Dallas Trip 2006 - Pilgramage to The Stars...Part II

[magikalrhiannon]

A 13 year dream comes true

Friday March 24, 2006

So last night at the game, Ralph Strangis said to find him at practice and he’d see if he could set us up to see Mike Modano. I was looking around for Ralph most of the morning but we couldn’t see him. Practice started and we went in to watch it. We got some great photos, taken by Sam, and Amber and I went to the end of the rink to watch the guys practice.

After a while, and talking to a few people around the edge of the rink, I saw Ralph come out of the Stars locker room and I waved at him. He nodded and walked over, calling out “Hey, it’s the Aussies!” and pronouncing the S like an S… I grinned and said, “Auzzie mate, Auzzie.” And he laughed and said, “Nah, I like it as Aussie.” I replied, “Okay, but only you’re allowed to say it that way!”

He told me he’d been trying to hook us up with Mike, but he wasn’t sure if they’d be able to do it because Mike had a commercial to shoot today and he was a little cranky about a few things Ralph asked him to sign for something - I think a celebrity Auction. Anyway Ralph called Rob, the Senior Director Hockey Communications for the Dallas Stars, over. We said to Ralph, “He’d be called ‘Bluey’ back home because he has red hair!” so now Rob has been christened ‘Bluey’. Anyway Rob was great to us. He said it wouldn’t be a problem to hook us up with Mike and he’d be fine about it all. We chatted away and then he said he’d come and get us when they were ready to film the commercial and we could meet Mike afterwards.

It didn’t take too long before Rob called us over and we followed him down a corridor through the stands in the rink area. Sam forgot the camera so he ran back and got it. While he was gone, Mike - flanked by some other guys from the production company - walked right past me. I couldnt’ stop smiling - or shaking. Anyway Sam came back and we waited with Rob in the hallway - chatting about how we became hockey fans and everything. I think Rob could see I was shaking because he said, “Now you know he’s a regular guy, right? He puts his pants on the same way as everyone else - one leg at a time.”

I grinned and said, “I know! I’m fine.” And I was. I was shaking because I was partly cold. Have I mentioned it’s FREEZING in Dallas right now? Anyway Mike was done pretty quick with the commercial - he must have got it right the first or second time, and I think it meant he was done for the day so when he came out, he seemed pretty happy.

Anyway Rob said, “Mike, this is Wendy and Sam. They’re the two Australian fans who have come to see the Stars.” And Mike shook my hand with a grin and said it was nice to meet us, and then said, “Really? All the way from Australia?” And I nodded and said “Yeah.” We went on to explain we don’t get the games on tv over there, we get them mailed to us on DVD and that we listen to Ralph and Razor on WBAP and NHL radio, and I said, “And you guys play when I’m at work, so I call Sam on my lunch break and he puts the phone by the speaker so I can listen to the call of the game!”

Mike was a little surprised by that but he laughed too. I liked making him laugh. He seemed to be enthralled talking to us, which was great. Rob said “She’s been a fan for 13 years.”
Mike asked, “Really? How’d you get into the Stars?”
I blushed and said, “Uh, actually it was all because of you.”
He, of course, was like, “Uh, what?”

And Rob said, “She saw The Mighty Ducks.” Mike…god bless him, he blushed so bad and looked at the ground and shook his head with a grin, saying “Oh no!” I laughed and grabbed his arm lightly. He looked down at me - because he towers over me (I’m 5″6, he’s 6″3 in bare feet!).
I said, “No, it wasn’t like that!” And Sam went on to explain that I saw him playing first, not the talking part.

I clarified and said, “Wait… the thing was… the first part I saw was the NHL part where you were flying up the ice, with your jersey billowing in the wind scorin’ that goal and I was like, ‘… Wow, who’s that? #9? That’s it I’m gone.’ And since 9 is my number… I’ve been hooked ever since. I had to rewind it to see the rest of it!”

He nodded and said, “Oh, that’s so nice.” He asked how long we were here for and I said until April 1st and he asked where we were staying and I said studio 6 on I35 and Northwest Hwy. He nodded and then I said, “Yeah, we know it’s the “cultural part” of Dallas!” and he laughed so I think he knows the area is full of strip joints! Yes, we picked the prime part of Dallas to stay!

Anyway he happily signed my jersey that I was wearing, and then I asked him to sign my Jokinen jersey that I’m getting the whole team to sign. I fumbled with the pen because I got him to sign in silver on the 6 and said “Sorry, I’m being a pain in the butt.” He was so sweet, and said, “No, no, it’s okay!”

After he signed it, I said, “We actually have something for you.”
He looked really surprised and said “Really? Oh okay.”
I dug around in the bag and got out his silver keyring and as I gave it to him, I said, “Everyone has to have an Australian keyring.” He grinned, I think he liked it a lot because Sam took a photo of Mike looking at the keyring with a wonderful smile on his face. He said thank you, which was nice and then I said, “And we also have this… this is… in Australia, our city has had a hockey team in the national league since last year. SO… we got you one of their jerseys!”

I handed it to him, and he looked at it and his grin was so big. I think he really liked it, but it could have just been Mike being polite. I added, “And it’s got your name and number on the back.”

