Is it the Dallas Stars in the Stanley Cup final? No. Is it the Stars in the NHL playoffs? Of course not.
But it is championship hockey action involving the Dallas Stars’ highest affiliate and some of the players you see on TV hear on the radio/internet broadcast tonight playing for Texas will someday be future Dallas Stars. Make no mistake, the Calder Cup is a big deal and not just some rinky dink consolation prize for hockey’s also-rans. The Calder Cup playoffs are just as grueling and just as long as it’s Stanley Cup counterpart and experienced gained here goes a long way to speeding up the development of these player’s careers.
So thus we have tonight – and for every night of the final – a game day thread so Stars fans (both of the Dallas and Texas variety) can come together and share the excitement of hockey’s 2nd biggest professional championship.
And of course we can revel in the awesomeness that is Jamie Benn.
There is no TV coverage sadly (Really NHL Network?! You couldn’t free up the time? You just had to show that playoff series between St. Louis and San Jose from 2000 instead?) but if you do go to the AHL Live webpage you can follow along with the free radio feed – play by play provided to you by the one and only Josh Fisher who has been awesome to listen to the entire playoffs – or if you’re feeling rich you can fork out the 13 bucks or so per game and watch the action live on that little screen they provide…
Game on!