So I tuned in late to the game last night, but I was fine with that. I came in at a good time. The Stars were up 2-0, Trevor Daley and Sergei Gonchar were both back in the lineup, and everything was summed up by this:
“It was all grape sodas and skittles in the first period for the Stars, Razor…”–Dallas announcing team BEST announcing team. I COVET.
— Schatzi Page (@schatzipage) January 7, 2014
Unfortunately, and maybe some of you also experienced this, but rather early in my viewing of the broadcast the feed for the Stars game was lost:
404 Error: Dallas Stars Not Found. The team your are trying to watch is unavailable right now. Please try again later.
— Graham Jenkins (@JenkinsSports) January 7, 2014
I did try again later, but couldn’t ever find the original game. The team that, by the second-hand accounts I heard, played so well in the first was nowhere to be found as the game progressed. Replacement level players however were in place:
#Stars vs #Islanders trivia: True or False – This is a picture of the Stars defense. pic.twitter.com/lYaXAvSwE0
— Travis Currie (@travcurrie) January 7, 2014
The defensive stand-ins though couldn’t control the Islanders, who began to dominate the contest. Especially a little-known Canadian player named John Tavares…
I actually believe there are still some people who don’t know how great Tavares is. Like maybe the Dallas Stars 3 hours ago.
— Chris Botta (@ChrisBottaNHL) January 7, 2014
Whatever. Jamie Benn’s still better.
Anyway, I had every intention of writing up a brief analysis of the game I almost watched ’til the end, but before I started it last night I found it had already been done. And more succinctly than mine would have been too:
@daveyssuitcase @JenkinsSports my in depth analysis on tonight’s game pic.twitter.com/Ni0CPai6iJ
— David Vidler (@DaveVidler) January 7, 2014
Sigh…
But at the end of the day it’s just a game, right? And in times like these, let’s try not to forget that a little perspective goes a long way:
And we always have the @StarsIceGirls ☺️ pic.twitter.com/Q051AUMnVF
— Melissa Lauren (@MelissaLaurenTX) January 7, 2014
* * *
I have no recaps for you today. The game last night never happened. Nobody is writing about the Stars-Islanders, except these guys. [Sports Day DFW] [NHL.com] [USA Today]
This is our last chance to have the discussion of ‘Will Jamie Benn be on Team Canada?’ After today we’ll know! [Puck Daddy]
Everything’s better [redacted]. Weekly Conference III report from Obscene Alex. [III Communication]
For any masochists out there, the Tomas Tatar goal from the Stars-Red Wings game made BuzzFeed.
You know how the Minnesota Wild have been struggling recently? Well now leading scorer Mikko Koivu is out for a month. I feel bad that I feel good about this. [Hockey Wilderness]
Down Goes Brown talks a little bit more about the Wild, and some other teams that also happen to play hockey. [Grantland]
The Czech Republic announced their team for the Sochi Olympics yesterday. No surprises therein, unless you count the inclusion of a 42-year old ex-NHLer in favor of Jiri Hudler as a surprise. Or the exclusion of Radim Vrbata. Or Tomas Fleischmann. Or, I don’t know, you tell me what they were thinking! [ProHockeyTalk]
I have an unhealthy dislike of basketball. Primarily because it distracts from the hockey season, but also because I hate it. I still hate it, but that ‘distracting from the hockey season’ thing might be slowly changing. Hey ESPN! Pay attention! [CSN Chicago]
And lastly, if the Stars ever win a game again, this should happen. [Puck Daddy]