NFL Football
Washington Redskins vs. Dallas Cowboys @ Cowboys Stadium, Arlington – Sun. 12:00 p.m. (FOX)

NBA Basketball
Sacramento Kings vs. Dallas Mavericks @ American Airlines Center, Dallas – Fri. 7:30 p.m. (FSSW)

NHL Hockey
New Jersey Devils vs. Dallas Stars @ American Airlines Center, Dallas – Sat. 7:30 p.m. (KDFI)

College Football
Oklahoma @ Texas Tech – Sat. 11:30 a.m. (FSSW)
Memphis @ #24 Houston – Sat. 12:00 p.m.
Iowa State @ Missouri – Sat. 1:00 p.m.
#4 TCU @ Wyoming – Sat. 1:00 p.m.
Sam Houston State @ Texas State – Sat. 2:00 p.m.
Stephen F. Austin @ Northwestern State – Sat. 2:00 p.m.
Baylor @ Texas A&M – Sat. 2:30 p.m.
UTEP @ Rice – Sat. 2:30 p.m.
Army @ North Texas – Sat. 3:00 p.m. (KTXA)
SMU @ Marshall – Sat. 3:30 p.m.
Kansas State @ Nebraska – Sat. 6:45 p.m. (ESPN)
Kansas @ #3 Texas – Sat. 7:00 p.m. (ABC)

High School Football Playoffs
Odessa Permian vs. Arlington Martin @ Shotwell Stadium, Abilene – Sat. 1:00 p.m.
Flower Mound Marcus vs. Cedar Hill @ Cowboys Stadium, Arlington – Sat. 2:00 p.m.
Skyline vs. DeSoto @ Ford Stadium, Dallas – Sat. 6:00 p.m.
Southlake Carroll vs. Allen @ Cowboys Stadium, Arlington – Sat. 8:00 p.m.

By the end — with Sean Avery wearing his earphones in the dressing room, texting and e-mailing in the hallway outside the dressing room between periods, and refusing to take part in team functions — the distance between Avery and the rest of the Dallas Stars organization had grown vast. But as much as the Stars’ mantra is about moving forward…

Click the title of this article to read the rest of the story.

The Dallas Stars went into Calgary, Alberta, last night, and after Sean Avery took himself out of games for the forseeable future, still had to face a hot Calgary team on the ice. The 3-2 victory over the Flames was one of the best wins for the club so far this year, and has fans all over hoping that this is the start of something good. With the victory on Sunday over the Oilers, it was the first back-to-back regular-season wins for the Stars since February of this year.

The Stars have a tough stretch ahead of them to keep the momentum going. They will immediately take the ice again tonight for another match against Edmonton, and then return home for a 3-game stand with the Avalanche, Coyotes & Red Wings. And while many people may argue that schedule isn’t filled with the conference’s top competitors (excepting the Red Wings, of course), the Stars are still playing with a very depleted roster, and even games that might once have been forgone conclusions will be closely contested.

And, the Avs may be starting to come together this season. After a host of setbacks (injuries, poor performances), similar to those of the Stars, Colorado is beginning to look pretty dangerous. They’ve won their last two games and look more like the team they were forcasted to be this season.

To quickly return to the Sean Avery issue – and I won’t stay here long – I’m interested in hearing what you all might think about how his role with the Stars in the future will be effected. Eklund (that anonymous hockey blogger) – has told me he believes this to be the ticket for Sean Avery out of Dallas. While I don’t know that I agree 100%, I can’t see how the rest of the team can welcome him fully back into the fold, when they didn’t seem to be very happy with him before the comments. Mike Modano’s response is also interesting:

“It’s unacceptable. Our perception around the league has been tarnished a bit. Our attitude with the refs has been rough this year. We don’t get the benefit of doubt because we’re very vocal in those areas. In the past, we’ve been a quiet, confident group, and we simply need to get back to that.”

