Thanks to Jenn for capturing 4+ minutes of the Benn/Seguin bit on Sundance Square. Can’t get enough of this.
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Real Stars hockey was played yesterday. Jason Spezza scored on Kari Lehtonen, and referees even approved of it. Today will see more of the same, as Dallas fans continue to gobble down optimism cereal as quickly as the team can dish it out. Day one certainly showed that there’s a lot of it to go around, too.
We’ll continue to update you on everything going on this weekend, so stay here until you start getting sick of hockey. That’s how you know you’re ready.
Mike Heika is also all over training camp like germs on a Best Buy demo Xbox controller, and he opined on a lot of the goings on right here. As always, the Stars’ veteran beat reporter has some interesting observations on the team. Read the whole thing, but here’s a note that I appreciated from the mouth of Jim Nill:
“We were all excited making the playoffs, we were all pleased with our progress. But knowing how far we came, we still didn’t win. So you go back and you ask yourself, ‘How much more do I need to do so we can win?’”
“It hurts, and it should hurt,” he added. “Because that’s what’s going to push you forward.”
Every time I start to think I’ve gotten my Jim Nill admiration under control, he busts out another quote like that (in response to Heika’s pointed question, it must be said). It should indeed hurt. When I don’t run for a while because it’s a billion degrees outside, I start to get disappointed with how I look and feel. That’s good for me, as much as I don’t enjoy it. When I lose a footrace for the front seat of a friend’s car because my muscles are AWOL, it’s right that I should. The Stars felt (and many fans still feel) hard done by after the Anaheim series, and that needs to be a precursor to their improvement this season. Disappointment is both the child of experience and the seed of wisdom. I thought of that quote right now all by myself.
Delight in training camp, grimace at Val’s groin, and revel in the return of hockey and hockey buzz. Optimism is not sin in its proper time, so long as you take a dose of objective reality every now and then. Why not bask in both of them this weekend?
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Saturday Links?! Prepare for a barrage of unfiltered weekend URLs.
Mark Stepneski has his comprehensive report on day one. [Stars]
The Dallas Stars are “Young,” says a wire service; young, but they are also confident. [Fox]
Heika also has his updates and quotes from Day One. [DMN]
There’s also this new Normandy Homes Star of the Game award thing. I’ve seen a few other teams doing this lately, where players’ 3-stars appearances are counted up throughout the year. It’s for charity, so Brian Hayward can feel five times worse when he screws them up the one night Dallas plays in Anaheim. [Stars]
Twelve questions about the Stars are answered in red text for some unimaginable reason. [THW]
While the Stars are selling thousands more season tickets than last year, Colorado still has one Pike of a Peak to climb from their ticket sales nadir. What a terrible sentence that was. Anyway, Colorado is benefiting from the revenue sharing rules because of how low their ticket revenue was last year. Not sure how much more exciting they can make it for you, folks. [Denver Post]
Drew Doughty missed day one of training camp due to an upper body injury. Oh great, we’re being vague already? [NHL]
Ryan Johansen may be foolish and arrogant, but he is not greedy, per se, says Ryan Lambert. [Puck Daddy]
Claude Giroux will miss training camp because he is injured. Join the club, Claude. Well, I mean, not on the ice, I didn’t mean the hockey club. No, stop you’ll get hurt worse oh no look out, it’s Grossman! Okay, I’m done. [Broad Street Hockey]
The Penguins unveiled their new old third jerseys this morning. They’re a little more black than yellow, which disappointed some people, but anything is better than that iron pyrite shade they’ve been sporting lately. [Icethetics]
Here are some players (no Stars here) to watch during training camps, like David Clarkson and Joe Thornton and stuff. I don’t like watching Joe Thornton for a lot of reasons, but I can sort of see how someone might want to. [CBS Sports]
South Korea will be given a berth in ice hockey for the 2018 Winter Olympics. You may recall that there was some trepidation on the part of South Korean hockey officials because the program was not projected to be competitive enough, but a $20 million plan for improvement and development seems to have bought swayed the feelings of Olympic officials. What a novel idea, money changing the way Olympic people in power think. [NY Times]
Finally, here’s Ralphie (as Benn now calls him) and Nemeth. I love everything.