He turned it around and he was like “Oh wow! This is so great! Thank you so much!” We said he was welcome, and he posed for a photo with me holding up his jersey. He put his arm around my shoulders, and I put my arm around his waist - he’s so small width wise - I mean, he’s tall, and he’s solid, but wow, he’s tiny. He was very, very sweet to us and seriously he was just so much more than I ever expected. He’s a wonderful man, and though I doubt he’ll ever see this site, I just want to say thank you Mike for being a gentleman, a good sport and a wonderful role model. I didn’t get to say all that I wanted to, but that’s okay. I was able to spend a few minutes with you and I know how busy you are, so to generously give a few minutes of your time to someone who has travelled such a long way to see you play just meant the world to me.

I said to him, “Good assist last night by the way,” and he smiled and said, “Well, thank you very much.” I added, “It was a shame you guys didn’t win on Monday night,” and he was like, “Um, yeah, well uh… you know,” and I continued on, “But you know what? It was still the best game of hockey we’ve ever seen!” He laughed. I also said thank you for beating the Kings (he laughed), and that we were in the air flying from LA to Dallas at the time of when they were playing, and Sam told him I was cheering them on in the plane, which of course made me blush but Mike laughed and said something but I can’t remember what it was.

Mike also said that he hoped we had a great trip and that he might see us again and we said thanks and he left. I’ve been on cloud nine ever since. Rob didn’t have any business cards on him at the time after Mike left so he said to wait and he’d run and get one since we gave him one of our on the cheap ones that we made this morning - got some business cards and a rubber stamp that you can change the words on - worked out pretty well. When Rob came back, he said that Mike really enjoyed talking to us. I was a little skeptical but he said that Mike loved the jersey, that when he was walking back to the locker room, he was holding it up and saying, “Wow, this is amazing! This is great!” So I’m really glad he liked it. It was something I wanted to give him, just for no other reason than the Stars have hosted us, and it’s Australian custom to give your hosts a gift of some sort to say thank you.



Mike and I

I have a wonderful memory of my sporting hero that I will always treasure for the rest of my life - and to everyone on hockeypulse… watch out. I’m a bigger Modano homer than I was before now that I’ve met him!

~ Wendy

Stars 3 Def Blackhawks 2 in Shootout

Sunday March 26, 2006

Thursday night we went to watch Jesse play at Duncanville Dr Pepper StarCentre, and got an awesome what the photo - it’s definitely a visual. Afterwards, the three of us went to Whataburger and then back to Jesse’s place to pick up the ticket for the Hawks game to give to Amber since he wasn’t going. We stayed until about 2am in the end. His Mum is just lovely - I like her a lot. She was welcoming and sweet and very entertaining and interested in us. I borrowed Jesse’s computer to update the blog a little and then we went home.

Friday morning I was still buzzing about meeting Mike. Of course. Amber, Sam and I went to Grapevine Mills shopping mall to check out the largest mall in Texas. Oh … my …. GOD it’s MASSIVE. Not only is it huge, but it has attached to it, the Grapevine Mills Dr Pepper StarCentre! We had lunch in the Rainforrest Cafe which was just beautiful - they flashed the lights and had lightning sound effects and it was like eating in the jungle. The food was great too. I really enjoyed it. Sam bought me a stuffed Elephant… which I have christened Mikey Mo - since Mike loves Elephants too. Amber and I got our nails refilled, since they’d grown heaps and looked messy. Leni rang to see if we wanted to meet for lunch, but we tried to call her back and she didn’t answer.

We dropped Amber back at the hotel then headed up to Addison to Dunn Bros Coffee to supposedly meet Leni but she never showed up. We stayed there for an hour or so and updated our stuff before heading back to the hotel to get ready for the game. We left to pick up Rhonda at 5.10pm and made it to her place by 6.05pm. We drove in to the AAC and parked under a bridge for $5, and then headed up to the AAC to meet up with Julie and Jeff from the forum.

Inside we went to see Ralph and thanked him for introducing us to Rob and setting up the one-on-one with Mike. He asked if he was okay, and I replied that he was so sweet to us and I loved him. Ralph asked if I was okay a couple of times, with a grin, to which I replied “Of course!” We thanked him again and then he signed a couple of autographs for us (We gave him a stuffed Kangaroo for his daughter at practice on Thursday), and then wished him a good call and left to watch warm ups. The boys looked really good on the ice. I got some fantastic shots of Mike, and one of Brenden for Jesse since he couldn’t be there.

Amber was surprised by the sound of the pucks hitting the glass but seemed to enjoy it. After the warm up, Amber and Rhonda headed up to the nosebleed section, while Sam and I found our way to 112. The view was pretty good, we were 10 rows back and pretty centre to the action. We were on the offensive end, which meant our boys were shooting into the net in front of us for two of the three 20 minute periods. After the national anthem was sung the old guy sitting in front of us turned around and said to us, “Now y’all keep it down now.” I felt like saying to him, “Listen! I’ve flown 11000 miles for this game and I paid damn good money for this ticket, I’ll be as loud as I like thank you! If you want to be dainty and quiet, watch it from the comfort of your own home! Hockey games are supposed to be loud and proud, mate!”

But I didn’t.

