Comments / New

Dallas Stars Daily Links: Ken Hitchcock’s Startling Stanley Cup Memories

Posted on by Kathleen Tibbetts

Of all the memories of the Dallas Stars’ 1999 Stanley Cup victory, you wouldn’t think Ken Hitchcock would dwell on one where he had to contemplate losing.

Tim Cowlishaw talked with Hitch about Game 6, and his injury-riddled roster, and GM Bob Gainey’s second-overtime calls to backup players to get them ready for the possibility that they’d need to be ready for Game 7 (no pressure):

“Bob came down to call some of our ‘Black Aces.’ We had players that we scratched and some were with us but some we had already sent home. And he was calling the ones that had been sent home and telling them to fly to Dallas for Game 7. I remember feeling like if we didn’t win Game 6, we weren’t going to be able to field a National Hockey League team for Game 7.”

Tim has more, so read the whole story. [SportsDayDFW]

More Stars

Mattias Janmark continues to be a  force at the IIHF World Championships. He picked up an assist on the game-winner as Sweden thrashed Russia 7-0 and finished the preliminaries with a perfect record.

Have a question for Sean Shapiro? You may still have time to drop one in his mailbag. He’ll answer on Thursday at The Athletic DFW.

Meanwhile, The Hangar has a question for you: What kind of new Stars hats would you consider buying?

Around the League(s): Conference Calls Edition

The Tampa Bay Lightning (and their best players) finally roared to life in Eastern Conference Game 3. Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman and Nikita Kucherov all racked up points as the Bolts beat the Washington Capitals 4-2.

Andre Vasilevskiy found his inner hero with 36 saves, including this one:

Stop the presses, because Jaromir Jagr has just signed to play his 30th season of professional hockey – with the team he owns.

New Jersey led the charge for legal betting on every sport, in every state. Now that the Supreme Court has given them the win in Murphy vs. NCAA, the state’s online and offline sportsbooks “will be live and active on day one.”

Some habits of mind just don’t travel well. Todd Wilson, president of the Canadian Junior Football League’s Winnipeg Rifles, is in hot water after going full Facebook at P.K. Subban’s expense.

It’s official: The NWHL has announced the purchase of the Minnesota Whitecaps, who will effectively become the U.S. women’s professional league’s first expansion team.

As with other NWHL teams, the Whitecaps  have a “sibling” NHL organization, the Minnesota Wild – who provided this write-up of the event.

But you wouldn’t think women’s hockey would have anything to do with network upfront season. You would, of course, be wrong (by which I mean I would be, pretty much).

And as the MC Memorial Cup-bound (and Julius Honka alma mater) Swift Current Broncos celebrate their 2018 WHL championship, Kirklan Lycar discovers a haunting bit of history.

Greetings From Scenic Cedar Park

The 2018 Calder Cup Western Conference Finals draw ever closer, and the Texas Stars will open them at home. Head coach Derek Laxdal spoke with the media yesterday about what fans can expect on Friday.

Finally

’Nuff said.

Talking Points