Sean Avery has a guaranteed contract in Dallas, which limits how the Stars can react to this kind of situation. But, they still have the ability to place him on Waivers or trade him, if another team is willing to take this mess on. In a response about Avery’s return to the team, if that happens, Modano hinted that it might not be an easy thing:

It’s going to take some time. It certainly will be a situation we’ll have to address when that time comes … if it does.

I know Mo wasn’t 100% comfortable with the “C” on his chest, but those are the kind of quotes that come from a good captain. And I think the Stars should let him take this team again, and make it official. I also believe that Mark Parrish would make a nice “A” alternate as well to take Modano’s place.

The Dallas Stars’ defense has not looked good this year. I figured I would start things out with the obvious and move on from there. Although dealing with early injuries to two of it’s leading members – Sergei Zubov and Phillippe Boucher (who has since returned) – the Stars have struggled to find cohesion this season. This has led to a spot that the Stars aren’t used to – dead last.

The Stars blueliners are 30th out of 30 in team defense so far on this season. They’ve allowed 23 goals in 5 games (through Sunday), which is a goals against average of 4.00 if you’re keeping track of such things. They’ve surrendered 123 shots (there are 6 teams who have given up more), but have only stopped 100 of them. That means Dallas netminding has a 0.813 save percentage. 81% folks. 1 out of every 5 shots on a Dallas goal is going in.

Dallas started a three-game road trip against the New York-area teams on Monday (the Rangers, Devils and Islanders) and beat the Rangers 2-1. Dallas got goals by Brendan Morrow and Mike Modano that were much needed and extremely welcomed. Seeing the leadership of this team step up and lead the scoring is great for the offensive side of things. And the defense? They allowed just one goal on 29 shots. That’s a .965 save percentage – 97%. Maybe this is the new attitude of the Stars’ defense and they’ve ironed out the wrinkles. But, maybe it’s not. Maybe it’s a situation the Stars need to address.

So how does Dallas address this situation? What do you do if you’re in Coach Dave Tippett’s shoes? Or Brett Hull’s? Or Les Jackson’s? Do you push the button on an early trade to shake up the chemistry and let people know that if they don’t do their job, they’re on their way out? Do you change up the defensive pairings and let players work with a new defensive partner for a while? Do you show some patience and let the “kinks” work out of this defensive machine? What’s the fix?

I have a suggestion, modest though it may be. It’s an approach that can’t hurt – it can only help. Work on the communication! The thing that has been most apparent on ice through the first 5 games is that the six men on ice haven’t been on the same page all that often. Whether they’re working better together now or not, there’s no way that some team exercised couldn’t improve the way things go on ice.

The Stars get back into town after the trip to The Big Apple this coming Friday the 24th. They have a game on the 25th at the AAC against the Washington Capitals and another on 29th against the Minnesota Wild before leaving for a five-game trip on Halloween.

During that stretch, maybe the Stars D-squad should get together off the ice and do some team-building, stress-relieving-type activities. Shoot each other with paintballs…challenge one another to rock climbing competitions…anything where you rely on a teammate and talk to one another, which hasn’t been happening during games.

The month of October is a busy one for sports – three major professional sports leagues all vying for the spotlight (four if you count pre-season NBA and five if you consider College Football). There is lots of competition for viewers, night in and night out.

To add to it’s woes, the NHL doesn’t have the assistance of a top tier major cable network broadcasting it’s games. You can say the league blew that opportunity themselves during the lockout of the 2004-05 season, if you wish, but it doesn’t change the fact that there are less viewers through VS. than there were through ESPN. It’s tough to get large audiences watching the games.

But, I’m sure a good number of folks around the metroplex were tuned in to see the Dallas Stars open their season on back-to-back nights against Columbus here in Dallas, and then on the road in Nashville on Saturday. Many critics may be writing off the Stars already, thanks to their ignominious 0-1-1 start. But (for the second time in as many weeks), I must urge you to wait on passing judgement.

Here’s the part where you say, “But it’s Columbus! And Nashville! We’ve always done well against those teams.” And you’d be right. Historically, the Stars have matched up well against both the Blue Jackets and the Predators. But, both aforementioned teams are starting to come into their own.