I just didn’t cheer throughout the game and felt that my experience was lacking a little. It was a shame. The first ended in 0-0 scoreline, and Jere seemed a little off. He was missing passes which wasn’t usual for Jere. By the time the second ended, we were 1-0 with Sergei Zubov scoring 2.02 into the second, assisted by Mike Modano and Jussi Jokinen. In the intermission between the second and third periods, I looked around and saw Rob at the top of our section. He waved at us to come up so I went up the stairs to see what he wanted.

He said, “No, I need Sam too!” So I turned and waved at Sam to come upstairs too. He grabbed our bags and ran up the stairs. Rob handed us a bag of goodies, which surprised and humbled us - of course we thanked him for it and he waved it off saying it was nothing. He said to follow him and so we did. When we got to the main hallway, I heard someone say, “Wendy?” I turned and nodded. “Hi, I’m Kelly!” It was my friend Kelly from the Stars forums! We hugged and exchanged gifts and then I said I had to go but I would meet up with her at the end of the game outside the Old No 7 Bar. I apologised to Rob and he said, “Oh no, it’s okay! We have all the time in the world.” Then he asked if that was a forum friend, which I said yes and then he asked my screen name and we chatted about the forums for a few moments as we walked towards the exit to the inside of the arena.

Rob led us down to the bowels of the AAC, where we met up with his colleague Mark - who of course remembered us and said “Aussie’s!” right!! I congratulated him and he joked that he had to get it right after I lectured him about it! I blushed and apologised and he said it was okay, he was only joking. Mark then disappeared down another corridore, but we stayed with Rob… who led us out onto the Stars Bench!

I asked, “Can I ride the pine?” with a grin and he said “Sure!” So I sat down on the bench! Oh man… it was cold and a little wet but wow… it was AWESOME! All the crowd staring down at you and the ice just there in front of you… Sam took a photo of me on the bench. I stood up and Rob smiled and said, “You know, that’s where Mo sits. We’re going this way, so that’s the lead seat. He sits right there.”

So I backed up and sat back down again with a grin and said, “I think I’ll just sit here again for a while!”

Rob then led us back to outside the locker rooms and we waited for the guys to come out after the break. To remain the respectful fans we have been, we refrained from photographing them as they left the locker room. We didn’t want to distract them from their “zone”. Moose was the first one out, since he was in net. It was amazing watching them walk out in front of us. Some were smaller than you though - like Stu Barnes for example - and then there’s Jason Arnott (or Tim Tam as we like to call him - though his regular nickname is Arnie) who at 6’4″ isn’t someone you’d want to meet in a dark alley when he’s in his gear! Arnie, Mo and Zubie were the last three out in that order, and Rob said they’re always the last three out in that order too. Then the coaches came out and Rob led us in.

We toured the Stars locker room at the AAC while the guys were playing the third period. There’s a huge plaque on the wall listing all the players who played at least 5 games at Reunion Arena on the wall which was really neat - we got a photo of that. And then we went into the locker room where the guys had just been. I went straight for Mike’s locker. We were allowed to sit down on them and have our photos taken, so we did that, and then Rob took one of both of us on Mike’s locker. Sam got shots of the room from all angles. Then we went past their shower rooms - which are really, REALLY nice - they get their own stalls, and their own mini wardrobe where their clothes hang up and their toiletries were all spread over the vanities - it was amazing. No, I didn’t go in. I was in awe just walking past. We saw the hydro pools, and the trainers rooms, the med room, the players lounge and shown where the weight room was. It was pretty impressive.

After that Rob led us back upstairs and said that he would catch up with us on Tuesday at practice and give us a tour of the Frisco locker room which is apparently more luxurious. We walked past the Hawks locker room and Rob confirmed that yes, they aren’t as nice as the Stars’ locker room. In the elevator going back upstairs, they had a monitor installed so you could watch the game! In the 6 mins of the third that we were touring the locker room, the Hawks had scored.

We got back to our seats and about 30 seconds later, Philippe Boucher scored (at 6.40 in the third), assisted by Brenden Morrow and Antti Miettinen, to put us back in the lead, 2-1! It stayed that way, until 19.59 - 4 one hundreths of a second before the full time buzzer.. the ‘Hawks scored! We couldn’t believe it! We were going to Overtime againt the Blackhawks! Overtime came and went, and it was still 2-2 at the end of the 4-on-4 OT. I turned while we were waiting for the Shootout to start and saw Ian Suber, the guy who sold us our tickets. We’d met him on Tuesday. He saw me wave and then made his way down to us. He sat/stood through the shootout with us. I screamed for every save that Moose made, and for every shooter we had. Zubie was up first and he scored. Jokinen was stoned (means Khabbibulin, the Hawks’ goalie, made the save), Modano was stoned, Miettinen, Lehtinen, Kapanen, and Arnott were all stoned too… and then out came Brenden Morrow - who normally couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn on a breakaway - and he scored! Stars won 3-2 in the shootout and I was without a voice!

It was the best game - though we were taken to a shootout by the Blackhawks of all teams, but at least it was when we were sitting at the offensive goal end. It was amazing. Afterwards we met up with Kelly and her husband Matt, Clay and Harold, Michelle, Jen, Karen, Dave, Julie, Jeff, and Rhonda and Amber of course. Clay and Harold left early, but the rest of us went to The West End area of downtown to party on. We stayed at Fridays until 2am. It was a great night and we all had a blast. Amber was our designated driver and got us home safely.

