In 2020, when resilience is a championship trait, Dallas Stars are true America’s Team
Dallas Stars fans have long accepted that around here, hockey is a distant fourth among the professional sports in popularity – and well behind major college football, too.
But if there was ever a year when that might change, it should be 2020. This Stars team’s best quality is one that we can all appreciate right now: resilience.
Way back in October, the eventual Western Conference champions began the season by losing eight of their first nine games. It’s roughly the equivalent of the Cowboys starting 0-2, and devoted fans know that dreaded statistic about how few teams make the playoffs after such a start.
Over the course of the next month, the Stars played well enough that they were among the best teams in hockey, even if the early hole they dug obscured it. Just as they peaked in early December, their second-year head coach, Jim Montgomery, was abruptly fired for an unspecified lapse of professionalism. (He later revealed that he had sought treatment for alcoholism.)
Given the vastly more consequential things that have happened since, it’s forgotten how odd the situation was. Rumors were rampant, and the players themselves seemed not to know what exactly had happened. All they could do was suit up and go to work for their fourth head coach in fewer than four seasons.
Just a few weeks later, they were again the center of the hockey universe. “The Stars hosted the league’s annual New Year’s Day outdoor extravaganza, the Winter Classic, at the Cotton Bowl and recorded an exciting comeback win before more than 85,000 fans.
But that was the peak. When the season stopped in March as the pandemic took hold, the Stars had lost six straight games.
Hockey, like all sports, needed months to figure out whether and how it could continue. The National Hockey League settled on a tournament in bubbles in two Canadian cities starting in late July, and while the Stars qualified, no one expected much of them.
Besides: Would it work? Could the players and coaches really stay healthy? Was it worth the risk and the time away from family? The teams faced public versions of the decisions each of us has had to make as we learn to live with the coronavirus.
The Stars started slowly, but when the playoffs truly began, they did what we all have tried for months to do: They figured out what works and made the best of it. Sometimes, that was relying on their top-notch defense and slugging out a low-scoring game.
But when they needed goals in bunches to win the first-round matchup against Calgary and the second-round series against Colorado, the Stars figured out a way to score like they hadn’t all year.
Oh, and their top goalie has been out for almost the entire postseason with an injury, but the Stars have been saved by backup Anton Khudobin’s unexpected dominance. Captain Jamie Benn has taken his play to a much higher level. But mostly, they’ve had role players step up, often an unexpected hero in each win.
For months, so many of us have struggled with illness, job loss, depression and so much fear of the unknown. We welcomed sports back as a respite, a diversion, but also a coolness that comes with renewed perspective about where they rank among the real concerns of life.
Where we once worshiped athletes – and we still love and idolize them – we know now that doctors, nurses and neighbors who step up to help one another are the real heroes. But as the weeks run together with so much of regular life still off-limits, resilience, perseverance and adaptability are our most important character traits.
These Stars have been a welcome distraction, but they’ve also been an example of what it takes to triumph in trying circumstances. No matter what happens in the Stanley Cup Finals, they are champions.
This year, with no disrespect meant to the local team that usually bears the nickname, the Dallas Stars are America’s Team.
This story was originally published September 15, 2020 at 11:16 AM.