Investments in youth are beginning to pay off for the Blue Jackets, Rick Nash continues to lead with great play and has gotten assistance from Derick Brassard, Jakub Voracek and Pascal Leclaire, all of whom have come up through Columbus’ developmental system.

The Predators are finding success in building around a strong core of journeyman players, and are plugging in the pieces that are left through trades and free agency. The leader of the team, on and off the ice, continues to be Jason Arnott. Finding the success he always sought during his tenure as a Star, Arnie is lighting the lamp more regularly in Nashville, and has a great support crew surrounding him. People like J.P. Dumont and Martin Erat, who also struggled with other NHL teams, have found success in the Music City as well. And another former Star, Dan Ellis, has been impressive as a starting goaltender.

Starting a season winless after two games is not what the Stars want (what team would?). But I’m waiting to see how the Stars will do against Nashville in a re-match at the AAC on Wednesday, and the Blues on Thursday. It’s another back-to-back game situation, and it’s another home one night, away the next situation too. It will test the Stars, and hopefully show fans how much this teams wants success. If we’re still winless after Thursday – then it’s time to re-examine where this team is headed.

Is anyone worried?

I know it’s just the pre-season, and I know the games have been tight, and I know we’ve been evaluating talent along the way… But the fact is, the Dallas Stars have started the pre-season 1-5-1. That’s just one win out of 7 games. If this were the regular season, fans would be swallowing one heck of a collective gulp. So are you worried?

The reassuring thing is that it is just the pre-season. This is the time where teams can experiment, work out kinks and realize just where they come up short on their team. One thing the Stars haven’t lacked over the last couple weeks is shots. According to a Dallas Morning News article, the Stars have outshot their opponents 218 to 152. That’s an average of nearly 10 shots per game.

The offense is clearly getting their opportunities. The shots are plentiful – so far, the goaltenders have played well against the Stars. But, the puck is going on net. And, most reassuring of all, the rookies are the ones doing a lot of the shooting. All 3 rookies who were expected to be vying for a job have been showing up on the gamesheet. B.J. Crombeen, James Neal and Fabian Brunnstrom have all made good cases for why they should be on the roster this Friday when Dallas opens up against Columbus. One of them may start the year in the minors, simply because Dallas doesn’t have roster space.

And if you do the math, the Stars have surrendered less than 22 shots per game, on average. The defense is clearly doing it’s job. And, beleaguered by injuries, their core will only grow stronger as Philippe Boucher returns to form (Boucher has been rehabbing a toe injury he incurred because of an enthusiastic off-season training program. Then, the Stars get Sergei Zubov back in a few weeks, when he completes recovery from a hip injury. The defense looks good.

So it has to be in goal, right? Well, not so fast. Coming into this season, Tobias Stephan had played just one regular season NHL game. It was a fantastic game up in Chicago, and Stephan had the Stars in it until the final seconds of overtime when he let in his second goal of the game out of 38 shots. But, it’s one game. The guy is still only 24 years old, and adapting to the speed and skill of the NHL level. And, the other guy he split time with in net we all know well. Turco might have some rust on his hinges, but I have no doubt he’ll amaze Stars fans again this season when the games start counting.

So that’s it, fans. Nothing to worry about. Sure, it’s a slow start, and there are a few question marks. But this is a team that went all the way to the Western Conference Finals last season. They have proven they know how to win, and the pieces that are in play deserve to be there. The additions to the team have all looked good thus far. Let’s wait another couple of weeks before we panic. I think we’ll be glad we did.

The Stars opened up training camp two weeks ago, and my son and I joined several hundred other fans in getting a peek at the 2008-09 Dallas team. There was a great energy in the Frisco practice facility, even though the activities on the ice were far from game-like.

They aspired to be as organized as a pick-up game of pond hockey. It doesn’t matter though; hockey is back in Texas, and for diehard puck fans like myself and the others in observance two Saturdays ago, it’s enough to plaster a day-long smile on your face.

