This is a reminder that the first ever Defending Big D watching party will be held on March 23rd at Frankie's Sports Bar & Grill in Lewisville. We'll be gathering to watch our beloved Stars against the hated Nashville Predators, and getting to know each other a little but as well. Don't worry. We don't bite. Also remember that Brandon Worley will be in town from Connecticut and is looking forward to seeing all of you.

EVERYONE is welcome, whether you're a regular commenter and contributor, or just a Dallas Stars fan who happened upon our site for the first time today. We want to have as many people as we can, all we need is good head count ahead of time of who will be attending.

So if you are able and planning to attend, please let us know with a semi-firm RSVP in the comments. We'd rather you not RSVP if you are just 10% certain you'll make it, but just let us know if there is a good chance you'll be there. This way we can plan ahead of time.

There will be $2.50 drafts all night, as well as free pizza for the party. So not only are you enjoying the game with fellow DBD and Stars fans, but you're getting a kick-ass deal out of it as well. We'll also be having some door prizes and giveaways, starting with two free "There's Still Time" t-shirts. We're working on getting some other Stars items to give away as well.

Minors are also welcome, so don't worry if you're under 21 and want to attend.

RSVP in the comments, and we hope to see you there!

Ok friends, we have plans in place for our first ever Defending Big D watching party to be held on March 23rd at Frankie's Sports Bar & Grill in Lewisville. We'll be gathering to not only watch what we hope to be a big game against the Nashville Predators, but to actually get to know what many of us consider friends.

EVERYONE is welcome, whether you're a regular commenter and contributor, or just a Dallas Stars fan who happened upon our site for the first time today. We want to have as many people as we can, all we need is good head count ahead of time of who will be attending.

So if you are able and planning to attend, please let us know with a semi-firm RSVP in the comments. We'd rather you not RSVP if you are just 10% certain you'll make it, but just let us know if there is a good chance you'll be there. This way we can plan ahead of time.

There will be $2.50 drafts all night, as well as free pizza for the party. So not only are you enjoying the game with fellow DBD and Stars fans, but you're getting a kick-ass deal out of it as well. We'll also be having some door prizes and giveaways, starting with two free "There's Still Time" t-shirts. We're working on getting some other Stars items to give away as well.

Minors are also welcome, so don't worry if you're under 21 and want to attend.

RSVP in the comments, and we hope to see you there!

Oh yeah, I'll be there too. Just so everyone knows I actually exist.

Join us tonight at 7:00pm CST for a new episode of Defending Big D live, your only source for live Stars talk on the internet. Tonight you'll have  Art Middleton, Brad Gardner, Pat Iversen, and perhaps more...?

We'll talk about hits to the head, the defensive woes of the Stars, the results of the three game road trip. What we expect going forward, and Mike Modano's refusal to waive his no trade clause.

Phone calls are always welcome, and you can reach the show at (347) 857-1323.

That chat room will be open here closer to show time.

The show page is here at Blog Talk Radio. We look forward to seeing you in the chat room. If you miss the show you can download it later, or subscribe to us on iTunes. 

More photos » Tony Gutierrez - AP

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Sunday afternoons are for football. Even though football lasts only 5 months of the year, it's still seems to me that the other 7 months are the ones that are unusual. Things are out of place.

Anyway, in the absence of our beloved NFL, watching the Red Wings beat the Blackhawks, I spent my Sunday afternoon thinking about Mr. Daley. Trevor Daley is a favorite whipping boy of some around these parts. Unfairly, perhaps. Criticisms aimed at his defensive play are perfectly debatable. His lack of offense this year has been well documented by this blog and many others. That criticism might be well earned. I don't think that's unfair to say.

But something we all poke fun of on a regular basis might not be as true as I thought: The "own goals."

So here's a bit of a weekend time waster for you:

Because I love you, I spent Sunday afternoon watching all 203 goals against the Dallas Stars this year on NHL.com's very fine video archives. After I took a couple of showers to wash the shame and loathing off me, I tallied up the Trevor Daley own goals I saw...

Follow the jump for the surprising results, and watch them in their (face-palm) glory...

Continue reading this post »

This isn't a farewell.

