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

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.

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!

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.

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

Day Seven was the Stars Vs Wild game. We got up a little late and drove up to Addison to the Dunn Bros Coffee and bored Amber for two hours while we jumped online and did our email and stuff. Then we dropped into Wal-Mart on the way back to the hotel to have lunch and get ready for the game. I went to Salon Amber (Amber did my hair and makeup for me) and then we headed off to pick up Rhonda. We must be getting to know our way around Dallas because we didn’t get lost once going to Garland.

We talked hockey all the way to the AAC and parked pretty close by as it was REALLY cold last night. It’s freezing in Dallas at the moment! Anyway we saw the line up for the Cup and thought… nah… stuff it. We got a pic from a few metres away and that was enough for us. We dropped in to see Ralph and he was just great. He asked what we thought of the game and then we talked about the after game show. He asked if we listen to it and I said I did but Sam didn’t. And Ralph replied, “Yeah but he’s a kiwi, right?” and I grinned and said, “Thanks for backing me up on that!”

He asked if we’d seen any of the players and we said we’d seen 14 of them but missed Mike cuz he slipped out the back. Ralph said to catch him at the rink tomorrow (Thursday) and he’ll see if he can set it up for us. Then he asked for our card because he’s thinking of taking his family to Australia in the next couple of years. I said we didn’t have one but he said to write our details down and give them to him tomorrow at the rink. I said, “Sure, no problem. And if you come in your summer here, and call us, I can hook you up for tickets for the Australian Ice Hockey League!” and he said “Oh yeah, you can hook me up!” and I replied with, “Yeah, as a way of saying thank you, you know, returning the favour!”

Anyway we chatted until he had to go and get ready for the broadcast, so we went down to the glass in 124 behind Turks to watch the warm up. The guys looked GREAT. I couldn’t help but grin when I saw Mike come out on the ice. He was smiling and flying and looked really relaxed. The guys looked like they were bringing it but good. And it was great to see Robi in the lineup too. That was really a joy. I love watching Robidas play D. He’s an elegant skater, and he’s gritty. He works hard, he plays hard, and he does get the job done. He may not have the hands of Modano, or the shot of Zubov, but … Robi is a decent player and I wish we got to see him play more often. Unfortunately it means that someone has to sit out. Janne Niinimaa may not have won over all the fans in Dallas yet, and considering he was traded for the fans’ whippin’ boy he seems to have inherited the title Erskine left behind, but I love all the boys and that includes Niini. You wear the Green, gold, black and white, you’re alright with me automatically. And I’ll defend ya to the death.

Rhonda and Tatjana left us just before the game started and we went down 1-0 to the Wild 10.57 in the first. Marian Gaborik scored, assisted by Piere-Marc Bouchard and Kurtis Foster. Bastards. It was very back and forth in the first, with the Stars playing a dump and chase kind of game. With 48 seconds left in the second, Left Winger Jussi Jokinen (or as Razor calls him, Jack River - which is what Jussi Jokinen is in english) tied the game, assisted by Jere Lehtinen and Willie Mitchell, who was playing against the team that traded him to us not even a month ago!

In the break, Zack and Andrea came down and chatted with us. It was great to see them and talk about the trip so far. We agreed to catch up after the game and meet up outside the Old No 7 Bar. The second started, with Wild goaltender, Manny Fernandez, at our end of the ice. It was awesome to watch another great goalie in net - unfortunately we didnt’ get to see any goals because the only goal in the second was scored 15.53 into the third by the Wild - Brian Rolston, assisted by Mikko Koivu and Marian Gaborik.

Leni dropped by in the intermission between the second and third, and we had a chat. We agreed to meet up at the Frisco StarCentre the next day at the practice. When the third started, I barely had a voice left. I could be heard screaming out LEHTS GO STARS! I made a few people around me laugh or turn around to see who was screaming but I didn’t care. I was at a hockey game, and you need to make noise at a hockey game! I also took a radio along to listen to Ralph and Razor call the game. It’s SO much better when you have both the live game in front of you and the guys calling it too. It’s like live television. Awesome. Another awesome thing in the third was Marty Turco, our goalie, bodychecking a Wild player - who I can’t remember his name - when he was chasing the puck down on a one on one. Marty came out of his net, poked the puck away and then checked the Wild player - sending the crowd wild themselves! It was a beautiful moment.