Apparently someone stole the $5 parking money out of the parking box, because we got fined for not paying the parking price. And some buggar dinged our rental car and didn’t leave any information at all! That was really annoying - luckily we’re covered by insurance. Still… we had a blast. We took Rhonda home and then Sam, Amber and I went back to our hotel. It was a fantastic night!

Stars Practice & Texas Tornadoes

Sunday March 26, 2006

Today when we got to the Frisco Dr Pepper StarCentre, the boys were already starting to come out on the ice. Since I have caught Ralph’s flu - thanks by the way Ralph, I really appreciate you being that caring and sharing! - I feel pretty bad right now. I’m taking NyQil and DayQil and Sudafed and nothing seems to stop my nose. Anyway so we were running a little late and got to the rink at 11.45am. The boys weren’t supposed to be on the ice until 12 but I guess they wanted to get going early today.

We watched them practice and I saw Ralph and Razor on the other side of the rink by the locker room but I didn’t call them over. Firstly because I felt like crap, and secondly I didn’t want to make them sick and then spread it through the team etc. So when practice ended we walked around to the Tornadoes office to see if we could pick up our tickets that Kelly got us for the Texas Tornadoes Vs Santa Fe Roadrunners game tonight, but she still had the tickets.

Driving back to the hotel, we stopped in at Target and we bought me two new handbags because mine broke, and some makeup, some food and then headed back to the hotel. On the way, we dropped into Wendys to get some lunch and then I called Jesse to see if he still wanted to come over to see us. He did, so he and his friend Mary dropped by. I showed him the photos I took of him playing the other night and he asked for copies so I’ll burn to CD what I haven’t given him so far.

Amber started to get a migraine, and I was so groggy and clogged up with the flu that the three of us ended up napping after Jesse and Mary left. Sam and I got up at 5pm, but Amber couldn’t go to the game because she wasn’t well at all. Sam and I left and got to the rink around 6.30pm. I called Chris to see if he could come but he couldn’t. So it was just Sam and I. We picked up our elusive Tornadoes tickets, then said hello to Ben from the Star Stuff Store who was working tonight, then went inside in search of Kelly - a different Kelly from the one at the ‘Hawks game. We found her manning the merchandise stand for her boyfriend’s band, Child-O-Mine, which is a Gunners cover band. They were actually really good! We had a chat and we met Sparky, her boyfriend, and then went to watch the Tornadoes play.

They were awesome! The atmosphere was different to that at the AAC. The crowd was loud and energetic, and really cheering on the boys. It was the last game of the regular season. They won, 4-1 and it meant that they secured the Divisional Championships for this season. It also means they’ve now won the Divisional Championship for 7 seasons in a row! Now it’s time for the playoffs to the NAHL Cup… whatever it’s called. I don’t know. But it was a great game!

We watched Child-O-Mine play a couple of songs and said hello to Kelly’s Mum and Dad before bidding them all farewell to go to Julie’s house where some people were waiting to see us. While I was waiting for Sam to come out of the bathroom, I heard, “Wendy?” and I turned and came face to face with my friend Mary Helen from Livejournal!! It was so great to catch up with her and we chatted about the trip so far and everything. It was fantastic!

About half an hour later, we finally made it to the parking garage and headed to Julie’s. Once again, we got lost! But found our way there eventually. We hung out with Harold and Clay, Rhonda and Julie, Jeff and met Heather from the Stars Forum. It’s been another awesome, awesome day - even though I feel like crap!

I love Dallas so much. Seriously, it’s a fantastic city.

~ Wendy.

Dallas Stars 3 Defeat Calgary Flames 2

Wednesday March 29, 2006

Still feeling like crap, I missed saying goodbye to Amber. We didn’t get back to the hotel on Sunday morning until 3am. I took a Nyquil and ended up sleeping in until midday! Amber had to drive back to San Antonio, so both she and Sam tried to wake me up for her to say goodbye but I was dead to the world. I felt ultra bad when I got up because I missed her, but we’re heading to San An. on Monday to spend the day with Amber and her family.

We had showers and headed over to Jesse’s place to carpool to the game. On the way, we were driving down the I-35 South and were just before Reunion Tower when the wind, which was really billowing outside, blew a red SUV that was ahead of us and two lanes over into the median strip and it spun out of control. It then rolled about four times, and landed on it’s roof right in our lane! Sam slammed on the breaks and we stopped about 4 metres away from the car. The lady inside managed to climb out and everyone was fine. There were plenty of people there and a couple had called 911, so we drove around and left as we were running late, but it seriously freaked us both out.

We got to Jesse’s and waited for Rhonda but she was running late due to the I30 being shutdown for some reason. By the time we were parked and walking towards the AAC, Rhonda was pulling into the parking lot so we waited for her and the four of us walked up to the AAC together! We got there just after the guys got onto the ice for warmups, so we stayed and watched the last ten minutes, and then Rhonda headed up to the nosebleeds, while Sam and I went to see Cindi and give her her giftbag before bugging Ralph. I told him I had a bone to pick with him, that he gave me his flu! He said it wasn’t his fault and not to blame him! I said I still loved him though. We wished them a good call and headed for our seats. Hungry, we bought some hotdogs (I love hotdogs!), and then headed for our seats.

