It's Time for Changes in the Stars

Well, the NHL is more than halfway through the season. Tonight, the Stars are scheduled to play game 54 of 82 against the Buffalo Sabres.

The last time I wrote a  piece about the Stars was barely a month into the season. The Stars were leading the NHL in points, they were winning games. There were major goal scorers and the entire team was fighting to prove themselves. Players like Jamie Benn, Loui Eriksson, Brenden Morrow, and Sheldon Souray were making game changing plays. Even though the ownership of the team was still unknown, the team was making huge progress from the season before. Glen Gulutzan, the new Stars head coach, had created great lines and had made this group of players into a real team.

Oh how the times have changed...

The star players for this team have faded into the background lately. While Jamie Benn is great, he hasn't been as good as he was. Even after the boost of the All Star Games, Benn really hasn't been producing for the team like everyone thought (and still thinks) he should.Loui Eriksson has been all but invisible on the ice lately.Does anyone remember the last time Eriksson actually scored a goal? The captain, Brenden Morrow, hasn't even been in most of the games lately due to injuries. And for a while, any game he was in Morrow was getting more penalty minutes than shots. Sheldon Souray went from scoring and having goalies in fear of the Wonderbomb to the fans wondering why he's afraid to touch the puck. And these aren't the only players that have faded, the entire team has become lackluster at best.

Going into tonight's game, I really do worry about the Stars' hopes of making the playoffs. As it stands, the Stars have not won a single back to back game. Currently, the Stars are 0-7-1 in back to backs. That would be a total of 15 points that have been lost in back to backs alone. The Stars have another five back to backs left in the schedule, if things stay the way they are everyone can just count those ten points as lost. The Stars still have a game against the Red Wings, one game against the Blues, four games against the Canucks, and two more games against the Sharks. That's eight more games against the teams that hold the top four places in the Western Conference. If there aren't some major changes soon, the fans can be guaranteed another year of not making the playoffs.

I've heard a lot of different opinions from friends and fellow fans about changes that need to be made to the team. I've heard that the Stars need to trade Morrow, something that can't be done because of his no trade-clause with the Stars. I've heard that the team needs to trade for one of the top players, but if there's any hope of getting a game changer the Stars would need to give up someone like Benn or Eriksson. I've heard that Benn just needs to start scoring more, but he's still young and he's been amazing for a kid that's only 22 he's been amazing. I've heard that Gully needs to start putting the Nystrom line against other teams' top lines, but this really wouldn't work if this line stays the way it is. The  reason the third line was able to score against other teams is because they were up against other teams' third or fourth lines. When this line has been up against first or second lines, they've given up a lot of goals.

It seems to me that there are more reasonable ways to make changes in the Stars and see improvement. Why doesn't Gully actually switch up the players in the lines? It seems like he's picked out who is on which lines and refuses to make changes unless there's an injury. If you were to make big changes (like putting Nystrom with Benn) what would happen? The team needs to make changes and see who could work better with other people. The Stars also rely heavily on the goalies for most of the games they play. If the only factor stopping the other team from scoring a goal is Kari or Bachman, there needs to be a serious talk with the rest of the team. You can't depend on your goalie to stop every shot. There needs to be effort from the rest of the team as well. I've also noticed a heavy tendency for a lot of the players to play defensively instead of offensively. I don't see a lot of shots being taken. It's pretty simple, really, if you don't take a shot, you will never make the goal. So when the Stars are shooting half as much as their opponents, there really isn't much of a chance to win the game.

Every fan saw the potential that the Stars have at the beginning of the season. I know that the Stars could have made the playoffs this year if they had played consistently. Maybe not everyone will agree with me about how to make changes, but we all know that something needs to change. And soon. Even when they are losing, I'll always root for the Stars, they're my team and always will be. I just really hate watching the Stars lose. And this is a sentiment that I know I'm not alone in.