3.47 into the third, Right Winger Jere Lehtinen tied the game again, assisted by Jason Arnott and Jussi Jokinen. It was a beautiful goal too. We jumped and screamed and hugged and danced to Rock N Roll II - yelling out “HEY!” at the appropriate time. Jon Klemm, Stars Defenseman, netted the game winning goal at 5.26 in the third, assisted by Jussi Jokinen and Mike Modano. I screamed on that one too. When they were annoucing the names of the scorers I was screaming when they called out MIIIIIIIIKE MO-DA-NO! It was fabulous. The Stars then scored an insurance goal at 9.05 by Stu Barnes, assisted by Brenden Morrow (who hadn’t scored a point in 9 games) and Jason Arnott - or as we like to call him… Tim Tam. *GRIN*

After the game was over, and we were done yelling and jumpin’ up and down and screaming, we met up with Zack, Andrea, Tatjana, Rhonda and Andrea’s sister and brother in law and had a group photo and a chat. We then met up with Gail and her husband who we dont’ know his name but know he’s a Wings fan who lives in Dallas and goes to the StarCentre to get the guys to sign stuff all the time. On the way back to Rhonda’s we listened to the Stars Extra show and were happy to hear Ralphie talking about hockey instead of basketball and football. Marty Turco was the Stars interviewee and he was really good to listen to. When we got back to the hotel, we showed Amber our wares and gave her a program from the game that we picked up.

Tomorrow it’s off to Frisco to hopefully meet more of the guys and watch them practice.

~ Wendy

Finally went to bed at 3am yesterday and once again got a strange wakeup call at 4.50am. I don’t know what the heck is going on with our phone in our room but it always rings at 4.50am. Weird.

So we got up at 8.30am and got ready to head up to Frisco for the boys’ training. We managed to get there relatively early - 10.50am. We dropped into the Stars Stuff Store (SSS) to exchange a t-shirt that we bought Sam that was faulty - unfortunately he couldn’t get one that was the same but he got another for the same player - Marty Turco. After we got the t-shirt, we went outside and in another door to the Executives Offices to meet up with Ian Suber, our ticket agent.

He was really lovely. We chatted for about twenty minutes and thanked him for selling us the tickets. He got our cell number and will call us when he’s arranged a time to take us and Tatjana down the tunnel to where the players walk out onto the ice so we can watch them walk by. That was really, really sweet of him to do that.

Then we went back into the SSS, and found Tatjana there who was trying to buy a jersey but unfortunately they were out of white away jerseys in L and XL replicas in all SSS. She was quite disappointed, as you would expect, and decided that she would get Robidas, the player she came to see play, to sign her Frankfurt jersey again.

The practice was amazing! Robi was the first one out on the ice to start hitting pucks around. The guys were in different coloured training jerseys, according to what line they were assigned. The first line - Jussi Jokinen (Left Wing), Mike Modano (Centre), Jere Lehtinen (Right Wing) were in white. The second line, Brenden Morrow (LW), Jason Arnott (C) and Stu Barnes (RW) were in red. The third line, Niklas Hagman (LW), Niko Kapanen (C) and Antti Miettinen (RW) were in grey and Fourth liners Steve Ott (LW), Jeremy Stevenson (LW), Nathan Perrott (RW) and Jaroslav Svoboda (LW) were in green. The defense guys, Trevor Daley, Jon Klemm, Sergei Zubov, Philippe Boucher, Willie Mitchell, Janne Niinimaa and Stephane Robidas were in black jerseys. Marty Turco and Johan Hedberg were both in net - one either end.

Coaching staff, Dave Tippett (Head Coach), Rick Wilson (Associate Coach), Mark Lamb (Assistant Coach) and Andy Moog (Goaltending Coach) were in Stars tracksuits out on the ice.

They did a lot of different drills and worked really hard for the whole hour. We got a heap of photos of the boys out on the ice and a couple of videos of them skating around doing drills and warming up. The D worked on sliding defense on the ice, the forwards on shooting and plays around the net. The whole team worked on puckhandling, and the power play unit worked longer than the rest of the team, trying out new plays and running them through until after the rest of the team had left the ice.