Section 120, row F, seats 9 and 10. Guess who was in seat 9?! They were great seats actually, and for $110USD each, they should be! But the view was great for the goal end, though you can’t see anything on our side of the rink down the other end - you have to watch it on the Jumbotron. Still I liked them. The first was hard and furious, with two fights - one with Ott (Star) and Ritchie (Flame) and on with Perrott (Star) and Simon (Flame - who gave Mike a huge check in the second and deserved to have his face punched in… buggar!). Only the Flames scored in the first, so at the intermission we were 0-1. Mike got an interference call in the first that was totally bogus and the whole crowd was booing the refs. Seriously the officiating was utter crap in this game.

The second started well with a beautiful shorthanded goal by Niko Kapanen at 1.52 minutes, assisted by Niklas Hagman and Jon Klemm. It really was a special goal. For those not up on their hockey knowledge, a shorthanded goal means that the Stars had a player less than the Flames on the ice, in this instance 4 Stars players to 5 Flames as Mike was in the penalty box for tripping, another totally bogus call! Seriously, the guy dived! At 6.18 into the second, Mike Modano broke the Franchise record for Powerplay goals, and scored his 27th of the season to put the Stars ahead 2-1. His beautiful slapshot was assisted by Antti Miettinen and Sergei Zubov. It was so beautiful. I was jumping up and down and screaming my lungs out (coughing afterwards due to my flu but I didn’t care!). That just made my day! Unfortunately, about 30 seconds later, the Flames evened it up again 2-2. That put a little dampener on my spirits, until 7.15 in the second when Tim Tam - Jason Arnott scored a fantastic, and yet surprising, goal assisted by Stu Barnes and Brenden Morrow.

I didn’t have much of a voice left by the end of the second period. Luckily, no one scored in the third, but there were a few near fights with a number of unsportmanlike calls on both sides. The game finished, 3-2 and was now my favourite game of the ones that we’ve been to. The third period was hard, and physical. It was like a playoff game. The Flames are fighting to keep the lead of the Northwest Division, as they are on 86 pts tied with the Colorado Avalanche, and both Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks are on their tails with 84 pts each. The Flames are playing desperate and passionate hockey, so I was pleased to see the Stars were able to hold them off and take the win in regulation.

Afterwards, we ran up to catch Razor before he disappeared into the afternoon. Ralph was leaving as we got there and he said “I gotta go and do radio!” and we replied, “That’s okay, we’re here to see Razor!” With a grin, we all waved, and Sam and I waited patiently for Razor to finish what he was doing. Then we got him to sign our Ralph & Razor cards, before bidding him a good afternoon and disappearing to meet our friends outside the Old No 7.

We met up with Jesse, Rhonda, Jeff, Julie, Michelle, Jen, Karen, Cindi, Tatjana, Leni, Becky and her friend, and Nathan. We got a group photo out the front, then Julie, Jeff, Jesse, Sam, Rhonda and I went to Hooters for dinner. Yes, I’ve been to Hooters. Apparently they have good wings. We didn’t get the wings. We got their Grilled Chicken Caeser Salad, curly fries and tried the entree of Fried Pickles. It wasn’t the best Salad I’ve had, and the fries were too salty but I liked the Pickles. It was an experience I can now say I’ve had. I might also mention that not only were there a couple of Ice Girls there as well (not working, no), there were also kids running around the place. I can’t believe people take their kids to a restaurant/bar called Hooters. Go figure.

Jesse was playing at Dr Pepper StarCenter at Duncanville, so Rhonda, Sam and I went to meet up with Jose and watch Jesse play. The team he was subbing for was crap. Utter crap. Believe me, our C grade was better than they were. They had no defense. Jess did his best, stopping 35 shots at least, but they lost 5-1. Rhonda and I went into the Star Stuff Store to look around and the guy that worked there saw the autograph on the back of my authentic jersey and asked where I got it. I replied that I had a one-on-one with Mike Modano and he signed it for me. He asked how I got that, if I won it or something - I’m beginning to believe that hardly anyone gets that sort of time with Mike. I said that I had flown from Australia to see the Stars play and they’ve been very good to us so they set us up to have 5 minutes with Mike. The guy said he’d never met Mike but had heard he was a great guy. I said I have nothing but love for that man, and he’s a great guy.

After Jesse’s game, we went back to Jesse’s place and watched hockey. Well… Rhonda, Jess and Sam watched hockey. I fell asleep on Rhonda. Sam dragged me to the car, as we had to drive to San Antonio the next day. All in all… another great day in the wonderful state of Texas!

~ Wendy

San Antonio - the Doorway to the Alamo

Wednesday March 29, 2006

We got up at the ungodly hour of 5am, and were unbelievably on the road to San An by 6am. Filling up with petrol, we then headed on I-35 South all the way to San An. Well… I fell alseep. I was still recovering from my flu… which I’ve now passed on to Sam and apparently Amber I so found out.

We got lost looking for Boerne, Amber’s town. It wouldn’t be us if we didn’t get lost! Anyway Amber drove up to the petrol station (or as they say here in Texas, the gas station) and we followed her back to her parents house. It was a gorgeous ranch style house, on a large plot of land. Amber has her own apartment attached to the main house, with her own lounge, bedroom, kitchen and bathroom. Her older sister Maegan, and her daughter, live in a two-bedroom apartment about 15-20 meters behind the main house, and her younger sister Dielle lives in the pool house which has also been converted to an apartment. It’s a fantastic set up. They’re renovating the house, and it’s just beautiful. I loved it.

