Stars–Avalanche

Lore & Background

The Stars franchise originated as the Minnesota North Stars in 1967. They relocated to Dallas for the 1993–94 season. The Stars have won nine division titles in Dallas, two Presidents' Trophies, three Western Conference championships, and the Stanley Cup in 1999. The 2000 Western Conference Semifinal between the Stars and Avalanche was a 7-game series won by the Avalanche 4-3.

In Their Own Story

The Amalie Center is empty, the ice freshly resurfaced, and the only sound is the soft scrape of a Zamboni blade. But the ghosts are loud. You can almost hear the 1999 crowd in Dallas, the roar that shook the rafters when the Stars stole the Cup from under everyone's nose. You can almost feel the 2000 silence in Denver when the Avalanche sent the champions packing, Sakic's stick tapping the ice in quiet confirmation. A lone puck sits center ice, black against the white. Two jerseys hang in the rafters—one blue, one silver-blue—swinging gently in the draft from the ventilation system. The scoreboard reads 0-0, the way it always does before the first faceoff. The rivalry doesn't need a scoreboard. It's written in the scars on both cities' fanbases, in the text messages that go off every time the Central Division standings update, in the way a Stars fan in Fort Worth and an Avalanche fan in Boulder will look at each other across a bar and say nothing, because everything is already said. The puck drops. It always does.

Reader's Guide

The Stars play at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, which they share with the Dallas Mavericks. Key historical players include Mike Modano (highest-scoring player in franchise history), Joe Nieuwendyk (Conn Smythe Trophy winner in 1999), Brett Hull, Ed Belfour, and Neal Broten.

Did You Know?

• The Stars were originally the Minnesota North Stars, founded in 1967.
• The Stars won the Stanley Cup in 1999.
• The 2000 Western Conference Semifinal against the Avalanche went to 7 games, with Colorado winning 4-3.
• Mike Modano is the highest-scoring player in franchise history.