Dallas Stars vs. Minnesota Wild: A Battle For A Franchise
By Josh Clark
The cities of Dallas and Minnesota have been battling for 23 years now regarding the controversial decision in 1993 to move the Stars to Big D. That makes this year’s playoff matchup even more enticing.
The city of Dallas is highly known for their sports franchises. It is one of only 13 cities in the United States with all at least one franchise in each of the four major sports (NHL, NFL, NBA, MLB).
The Dallas Cowboys are known for continually receiving a lot of flack. The Texas Rangers are known for coming oh so close two years straight, only to fall in the World Series. The Dallas Mavericks won the NBA Finals in 2011, and have been stuck in a trial-and-error process since with new lineups composed primarily of recycled veterans.
Who does that leave? Oh yes, the Dallas Stars. The Stars are one of the hottest teams in the city and league right now, holding a first place seed in the Western Conference with the Stanley Cup Playoffs right around the corner.
The Dallas Stars have fought hard to get where they are right now. After five seasons of rebuild spanning from 2008-2014, the Stars are finally back to performing consistently as a hockey club and put together one of the hottest starts in franchise history this past year. As a result, they were crowned Central Division and Western Conference champions, and will face the second wild-card place team, the Minnesota Wild.
A lot of analysts and the majority of brackets that have been created are taking the Stars to knock off the Wild in as little as four or five games. Basically, people are assuming that Dallas will handle Minnesota with ease.
While this may be true (though you can never count any playoff team out in the Stanley Cup Playoffs), this series might end up being the most enjoyable one to watch throughout the first round.
The Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild have a bit of a history with each other to say the least. The two clubs are not on peaceful terms, and that is why this series has everything a typical hockey fan could want in a first round playoff matchup: physicality, aggression, history, hatred, and pandemonium.
Just a little while after the 1991 NHL season, the Minnesota North Stars franchise was struggling to stay afloat in terms of attendance, profitability, and overall popularity. The team had just lost in the Stanley Cup Finals, yet the popularity was still nowhere close to what it should have been.
North Stars’ owner Norm Green was looking for options on how to resurrect the lost franchise, and began planning for a potential relocation. He first looked at Anaheim, California as a plausible landing spot. This idea was quickly tossed out when the NHL awarded an expansion team (the Mighty Ducks) to the city in 1992. The club adopted a new franchise the next season that shifted away from “North Stars” to plain “Stars.”
In 1993, Green officially acquired the right to move the entire team and franchise to the city of Dallas. Leaving the “State of Hockey” was not taken lightly by any Minnesotans, but the market in Dallas proved to be a fluid one that could sustain and embrace a hockey organization.
The state of Minnesota became infuriated with the NHL and began quarreling for their franchise back. In return, the NHL granted the Minnesota Wild to the state in 2000.
But things were not all peachy. Far from it, in fact. The state of Minnesota still twinges at the sound of “Norm Green” and react with bitter disdain. The North Stars had been a part of Minnesota hockey tradition since 1967 when the team was first created. Losing it to a sweltering sweat pit like Dallas seemed unorthodox.
Since then, relations have been rather tense between not only the Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild, but also their fan bases. If you have not already caught wind of these altercations, here are two videos to jar your memory.
If you watch the second video from the 2012-2013 lockout season, Dallas Stars color commentator Daryl Reaugh makes a comment about the two franchises and how their relationship could become the next great NHL rivalry over the years to come. He also mentions that if the two were to ever meet up in the playoffs, it would definitely be an interesting and intense matchup. He has a point.
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The Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild will kick off what can be known from now going forward as “the battle for the (North) Stars”, or something like that. You can call it what you like. Something tells me Jamie Benn won’t care. But if a Wild player tries to make himself a big deal, Benn will have plenty to say about it. That’s just how this rivalry goes.
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Just be clear that the Stars and Wild will be sharing no friendly smirks once the series starts up Thursday night deep in the heart of Dallas. They have a franchise, but they still want their old one back. Funny how that works. Keep a close eye on this one, folks. There are bound to be plenty of fireworks.