isn't circular, eh??