They have a menagerie of animals, about 4 dogs of all shapes and sizes, four cats, fish, and I’m sure there were more but I can’t remember. The three of us went to lunch at Martha’s, which was - according to Amber - an authentic Mexican restaurant. The salsa is to die for - and free with corn chips they make themselves. We got fajitas which were brilliant, and Amber ended up taking a doggie bag. Then back to her place to watch a few episodes of Buffy (we’re all big fans) before meeting Amber’s Mum, and her sister Dielle, and her neice Desi. Then came Maegan, and then Dielle’s best friend Jenna and her husband came over for dinner and then Amber’s Dad came home. We had homemade fried chicken, peas n corn and mashed potatoes for dinner. It was delicious. We sat around the dinner table and talked for hours before Sam and I had to leave at 9pm. We gave everyone hugs - and left a tube of Vegemite with Amber’s mum to use in her gravy.

During the drive home, we got pulled over by a state trooper in Austin. We didn’t see the speed limit had changed, and got clocked doing 72 mph in a 60 zone. Apparently the limit drops by 5 at night. Anyway the Trooper was really nice, and since we did everything right (turned off the car, stayed in it with our seat belts on and Sam’s license and the car’s pink slips ready), he let us off with a warning. I think he realised that we weren’t used to the signage here. He even had a little chat to us and said he’d never seen an international drivers’ license before. We said we’d never seen an American one before, so he pulled out his license and showed us! We even had a brief discussion on flights and travel times and stuff. Anyway he said to be careful on the road and to keep our eyes on the signs to make sure we’re at the right speed. We thanked him and then Sam turned the car on and drove us off…. without the headlights on. *Palmsmack*

We got home in one piece at 2am.

~ Wendy
Stars Practice Number Four

Wednesday March 29, 2006

We got up at 8am, and prepared for the early practice at Frisco. The boys were on the ice by 10.45am, so they were out early today. We got some great photos and even took some video footage - which we’re not posting online sorry guys - it’s for our personal usage only. We lined up to get the guys we’d missed on our jersey, and were there for a couple of hours. We were surprised that Zubie and Mike both came out the front. Mike signed a player card for me, which was nice. I’m not sure if he remembered me or not, but that’s okay. I have my memories and that’s all that matters. He was still pleasant, but I could see that he really didn’t want to be doing the line. He just wanted to go home. The guys had worked hard on the ice today.

Jere also came out and signed a rookie card for Sam and we got the elusive photo of Sam with his idol - I actually said to Jere, “If we don’t get one, I’ll never hear the end of it!” He just laughed. They smiled and posed, and thankfully I didn’t cut anyone’s head off otherwise I truly would not have heard the end of it all. Jere was truly a gentleman and a very sweet man. Completely underrated as a player as well. He certainly deserves more attention and credit than he receives!

Billy came out and walked the line too which was great. I think I surprised him, I certainly didn’t mean to, but when he came out, I exclaimed, “Billy!” like it was a surprise to see him, which it was, and he kindly signed my jersey. I also got Niklas Hagman, Dave Tippett (thanks to Mark in the PR department who went into the locker room to get it for me) and Mattias Tjarnqvist, and Willie Mitchell. Zubie came out with his hands full, said he’d come back but didn’t - bit of a disappointment - and both Jeremy Stevenson and Janne Niinimaa didn’t bother walking the line they just ducked out the front door. Jeremy I can understand - he had his son with him. Janne was just rude. A shame. So now we have 21 of the 24 we wanted. We saw Rob, and gave him an Aussie gift pack (complete with stuffed Kangaroo, shot glass, keyring [I said to him, "Everyone needs and Australian Keyring!" which made him laugh because I'd said that to Mike.], Caramello Koala, Violet Crumble and of course an Arnott’s Tim Tam. We told Rob that he had to get the team to start calling Jason “Tim Tam” and how we’d given Jason a box and told him that it was our nickname for him). He was like, “You didn’t have to do that!” and I said, “You’ve done so much for us. Now it might not be much in your eyes, but seriously we really appreciate it. This is a token of our appreciation.”

Anyway he went back to work and we continued to wait in the line. After we got Willie, we were done, so we walked to the car to go and get some lunch and Rob was outside for whatever reason. He called out to us and we wandered over and started chatting, and he invited us in and gave us more things to take home - a couple of t-shirts, some pucks, a mini Stanley Cup, a couple of Mike Posters, two hockey news magazines he’d read, three Stars lanyons, a Stars Russian Doll set, two hats…. and we sat around and talked to the guys in the PR department. Seriously, those guys are just the best. I ended up saying, “Guys, just go clean out your offices. Whatever you don’t want, we’ll take off you!” Rob also gave me an Andy Moog players card, and an autographed pennant by Moog too. He’s now our Goaltending coach, but used to be the Stars Goalie back in the 90s.

I can’t believe there’s only one game left before it’s all over! That makes me so sad. Even Rob commented that I looked a little depressed this afternoon, and I admitted that I got teary watching practice knowing that it was all coming to an end. I don’t want to go back to a lockout. I know what having access to hockey is like now and … man I tell you - you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. I seriously hope that everyone who has NHL hockey appreciates having access to it. Because it’s no freaking fun living so far away and without any access to it. It sucks. Big time!

