Dallas Stars Are Still Rising, Which Is Perfectly Alright
By Josh Clark
The Dallas Stars picked up the phrase ‘Victory Rising’ over the course of this season, more specifically in the playoffs. It will live on though, especially considering it perfectly embodies where the Stars are going.
Today, the Dallas Stars will host their exit interviews. As it is with all teams, this is the final day that the media will have the chance to formally interview the Stars’ players before they go their separate ways for the summer.
The Stars are still in a bit of a sore spot, as is their fan base. On Wednesday night, the team endured a brutal 6-1 routing from the St. Louis Blues in the deciding game seven of the Western Conference semifinals. To make matters worse, it was on home ice in front of an overflow of Stars fans.
Dallas is now headed into arguably their foggiest offseason in years. The Stars have obvious question marks in the goaltending and defensive departments, as well as on special teams. There are plenty of scenarios where the Stars could simply go one way or the other, and it will definitely be interesting to see which way GM Jim Nill decides to go.
Besides picking up players, the Stars will also be dealing with a plethora of free agents. Dallas will have to make decisions on 11 total upcoming free agents, including eight UFA’s like Jason Demers and Alex Goligoski. All 11 have both a case for and against them remaining on the team, so each decision made will not be an easy one. But that’s the way the hockey business goes.
Though exit interview day is here and following it will be the offseason, there is still some down time as the final four teams in the Stanley Cup Playoffs duke it out and decide who is truly the best.
The crazy thing is, it feels as though the Stars should still be in the fight. It hasn’t even been 48 hours since their last game ended, which is the usual duration of time between playoff games. As the days continue to roll along and no Dallas Stars hockey presents itself, it will be a more effective depressant.
This past season gave Stars fans almost too much to be excited about. After a disappointing and unexpected 2014-2015 season ended with the Stars seven points away from the final playoff spot, Dallas saw a major overhaul. Bringing in Patrick Sharp, Johnny Oduya, and Antti Niemi over this past offseason helped reassure Stars fans that the playoffs were not so distant of a reality as they had been the year before.
The Dallas Stars wasted no time bursting out of the gate at the start of this year, quickly earning the title of “best team in the NHL” before the turn of the new year. By the end of game 82, the Dallas Stars had clinched the Central Division and Western Conference titles and were surging into the postseason race.
With all of the growing hype surrounding the club, a new phrase was born. Every playoff-bound hockey team usually adopts one, and the Stars followed suit by adopting ‘Victory Rising’ before the postseason began.
Back in 2013-2014 when the Dallas Stars shocked a majority of the NHL by securing the final wild card spot in the Western Conference, they overextended their saying ‘A New Star Is Rising’ from the beginning of the season into the playoffs.
But this one just seemed special. Victory Rising. How catchy is that? Someone should put that on a t-shirt (oh wait).
The Dallas Stars definitely proved that this saying was a legitimate testament to their postseason aspirations through the first two rounds. They fended off the Minnesota Wild in a thrilling 4-2 first round series, and ended on a sour note in a seven-game slate in the second round.
So what does that mean? Is Victory Rising officially out as a Stars saying?
Well, no. At least it shouldn’t be. What a lot of people don’t notice is what the saying implies. Many assume that Victory Rising means that the Dallas Stars, a typically victorious team this past year, would rise above the rest in the playoffs on their way to the Stanley Cup Finals.
That may have been what they were going for, who knows? But the more acceptable and less painful answer is that the term “rising” is referring to the fact that it is not an instantaneous process. If that were the case, the saying would have simply been ‘Victory Risen.’
But they knew that the Stars had a slim chance of rising all the way in one short year. It’s not often that a team leaps from outside the playoff bubble to hoisting the Cup in one short year.
Victory Rising simply gives light to the fact that this is a process. And depressing as it may be right now, things are on their way up. Things are still rising.
Sure, the Dallas Stars were one heck of a team this year. A record of 50-23-9, 109 points, and two banners are proof of that fact. But the Cup can only be earned through hard work, sweat, experience, and overall determination. The Stars showed many of these characteristics in this playoff run, but they just were not enough to counteract the Blues’ strength.
That’s what happens in the NHL. You do a great job, and if you fall short, you pick yourself up and try again the next year. That’s why there always is a next year. Because once everyone returns, there is a new team ready to prove that they are ready to outrun the rest.
On the bright side, the Stars did a great job this season of rising. They rose from the ashes of a subpar hockey team last season to a divisional champion hockey team this year. Sure they ended up falling two rounds short, but that’s what the rising part is for.
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So before you go throwing your Victory Rising shirts into the back of your closet with the “Believe” shirts from the 2008 run, just remember that this is a delicate process that requires the utmost patience. A long and eventful offseason is stretched out in front of this Dallas Stars team, and they have a chance to go back to the drawing board and create an even more effective strategy for next year.
Things may look bleak at this current moment. But it is all about taking each stride with them and understanding that sooner or later, all the pieces will fall in the right place, creating an unstoppable force. But until that moment happens, there must be trust and patience. There is no progress without struggle, and that’s what the Stars are learning right now.
Victory Rising is such a fascinating saying when you think about it. Sure the rising part does not involve much enjoyment, but that’s why the victory is there. As they continue to rise, the victory will become more precious and consistent.
Next: Looking Ahead At The Dallas Stars' Offseason Journey
Keep your eyes open and looking forward, Stars fans. Another opportunity to improve presents itself, and before you know it, the Dallas Stars and all of their loyal fans will be back to doing what they do best: rising.