Dallas Stars: Reviewing A Busy Weekend For The Team

The Dallas Stars had a power-packed last few days, which turned out to be extra special in my book during my first trip to Dallas.

I took my first ever trip to Dallas last week. And on Thursday, during my first ever game at the AAC, the “welcome home Dallas Stars fans” pre-game montage on the Jumbotron really gave me some unexpected feels.

Let me back up, though. Anyone who has been keeping up with the Stars since Thursday knows that the last few days in the Dallas hockey world have been a crazy roller coaster ride, pushing all three of the Stars’ most recent games into frenetic overtimes and featuring crazy buzzer-beaters and way too many goals under review.

I inadvertently chose two of these games as my first ever Stars home game experiences. For those who don’t know, I’m an east coast native who, before Thursday, had attended only road games when the Stars ventured anywhere near my own stomping grounds (I️ know, it’s a long story. You can get the gist of it here: Dallas Stars Confession: Fan Out Of Water).

Needless to say, watching the Stars in person, regardless of where, is an amazing experience for someone who loves the team. But really, I had no clue what I was missing.

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So even before puck drop Thursday night, and even before taking in the ice and the Jumbotron and the glory that is the Stars’ home turf, my introspective and analytical mind was having a field day. Standing in front of the AAC for the first time, visiting the Hangar, and passing through dense crowds of pure victory green was more than a great experience for me- it was a very important one.

Being a non-native sports fan, so to speak, has its pros and cons like everything else. Social media has made it so easy to connect where connections would be impossible otherwise. So although I’ve identified as a part of this group, the Stars family, for years, this weekend made it different.

Truth be told, it was a little bit like coming home. For those of you sighing at the cliche sound of it all, let me explain. Sitting in the AAC, passing someone every few steps who was wearing the same jersey as me- it was a great new notion of belonging in a deeper way than interacting with the fan base on Twitter. It was like finally coming inside when I’d been standing outside with my nose pressed against the window for a while.

And although I didn’t meet any of you (that I know of) while I was there, I’m still left with the impression that I did meet all of you that I’ve talked to on Twitter or have become familiar with online through Blackout Dallas.

That Thursday night before puck drop, I tweeted about my current situation and of course lied about the stability of my emotional state. I was blown away at some of the responses I got- fellow fans excited for me and interested in my experience.

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So the pre game montage on the Jumbotron did hit me in the feels. It reminded me that this epic excitement and feeling of camaraderie was perpetual, something the cameras don’t always pick up on and translate to me when I’m watching on my couch at home.

But of course, the whole game was enough to make me want to pitch a tent and make the AAC my literal home. I left feeling high and jittery, and the Stars hadn’t even earned the second point in overtime.

That experience would have been enough, but I’ve never been one to leave well enough alone. I went back on Saturday and witnessed what was probably the most epic sporting event I will ever see in my life (okay, maybe I’m being a little dramatic, but then again maybe not).

All of the last second equalizing goals were enough to ruin my nerves in their own, but Jamie Benn‘s overtime winner and goal drought-snapper made me, and in my defense, everyone around me collectively lose our minds. I was reminded immediately of a similar, triumphant moment in 2015, when I watched from my pre-furnished senior year apartment as Jamie Benn clinched his Art Ross win in those final dramatic moments of the season.

Then, I had jumped on the couch and thrown open a window to yell before I burst from my exuberance. The outside world was quite and dark and saturated only in the yellowed glow of street lights and droll hum of nighttime traffic. Someone had yelled at me to shut up. The experience of that jubilant Dallas Stars moment was simultaneously electrifying and isolating.

Saturday afternoon’s win was at the complete opposite end of the spectrum, and that experience of togetherness, of knowing that I was not a solitary conductor of the electricity of that moment, was worth every one of the 1,276 miles.

Next: Stars Need Current Jamie Benn To Stick Around

Knowing that the growing potential and drive demonstrated by the team I love will be taking them to even greater heights that the Stars family will get to experience together, in one way or another from near or far, was worth even more.

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