The three-time defending Presidents and Kelly Cup champion Allen Americans took two major steps toward returning to the ECHL Finals by winning both of their meetings at Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana over the weekend. Co-captain Gary Steffes...
The term “home ice” became something of an anomaly in the Stars-Blues Conference Semifinal showdown. The “home team” won just two of the seven games as the visitor captured each of the last four contests. Visiting St. Louis completed this unlikely trend with a 6-1...
The three-time defending Presidents and Kelly Cup champion Allen Americans continued their quest for a fourth consecutive hockey chalice. General Manager-Coach Steve Martinson’s skaters upended the highly-favored ECHL regular season champion Missouri Mavericks, 5-1 in...
A few days after my wife of 23 years, Ilene, passed away at 55 years of age following a heroic five year battle with cancer in June of 2009, the principal at All Saints Catholic School in north Dallas – where I taught middle school English – reassured me that...
With their backs to the wall, the NHL’s regular season Western Conference champion rewrote the script for staying alive Monday night. Despite being outshot 37-14, the Dallas Stars jumped out to a 3-0 lead in Game Six and held on for a season-saving 3-2 victory over...
The Stars rebounded beautifully from a 6-1 blowout loss in Game Three to upend the host Blues, 3-2 in overtime on May 5 at Scottrade Center. Forward Cody Eakin netted his first playoff goal less than three minutes into overtime to vault Dallas back into...
Despite dropping a 4-3 overtime verdict in Game Two of their second round Stanley Cup Western Conference playoff series with visiting St. Louis on Sunday, May 1, the Dallas Stars refused to “sing the blues.” Instead, they were extremely upbeat as they prepared to...
This series could be one for the ages. The Dallas vs. St. Louis second round Stanley Cup showdown will pit the two teams that battled down to the regular season wire to claim the Western Conference and Central Division crowns. The Stars won that battle, but who will...
The ECHL defending Kelly Cup Champion Allen Americans are at their best – and most dangerous – when they play a Game Seven on their Allen Event Center Home Ice. General Manager/Coach Steve Martinson’s “never say die” icemen once again rallied from the brink of playoff...
Stars fans, keep those defibrillators handy! As you peruse this, odds are that many Dallas Stars fans’ hearts are still pounding in their chests. That’s what happens when your team comes within a fraction of an inch of surrendering a four-goal lead and needing sudden...
After winning three consecutive playoff championship in the CHL and ECHL, the Allen Americans know what is in store for them as they seek a fourth straight title. General Manager-Coach Steve Martinson’s skaters finished the regular season with 13 wins, six losses and...
The Dallas Stars put their Western Conference post-season foes on notice Saturday night, rallying for a 3-2 victory over Nashville to capture the Central Division and conference championships and erase memories of their failure to reach last season’s Stanley Cup...
Shaking off a mid-season slump, the Dallas Stars are spending the regular season’s waning nights battling for the top seed in the Central Division and Western Conference. Dallas recovered nicely to win seven and lose twice in overtime during a 12-game span that saw...
The Dallas Stars are hoping for a deep playoff run, and rumors were aswirl that General Manager Jim Nill was seriously pursuing a deal to land a premier defenseman to help make that a stronger possibility. Meanwhile, back on the frozen pond, Coach Lindy Ruff’s...
General Manager Jim Nill never blinked when the opportunity presented itself to add a solid defenseman who can move the puck. Nill dug into his team’s pockets and spent a promising junior forward in Brett Pollock, one of his team’s top six defensemen in Jyrki...
After a pair of tough, gut-check victories on the road against Central Division foes Winnipeg and Colorado to generate momentum returning from the NHL All Star Break, the Dallas Stars returned home to face division leader Chicago. And in front of a raucous crowd of...
The Dallas Stars’ meteoric rise to the top of the NHL was highly anticipated by their fans and local media last season, a disappointing one that ended with no playoffs. But when the puck was dropped to begin this season, the pieces were finally in place. What a...
For a brief moment on Sunday, Nov. 8, the Western Conference-leading Dallas Stars permitted themselves to celebrate the franchise’s best start to a regular season. Still wiping away the sweat from a hard-fought 4-1 victory in Detroit that gave Dallas a 12-3-0 mark to...
If this were a Broadway show, you’d call it an opening night hit. The Dallas Stars defeated Pittsburgh Thursday night at American Airlines Center, 3-0, displaying an up-tempo offense and a change between the pipes as the curtains went up on the 2015-16 NHL season....
Stars General Manager Jim Nill’s third straight summer of fun enabled him to add a second recent Stanley Cup winner in Patrick Sharp to the likes of previous off-season acquisitions Tyler Seguin (who won the Cup in 2011 with Boston) and Jason Spezza. Those three...
You won’t find many hockey conversations that include the nation of Israel. The country is better known as a Jewish and Democratic state of nearly 8.2 million people. Israel is known as the “land of milk and honey, indicative of the Promised Land’s fertility. The...
The Dallas Stars’ recent trade for former Chicago sharpshooter Patrick Sharp is an intriguing one. Will this end up being a bonanza or a bust? When the curtain goes up on the 2015-16 NHL campaign, will the Stars’ lineup be infused with a solid two-way player who adds...
Winning is contagious! That winning feeling breeds the desire to succeed. The coach sets the mood, then a leader among the players enjoins another to believe that they can overcome the intense odds of postseason competition. And, before you know it, everyone has...
There were reported murmurs among some players on existing ECHL teams that the two-time defending CHL President’s Cup Champion Allen Americans did not match up well in their new league. The last two rounds of the playoffs, those naysayers were widely reported to have...
There will be no tomorrows after Sunday. The Allen Americans and South Carolina Stingrays will meet that day at the Allen Event Center in Texas to decide the 2014-2015 ECHL Kelly Cup champion with a 4 p.m. (CDT) puck drop. For the two-time defending CHL President’s...
Last Spring, Allen Americans left wing Vincent Arseneau was a member of the CHL Denver Cutthroat team that fell in five games to the President’s Cup champion Americans. Prior to the opener of this year’s Allen-South Carolina ECHL Kelly Cup Finals series, the 23-year...
The ECHL Western Conference champion Allen Americans knew their opponent in this Kelly Cup final series would be tough and opportunistic. The East Conference champion South Carolina Stingrays from North Charleston have been that and a whole lot more while taking Games...
The reigning two-time CHL Presidents Cup Champion Allen Americans were in a hole, and realized their defensive corps would have to pull tighter on the reins in order to rein in the Ontario Reign. Proving it could be bent but not broken, the Amerks’ seven man...
How does one juggle the gratification of advancing deeper into the ECHL Kelly Cup playoffs with the sensation of nervous anticipation that the spotlight is about to get brighter and hotter? That’s what the Allen Americans did in the moments after winning a taut 4-2...
It wasn’t as easy as one might have expected in a series between two teams that were separated by 26 standings points in the Central Division during the just completed regular season. But the two-time defending CHL Presidents Cup champion Allen Americans battled their...
