I worked for the Dallas Stars as a gameday merchandise setup guy and Starstuff employee in the 1995-96 and in the 96-97 season, I set up the pre-game program distribution for ushers and our program sales folks. I had a few pregame meals at Reunion in the cafeteria sitting across from you and Fornes.... or you and Razor after you got promoted to pbp. I remember you would come to the merchandise warehouse at Valley Ranch to cut promos in a quiet area occasionally. In the far back of that warehouse, we had old wooden sticks from Ciccone, Sjodin, Ciccarelli, McCrae, and even Jon Casey's old game used gear from MN. (I wish I would have gotten Oscar to see if I could get some deep discounts on those old sticks as we never put them out to sale for some reason). We also had the old skate sharpening machine from Minnesota too. I have two daughters that ended up playing travel hockey at Valley Ranch for the two orgs that now call it home. But we moved to Chanhassen MN so our girls could play affordable hockey up there and have a chance to play against girls. I am not sure that had the Stars ever not moved to Dallas that I would have had children that played the game, and that I would have ever spent the 5 years I spent in Minnesota - strange to think about. When it comes to Stars history, few if any will know more than you. When it comes to your body of work in play by play, I think you are among the best along with Doc Emerick, Darren Pang, and dare I say Gary Thorne from ESPN. Oddly enough, the year before the Stars moved to Texas, I got into hockey playing roller hockey behind a church in Grand Prairie AND by playing the EA Hockey 93 game. Then the Stars moved to Dallas, and NHL 94 came out, where Jeremy Roenick was my go to guy to kick everyone's ass. I only asked 1 player for an autograph ever and it was JR who signed my NHL94 cartridge for me after a Hawks game vs Dallas in the old StarsClub vinyl igloo. My regret is I didn't stay with the org a bit longer so I could have been at the infamous and epic Pantera party in 99. But $5 and hour and $40 a game wasn't gonna cut it. :(
Great Story! Love to hear Stars history
Thanks. You’re gonna get it. :)
I worked for the Dallas Stars as a gameday merchandise setup guy and Starstuff employee in the 1995-96 and in the 96-97 season, I set up the pre-game program distribution for ushers and our program sales folks. I had a few pregame meals at Reunion in the cafeteria sitting across from you and Fornes.... or you and Razor after you got promoted to pbp. I remember you would come to the merchandise warehouse at Valley Ranch to cut promos in a quiet area occasionally. In the far back of that warehouse, we had old wooden sticks from Ciccone, Sjodin, Ciccarelli, McCrae, and even Jon Casey's old game used gear from MN. (I wish I would have gotten Oscar to see if I could get some deep discounts on those old sticks as we never put them out to sale for some reason). We also had the old skate sharpening machine from Minnesota too. I have two daughters that ended up playing travel hockey at Valley Ranch for the two orgs that now call it home. But we moved to Chanhassen MN so our girls could play affordable hockey up there and have a chance to play against girls. I am not sure that had the Stars ever not moved to Dallas that I would have had children that played the game, and that I would have ever spent the 5 years I spent in Minnesota - strange to think about. When it comes to Stars history, few if any will know more than you. When it comes to your body of work in play by play, I think you are among the best along with Doc Emerick, Darren Pang, and dare I say Gary Thorne from ESPN. Oddly enough, the year before the Stars moved to Texas, I got into hockey playing roller hockey behind a church in Grand Prairie AND by playing the EA Hockey 93 game. Then the Stars moved to Dallas, and NHL 94 came out, where Jeremy Roenick was my go to guy to kick everyone's ass. I only asked 1 player for an autograph ever and it was JR who signed my NHL94 cartridge for me after a Hawks game vs Dallas in the old StarsClub vinyl igloo. My regret is I didn't stay with the org a bit longer so I could have been at the infamous and epic Pantera party in 99. But $5 and hour and $40 a game wasn't gonna cut it. :(
Great stuff. I know I asked you about Reunion, but did you manage to grab anything from the Met before leaving for Dallas?