Just thought I would pass this on to you, the loyal reader. I found this during spring training while I was looking around preparing to write a baseball preview for this site, which you no doubt have noticed has still not appeared. Patience, grasshopper. The semester is almost over.
It turns out that the Cubs are not cursed by a goat after all…
We’re sorry we blamed it on you, Mr. Sianis.
Three. That’s the number of shutouts Marty Turco had in the series against the Canucks. It’s also the number of years in a row that the Stars have lost in the first round of the playoffs.
"After the game, I wanted to tell Marty, ‘Sorry.’" - Stars Captain Brenden Morrow
It’s true that Stars fans are spoiled. Since moving to Dallas, they have only missed the playoffs once, and went to the Stanley Cup finals twice, winning it in 1999. They also own two President’s Trophies. Stars fans in Dallas don’t know anything but winning, and that’s what makes this recent bout of playoff futility so difficult. After last season, when they were supposed to go deep, they won only one game against an inferior Avalanche team. Many people were blamed, but Turco took the brunt of the criticism. It’s hard to follow Ed Belfour.
So when the Stars went down 3-1 in the Vancouver series, people were already starting to call for Marty’s head. The problem: it’s not his fault. The Achille’s Heel of the Stars all season long has been scoring goals. It was their problem during the playoffs as well. Should Turco’s feet be held to the fire? No. Dave Tippett’s should.
In the old NHL, the adage "Defense Wins Championships" held true. In the new NHL, it does not. The Stars play a certain way in the regular season: Play it close. If we’re ahead by a goal, fine. If we’re behind by a goal, let’s force overtime and rely on our NHL-best shootout to get the two points. The philosophy doesn’t translate to the playoffs. Teams tighten up. They don’t want to lose one goal games, and they’re not going to be satisfied with overtime because no points are awarded. Meanwhile, if the Stars can get into overtime, they’re conditioned to ride the storm out for five minutes and hit the showers. Gone are the days of Brett Hull and Mike Modano playing 55 minutes each and hooking up for a game-winner. And you know what? It’s not Mike Modano’s fault, crossbar aside. Those things happen. The team needs to be put into a position to win. It’s not Brenden Morrow’s fault. He has shown as much leadership as a player can. It’s certainly not Marty Turco’s fault. He proved that the choker label doesn’t fit. It IS Dave Tippett’s fault. Mr. Hicks, if you’re looking for changes to make to this team to keep them contending (and I certainly hope you are), head coach is the place to look. Otherwise, I’m afraid the Stars are on a spiral into the basement of the Western Conference.