Now, we’re at Dunn Bros Coffee, and tonight we’re off to Pappasitos for dinner with friends, on Ralph Strangis’ recommendation - apparently the Steak Fajitas are to die for. I’m hoping Chris can make it by then. He’s working late tonight but should be able to meet up at some point tonight. Rhonda is joining us for dinner, and I’m hoping that Jesse will be too. I love hanging out with them. They’re a ton of fun and always make me laugh. I’m going to miss them so much!

I love my friends here. I love Dallas. I love Texas. I love Stars Hockey.

And for once, I’m actually dreading going home.

~ Wendy
Dallas Stars 2 Defeat Mighty Ducks of Anaheim 1

Friday March 31, 2006

In the morning, we hung around the hotel, did some laundry and watched television. At 1.20pm we left for Garland, a little city in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex to watch our friend Rhonda’s theatre class perform in the UIL Competition - it’s a tournament where schools compete against each other by performing one act of a play - each performing a different play. In this round robin, Rhonda’s school, Lakeview, were performing a scene from the play The Sins of Sor Juana by Karen Zacarías. The two other schools performed two different plays - one was 1984 by Orson Wells and the other was about the Holocaust but I can’t remember what it was called. Anyway after the plays, the awards were given out and the critique was given. The two best performances advanced to the next round, meaning they are to compete again on Friday in another round robin type of performance.

Lakeview was definitely the best performance in our opinion - not that we’re biased! But they did advance, thankfully, and they even won the award for best actor as well! Rhonda’s kids wanted to meet us, so they came over between school two and three’s performances to “hear our accents”. We ended up chatting to one of the parents for ages, but due to the Ducks game we had to leave at 5pm to get to Jesse’s house by 6pm.

We made it and got to the AAC by about 6.30pm. Sam and I headed for the WBAP booth to say goodbye to Ralph and Razor. Only Razor was there so we said our goodbyes to him, and that we’d come back to see Ralph. We got some dinner - chips and a burger - and then headed back to section 106 to see Ralph. We briefly said thanks and our goodbyes, and he said to come back for the Playoffs! Then he said seriously that he hopes we can make it back next year and he’ll save us a seat! I love those guys! We wished him luck with the call and headed off to find our seats.

We watched warm ups and took a few photos, but mainly just spent our time soaking up the atmosphere. Ian, our ticket rep, came down when they were announcing the team and they were skating out to start the game to tell us to meet him outside the Old No 7 and he’d take us down to the tunnel to watch the guys come out for the second. Sam said we’d already done it and yes, I smacked him and said to shut up! The guys in the row behind us joked with Ian that they were with us. Ian laughed, but said to us that it was okay, we could do it again. We thanked him and said we’d be there waiting for him.

I cried when the national anthem played. Seriously, it’s not my anthem, and it doesn’t normally bring me to tears to hear the Star Spangled Banner but there’s just something about the anthem being sung at the AAC - and the 18000 voices calling out “STARS!” twice when it appears in the song, that just moves you - at least as a Stars fan. And knowing that it was the last time I was going to be able to yell it out loud just made me really sad.

It was a tough and physical game. The Ducks are fighting to remain in the top 8 for the Western Conference, and they’re currently sitting in 6th position in the table with 86 points. They’re tied with Vancouver on 86 pts in 7th and only two points ahead of Edmonton on 84 pts. They are literally fighting to stay in the playoffs, as the Northwest and Pacific divisions are so close. The first ended scoreless, and we went down to watch the guys come out with Ian, Tatjana and Jen I think her name was, who works for the Stars. We were given a lecture - “Don’t talk to the players unless they talk to you, and don’t touch them. No photos.” Boy. Like we’d want to do any of that anyway! You’d be messing with their mojo and you don’t want any part of that! The guys came out, and only Robidas smiled when he saw us - though I think it was more for Tatjana than us as she had come from Germany just to see him play and he appreciated that. They had had some good conversations when they’d met up in the autograph lines at Frisco.

The guys were definitely “in the zone” when they came out though, which was great to see. As usual, Jason Arnott, Mike Modano and Sergei Zubov were the last three in that order. Mike said something to Jason as they walked out but all of them ignored us. I was pretty happy about that - it meant that we weren’t distracting for them. We thanked Ian and Jen, and then headed back up to our seats to enjoy the rest of our final game.

Zubie scored first, 7.37 into the second on a wonderful wrist shot if I recall correctly, assisted by Mike Modano and Jason Arnott. Anaheim hit back less than a minute later, but we weren’t done yet. 17.05 into the second, Niko Kapanen got a sweet tip on a slapshot from Antti Miettinen, passed to him by Mike Modano. The Stars were up 2-1 at the end of the second. I was ecstatic as Mike had had an assist on both Stars goals.

When the third started, so did my tears. It was hitting me that this was the last game - the last time I’d hear Pantera play as the boys came out onto the ice. The last time I’d hear JeffK announce another Stars Powerplay! The last time I’d hear Bill Ollerman announce “Here are your…Dallas… STARS!” and the last time I’d hear Rock N Roll II play after a goal, with the entire crowd punching the air and screaming out “HEY!” at the appropriate time. There’d be no more cheering for a guy going to the box on the opposition, or booing the refs for a bad call. No more chanting “MARTY!” on a great save, or just sitting in the arena and soaking up the atmosphere. There’s no more bugging Ralph (for which I’m sure he’ll be grateful!) or Rob … No more chilli fries or hotdogs. There’s no more ringing ears from pucks smashing the glass, or pucks flying into the crowd. There would be no more fights, no more checks, and no more live Stars hockey.