We met 14 players as they left the building - Jon Klemm, Johan Hedberg (who asked if we were the Australians that they saw on the jumbotron last night?), Marty Turco, Jussi Jokinen, Jason Arnott, Brenden Morrow, Jaroslav Svoboda, Steve Ott (who also asked about us being the Australians), Stephane Robidas (who we said we bumped into at the Mall and he remembered us), Antti Miettinen, Nathan Perrott, Philippe Boucher, Stu Barnes and Jere Lehtinen who we gave a jersey of the Bluetongues with his name and number to. Jere was humbled, surprised and I think a little embarrassed but really pleased to receive his gift. We also gave Jussi a koala and keyring, Marty a keyring and Jason Arnott a box of Arnott’s Tim Tams and explained that we call him “Tim Tam” because we think he’s the greatest and the Tim Tams are the PREMIUM biscuits in Australia - the Best! He said he’d seen them before and wondered what they tasted like. We said he could share them around or keep them - they were his. The guys were very appreciative of their gifts - at least to us anyway.

We didn’t get to see Mike or Zubie but we’ll catch up with them later. We got half the team in one go, so that’s a start.

When we got back to the hotel…AMBER WAS THERE!! We were so happy to see her again after five and a half years since we last got together for our wedding. She’s going to stay with us until Sunday and we hope to be able to sneak down to San Antonio sometime next week between games and meet her folks.

Tonight the three of us went to Denton to hang out with my mate Steve from the Stars forum. We ate Pizza and Buffalo Wings at the Pizza joint he’s the day manager for, and then played pool in a bar a street over. Now…we’re in his apartment and I’m borrowing his computer. He gave us a few presents… Sam was given an autographed Jere Lehtinen hockey stick from Jere’s rookie year, and I got an autographed Mike Modano puck in a frame with a rookie card. We gave Steve a Bodyjar CD, and a gift pack - platypus toy, shotglass, aussie keyring, a Tim Tam, a Caramello Koala and a Violet Crumble.

Tomorrow… we’re hoping to go off to the Zoo before game time! It’s half-price Wednesday at the Fort Worth Zoo! Stars Vs Wild at 7.30pm… but I want to get there around 6pm. The Stanley Cup is in the AAC tomorrow night and we want to get our photo taken with it!

~ Wendy

—

Ok so further to the above, I wanted to just mention how awesome it was to meet Jere Lehtinen! Honestly, what an awesome guy. As Wendy posted above, we met the guys and had them sign our Jokinen jersey. Jere is my sports idol… fave person in all of sportsdom (is that a word?). It was so fantastic meeting him, and seeing his face when we gave him the jersey. I’ve liked Jere for a number of years now and meeting him was very much like a dream come true. I hope to meet him again before we head back home and get him to sign my Rookie card.

~ Sam

We lost. Let’s get that out of the way first. We lost. But the bonus… all goals were in front of us!

Let’s start at the beginning. We got to Jesse’s around 5.30pm and needed to be at the west media gate at 5.50pm - which Jesse got us there only two minutes late. We met Randy, and waited while they shot a couple of small segments, and then met JeffK - who was really personable and easy to get along with.

We did two takes of the small interview, which was really funny. He said, “This is Wendy and Sam, they’re our Stars Fans of the Game and Wendy, when we were talking before, I couldn’t help but notice your accent, where are you from?”

I replied, “I’m from Brisbane, Australia.”

“Really? So it would take a really long time to get to games huh?” he asked, which of course made me laugh.

“About 37 hours, yeah.”

He asked what it was about the Stars that got us into hockey and I said, “Umm Mike Modano.” He laughed and asked Sam if that was the same for him and he said, “No I’m a Jere Lehtinen fan.” And then he asked us to give a big “GO STARS!” which we did. They played it 11 mins into the game. That was really embarrassing.

Anyway after that interview, we met commentator Ralph Strangis who was really, really nice to us and was surprised that we were from Australia and we said we love their commentary and listen to the games over the internet and this is the first time to the US for us and that we only went for Stars hockey. Sam mentioned he was from New Zealand and Ralph said, “Oh so she must like you,” and I replied, “Yeah well I married him because I couldn’t wait for Mike forever, I mean the long distance thing doesn’t work, there’s this big ocean and… you know…” and he grinned and said, “Yeah, of course, I can see that would be a problem.” It was quite amusing.