Post-Thanksgiving Wrap Up

I hope everyone out there had a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with lots of family and friends. Hopefully, you all had the sense to avoid over eating, but I know most people didn't. One of the great joys of being a vegetarian is that most of the holiday eating is centered around meat dished, so I never really worry about over eating. Yes, I am one of the lucky few to actually lose weight during the holidays!

But, I'm sure none of that really interests you all (although, I'm not sure how exciting most of this will be...).

Thanksgiving with the Sleepers is spent with Austin's dad and his side of the family. We always go over to his uncle's house for a feast that always leaves plenty of leftovers. We spend the day cooking and catching up on the goings on in our lives. And for this family, there's always something new being planned! It's great to be able to spend time catching up with everyone, and it's sad that it only happens a couple times a year. It was great to see everyone, the food was great and most people did end up eating too much. Anyways, here are a few pictures from Thanksgiving!

Isn't this a beautiful setting for fourteen? 

Father-in-law and more family! 

Mary and her parents, she was a fabulous hostess

Even with fourteen, we still had plenty of leftover turkey! 

Friday, Austin and I spent the day holed up inside and I did as much baking as I could get away with. I made a couple loaves of bread, cookies, and pie. I did anything I could to avoid going out in the Black Friday madness. I was smart enough to get my Black Friday shopping done on Thursday, from the comfort of my own couch. The deals are exactly the same, free shipping, no lines, no madness. Why people try to make it through the crowds is beyond me...

Friday night wasn't quite as quiet. We went to the Stars game with a friend of Austin's from high school. And since her dad worked on the bankruptcy case for the Stars, his company owns a suite. A suite from which we all watched the game. We did end up losing in a shoot out, but it was a great game nonetheless. It was also the first sold-out game of the season for the Stars. Also, we were just a suite away from Joe Nieuwendyk and Jere Lehtinen, so that was pretty awesome. It was kind of nice having Adam Burish out of the game due to injuries, but only because we met him as we were walking outside to smoke. It was quite the Star-studded night!

The rest of the weekend really doesn't have too much to talk about. The game Saturday night was horrible and the bias against the Stars is getting a bit ridiculous at this point. We had a couple friends over to watch the game and they couldn't help but agree. And when you have a Sabres fan agreeing that there is a bias, you know something is going on with the refs.

I did hear about the death of the legendary Gary Speed's passing, my thoughts are with his family and friends. For those that don't know, Gary Speed was a legend and a true class act in the world of (European) football. The circumstances of his passing are tragic and it just goes to show that no matter how happy someone seems on the inside, you never truly know what they're going through.

Its almost time....

Most people look forward to football (boring) or baseball (yawn) or golf (snooze) or basketball (really?), but there are only two sports that peak my interest: hockey and soccer. And since the World Cup is over (with that dirty pack of cheaters Holland stealing second place... But I'm not bitter or anything...) this is obviously about  hockey.

Anyone that pays any attention to the Stars here in Dallas is sure to tell you that the Stars really haven't been the best team for quite some time. Never the less, I"m still a devoted fan and hope for the best this year. I've been following the Stars even before I moved to Dallas, so the fact that I'll be able to go to the opening home game with this year is pretty exciting.

 Yeah, that's right, I've been able to score free tickets to the Stars vs. Red Wings game on October 16th.

I know you all wish you had my job where you could get free tickets to great games. I've also been given several Cowboys and Rangers tickets which I've promptly given to other people. I've also been able to order tickets for the Stars vs. Sabres match on October 30th. I was able to get a couple extras so I'll be giving those to our friend Dan (who is a groomsman in the wedding).

Dan is a native Buffalonian. He's also a huge hockey fan. He's a goalie on a couple local teams (and a pretty good one, at that). He was pretty excited to find out that I was able to get us all great seats for the game at such a great deal. I love having a concierge in the building!

I digress... Hockey is getting ready to start and I'm very excited about that fact.