Watching the “stick and skate” slowly morph into offensive drills and then settle down for an informal 40:00 scrimmage, you were immediately hit by one thing: this isn’t your father’s Dallas Stars team. In the course of just two seasons, the average age of the players has come down from nearly 34 to somewhere just shy of 28. And, with the infusion of some more youth pushing to make the team this year, it may come down further still.

What hasn’t changed is the Dallas Stars approach to hockey. Coach Dave Tippett still preaches the fundamentals of a “defense-first” system. Don’t look for the Stars to change their tune and start to look like the run-and-gun Pittsburgh Penguins of last year. The players may change, but the song remains the same. The addition of skilled players does allow the Stars to be more deadly on the offensive side of the blue line. But they won’t sacrifice defense to get there.

Early last week, Tippett announced that he’d like to play around with the way he’s using Mike Modano in the offensive scheme. This is a great time to try out new ideas, and Tip may have gotten the game-winner on this one. While Modano turned into a great two-way player under former coach Ken Hitchcock (maybe the best in the league), his talents are being wasted on the checking line, which is where he was assigned last season. Going against the other team’s top line, Modano is skating back to his own defensive zone most of the time, and looking to where he can stop a play from developing, rather than developing plays of his own.

The idea Tippett has, at least as an experiment, is to put Modano on a line with Brad Richards and Sean Avery, and see what chemistry can develop. With the speed of Modano and Richards, and the physicality of Avery in front of the net, things might get explosive quick.

I know I can’t wait to see how this trial plays out in the first few preseason games. As long as the replacement center on the checking line (most likely Steve Ott) can hold down their duties, I think this is going to be a very successful move.

It’s hard to believe it’s hockey season again already, but the Dallas Stars will kick off their 2008-2009 campaign on September 19th, as training camp opens at the Dr. Pepper StarCenter in Frisco. The first full day on the ice will be the following day, Saturday, and all training camp practices will be open to the public.

Of course, this will be Stars fans first chance to check-out new Star Sean Avery. Avery is one of those players you hate when they’re on the other team, but love when they’re on your roster. And, he brings back some of the same grit and attitude the ’99 Stanley Cup winning team had in players like Derian Hatcher, Richard Matvichuk and the “Little Ball of Hate”, Pat Verbeek. He’s also shown he knows how to bury the puck, scoring 15 goals twice in the last three seasons.

Many fans will also be eager to see some of the new, young faces that have been impressing scouts around the league at the 2008 NHL Prospects Tournament which has been going on this week in Traverse City, MI. The Stars finished tournament play with a 3-0-0 record, and will be facing the Atlanta Thrashers Prospects (also 3-0-0) in the championship game on September 17th at 5:30 PM CDT.

One of the most heralded young Stars that fans will be looking to see on the ice is Fabian Brunnstrom. The 23-year old played in the Swedish Elite League last year, and is looking to return to the form that allowed him to net 38 goals and amass 79 points in just 49 games playing for Boras HC. While the Swedish Elite League may still lack the skill you’ll find at the NHL level, it’s more than comparable to the talent at the major junior and even AHL levels, and Brunnstrom shows that he is ready to take the next step.

James Neal, the Stars 2nd round pick in 2005, had 3 goals and 3 assists for the Stars Prospects this year in the tournament, and has proven he can play well on the penalty kill. Neal will most likely start the year in the AHL, but if he continues the strong play he’s shown thus far, he might be a callup sometime this season.

Another young standout that will be fun to watch is Jamie Benn. Last season with the Kelowna Rockets of the WHL (a junior league), Benn scored 33 goals and 32 assists (65 points) in 51 games, and had 11 points in 7 playoff games. He also turned heads in Traverse City. With just 50 seconds left in the game against the Columbus Blue Jacket Prospects on Sunday, Benn scored the game-winning goal.

This year is shaping up to be a very interesting and promising one, and fans will want to keep their eyes on these rising Stars.