Ralph asked who was on our jerseys and we said “Modano and Lehtinen.” He said, “Oh Butch and Sundance, nice choice.” I added, “Yeah, we’re like that with almost everything.” The small talk was funny and great and I can’t remember all of it but I have a really lovely memory and impression of him so I’m happy with that.

We then went to see the ice and got some photos of that, and saw Razor up at the booth on section 106, so we walked over to have a chat to him. When Rhonda told him we had come over from Australia, he got up and walked over. He shook our hands saying, “This is where I say ‘Put another shrimp on the barbie huh?’” to which I replied, “It’s a prawn!” with a grin.

He was also surprised to hear that we listened to the games and that we had recorded every game up until the last Kings games and we loved their commentary. We said we thought they were funny and I added that I read his blog, which made him grin and make a smartbutt, wanna-be-modest comment. He also asked who was on our jerseys and we both turned around. Then he asked if it was their commentary that made me go for Mo and I replied, “Uh no, I’ve followed Mike since I was 13.” Razor was great, I really liked him. We told them we were here until April first and going to (at the time) the next five home games. He said he wished he had something to give us, but we said, “Could we get a picture?”

“Yeah, sure come around the tunnel, and we’ll take a picture!” he said, so we walked around to the other entrance to 106 and Sam and I got our picture taken twice with Ralph and Razor, once with and once without the flash. Jesse did the honours. Razor then left to interview Mike, saying to us, “I’m off to interview your guy now!” and Sam called out, “Don’t forget to let him know we’re here!” which he called back, “I won’t!”

Ralph said to us, “I’m at every practice, so just come and see me and I’ll make sure you get to meet the guys, Mo at least.” I said that we’d appreciate that, and we’d definitely see him at the practice because we have a gift for Mike and Jere.

Anyway we then went and sat down in our seats after getting hot dogs and chilli fries to watch warm up. OMG… it was SO AWESOME. I was just sitting there, hugging Jesse going “THERE’S MIKEY!! OH MY GOD.. Look there’s baby daddy,” (Morrow - Jesse’s favourite player) “And Jussi, and Zubie and TIM TAM! Look there’s TIM TAM!! Mmmm he looks GOOD. OH THERE’S MIKEY AGAIN!!” I was in heaven. It was so great.

There were no words when the game started… the lights went down and the Star came down and the smoke machines went off and then… the guys came out! We have about 30 secs on video of it!!! I love our camera! I was screaming so much I don’t have a voice left.

The game was exciting - even though we didn’t win and we didn’t play well. In fact, we had no defense at all and Zubie had a really bad game, as did Niinimaa and Klemm but Lehtinen and Daley had really good games. Mike wasn’t bad, but he wasn’t great either. I jumped out of my seat screaming when Antti Miettinen potted the Stars only goal. The Ducks were just really on their game with their defense. They outplayed us, pure and simple.

Marty let in the first goal, it was awful. It went through his arm, we thought he had it, he thought he had it, but it fell out and went through his arm. The second goal, Niinimaa gave a turnover, and then Klemm didn’t even do much than just poke a stick at it but that didn’t do anything to stop the puck from going in 3 mins left in the game. It was disappointing.

But still the best game of hockey I’ve ever seen in my life!

Afterwards, we met up with Ryan from the forum and his wife and friends, and we went down to the Old No 7 bar and watched the players leave. Mike has a police escort to his car (no smartbutt remarks Muzz). Saw Brenden Morrow’s wife Anne-Marie and their daughter Bryella - she’s so cute. Long blonde curls and a tiny MORROW jersey with 10 on the back. Adorable. We saw Sergei Zubov, Jere Lehtinen, Marty Turco, Brenden Morrow, Bill Guerin, Brett Hull, Niko Kapanen, Stephane Robidas, and of course Mike Modano leaving. It was great. Didn’t talk to them or anything just watched them walk out.

Still… four more games to go. Stars practice tomorrow at noon - 1pm. I can’t wait. I want to get up to Frisco by 11 am. That means I’ll be up at 8.30am. So be it. I can’t wait to see my guys.

*sigh* Good thing this is text, otherwise you wouldn’t hear a thing!

~ Wendy