By the time the game, and all the fights in the third, were over, I had tears streaming down my face. We waited for the arena to empty and then walked down to the glass and picked up a few of the programs that had been left behind. Sam took a few more photos of the empty arena, and then of me standing there. The usher that was walking up the stairs looked at me a little funny so we explained that this was our last game and we were flying back to Australia on Saturday and we didn’t know if we’d ever come back again. I said I knew I was being silly but I couldn’t help it. I love my Stars and I’m going to miss them so much.

But I’ve had the time of my life - and all good things must come to an end.

~ Wendy
Final Stars Practice

Administrator Friday March 31, 2006

Today was the final chance to see the Stars on the ice. Since they don’t play again until Friday night, they had an optional practice today. Only half the team actually got on the ice for a skate. The rest did either weights or rehab or other training and then others, like Mike, didn’t come in at all until later. It was still good to see those that were on the ice out there. To my credit, I didn’t cry this time.

We met up with OldMike from the Stars forum and chatted to him through practice and then went to line up for autographs. We had three still to get to make our jersey complete - Sergei Zubov, Janne Niinimaa and Jeremy Stevenson. Unfortunately, Jeremy had already left when we went out to line up but Zubie came out the door and signed our jersey - he’s not one for much fanfare and hates being in the spotlight so signing autographs isn’t his favourite thing in the world. But he did and for that we are grateful. Jason, one of the staff for the Stars, did us a favour and got Janne Niinimaa to sign our jersey for us by taking it into the locker room - Janne isn’t exactly the most fan-friendly teammember, so it was great of Jason to do that for us. It’s a shame that we missed Stevenson but since Tjarnqvist was brought up from the Minors and both he and Billy Guerin signed our jersey, we actually have a full roster on there without Jeremy’s john hancock on there anyway. We even have Tippett too!

With our jersey completed, we just said goodbye to the guys as they left, or hello as the case was for Mike when he came in late, before heading off to get some lunch. We stopped by to say goodbye to Rob but he wasn’t in his office. After lunch we dropped back in and Rob was there so we said goodbye and thank you for everything, to which he nonchallantly shrugged and pretty much said “No problem, just get back here next season!”

We shall indeed try.

This afternoon, we went to a hockey store but they had no wheels for inline skates. We’ll check out another one tomorrow after we go to UPS to mail some of our gear back to Australia. Then it’s back to the hotel to check out, check into Motel 6 for our final night, return the car, and prepare for our watching/going away party at Michelle and Nathan’s house.

Tonight though, we’re going to Reunion Tower to check out the view, then meeting Chris back at our hotel before the three of us are heading to Rhonda’s for Chinese and Hockey!! It should be a blast.

I probably won’t be able to post on here again until we get home so to all of our friends here in Dallas - Rhonda, Jesse, Chris, Michelle, Nathan, Jen, Karin, Cindi, Zack, Andrea, Dave, Kelly, Sparky, Kel, Matt, Jeff (though I know you’re actually in Florida), Julie, Clay, Harold, Heather, Mike and Leni - thank you so much for bringing so much fun and laughter to our trip. We have had an absolute blast here in Dallas, so much so that we wish we didn’t have to go and leave you all. To anyone I’ve missed out - I’m sorry but the above goes for you too.

To Rob, Jason, Mark and the guys at the Stars - THANK YOU SO MUCH! You’ve given so much to us, in what you call a day’s work - to us it helped make a dream come true all that much more special. Thanks guys. I hope we see you again next season!

To Ralph and Razor - Keep it up boys. We love you so much! You’re our link to Stars hockey and we have missed listening to your call of the game. Here’s to the rest of the season and a good playoff run to the Stanley Cup - oh and Ralph, you’re right. The steak fajitas at Papasitos are fabulous! Thank you for being patient with us. Thanks for your candor and your assistance. Really, you guys are heroes to us. Thank you.

To the Stars players - thank you guys so much. Mike and Jere, you were so generous to us. Thank you for your time, your patience and your candor. The photos will be treasured. To the rest of the team - GOOD LUCK BOYS!! We’ll be following you through the playoffs. Stay strong, play with pride, honour, courage and faith. We know you can make it to the podium to hold that Cup high. GO STARS!

And to everyone at home… I hope you’ve enjoyed following our journey as much as we’ve had taking it. See you next week.

~ Wendy.



Jussi Jokinen and I (I call him Jusa). He now plays for Pittsburgh.



Me and my darling friend Clay. Now he's retired from public service, he's acting as an extra on numerous tv shows and movies!



The Gang! From L to R
Julie, Jen, Sam, Jesse, me, Val, Cyndi, Jeff, Rhonda and Karin.
Only ones missing from the photo are Kelly, Nathan, and Julie #2.

Unfortunately, I don't have photos of Steve, Mickie and Fredrick and Alex, or the new partners, Giacomo (Jen's husband) and Pookie (Kelly's). Nor do I have Leni. :( But perhaps next time!