I'm not moving anywhere. I'm not taking off on trek around the world where you won't hear from me ever again. I'm still going to be around, bugging everyone here on Twitter and Facebook and doing anything else I can to cause havoc. I'll be here everyday, commenting and laying down the law as best I can. I think of everyone here as a dear friend, and there's no way I could just up and walk away forever.

But this is a goodbye of sorts.

Starting this morning, I will no longer be contributing to Defending Big D. ProHockeyTalk launched this morning, and I'm most likely already hard at work getting ready for the re-start of NHL action and the trade deadline. It's going to be a big change for me personally, for a number of reasons, but most of all it's going to be a big change because for the first time in a long time I am flying solo, completely alone. Despite being part of the NBC Sports umbrella, never before I have felt so isolated as a blogger.

When I launched Defending Big D last January, my plan was to build this site, nurture it and let it grow for as many years as I possibly could. I started from scratch with just a few faithful readers catching on from day one but for the most part, it was slow going.

Yet with the help of Brandon, Art and Brad, we started to build. We really started to take off when Brad joined the team, and the past couple of months have been a thing of magic. Every single day I'm amazed not only at the amount of readers that Defending Big D had gained, but also at how many of you were avid members of the community we had built.

This is why me leaving DBD will ultimately not change much around here, because it is all of you that make this website so great. Every single one of our great readers treat DBD as their own internet home, supporting us in any and every way you can. You read us every day, you comment on every post and more importantly everyone here thinks of each other as friends. This is something special that we've built here, and my leaving will do nothing to change that.

I have every faith that Brad will continue the quest that I started. I know of no other Stars fan as dedicated as he is, and he is one hell of a writer. This is his show now, and I fully expect for him to take this site to bigger and better places, more so than ever before.

So this is not a complete and total farewell, but there's no doubt things will change. Brad has his own voice, and my only wish is that everyone support him in the absolutely incredible way you supported me. I will still be here, every single day, reading every single post and comment and you better believe I'll be in the game threads.

And I will still be at the Watching Party. You better believe it.

Also, please take some time throughout your busy day to read my new blog: ProHockeyTalk. It's completely different than anything I ever did here at Defending Big D, but I'm hoping you guys enjoy it.

We're on the air tonight, talking Alex Auld, the Olympics, Marty Turco and the trade deadline. We go LIVE at 7 pm CST.

Chat room is here.

Listen to the show here.

As always, we'll be taking phone calls and comments. Looking forward to seeing everyone there.

As promised, Defending Big D LIVE returns tonight. For real this time. The entire gang should be back (hopefully including Art) as we break down and discuss the Olympics and a big USA win yesterday against Switzerland. More importantly, we'll start looking forward to the Dallas Stars return to the ice next week and their chances at continuing their push for a playoff spot. We'll discuss the latest Alex Auld news, and what this means for Marty Turco.

You can find the show page here. As always, we'll have a link to the show and the chat room up this evening as well.

Be prepared. Next week, we'll have not one but TWO live podcasts. We'll have a very special pre-game show before the Stars take on the Kings at home, followed the next night by a 90-minute edition as we discuss any and all action from the trade deadline.

First of all, I'd like apologize for the lack of posts lately. We've been using the Olympic break ourselves to recharge and take some time away from the non-stop writing and blogging, as we gear up for a hopeful playoff run. This next week will be significantly busier, however, as we start looking ahead to the trade deadline and breaking down who might stay and might go.

We'll also have news on our meetup and watching party on March 23rd, which is going to be held at Frankie's in Lewisville.

As for today, I'll be hard at work covering Olympic hockey today for SBNation.com. In case you hadn't heard, there are three HUGE games today in Men's hockey starting at 2:00 p.m. CST.

2:00 p.m.-4:30 p.m. - Czech Republic vs. Russia - A resurgent Jaromir Jagr leads his medal hopeful team against Alex Ovechkin and the Russians. Should be an epic battle.

6:40 p.m.- 9:00 p.m. - USA vs. Canada - Can the young American team pull of the gigantic upset against Canada? The good news is that a loss isn't completely devastating, as they are already a point ahead of Canada thanks to their two regulation wins.

11:00 p.m.-1:30 a.m. - Finland vs. Sweden - Jere Lehtinen takes on Loui Eriksson as Sweden and Finland fight for the top spot in Group C. Both teams have two wins, and Finland has allowed just one goal total in two games.

We'll have links to our SB Nation game threads here shortly.