American Airlines Center - Dallas Stars

Trip Notes: Used another free flight to fly into Dallas. Stayed at the Comfort Inn & Suites Market Place….although it wasn’t really very close to Market Place. Ended up having to rent a car. Went down to West End. It happened to be there the same weekend as the Texas vs. Oklahoma football so there were lots of festivities going on that weekend. West End was absolutely crazy Friday night. I had such a great time. I couldn’t believe how many fans were there. It was basically one huge prep rally. Tons of Texas and OU fans showed up. Went to the Stars game Saturday night. Left town Sunday morning.

Arena Notes: America Airlines was remarkably nice. I’d have to say one of the nicest inside and out. The outside almost looks like a new Old time arena…if that makes sense. It was about a 10 minute drive from my hotel. Located right off the highway, it was easy to find close parking. The concourses were the nicest that I’ve ever seen. I should’ve taken a picture of it because I can’t do it justice on paper. Had great seats up on the 3rd level near center ice…for only $10. Super cheap even for being near the top row. Now if only the guy in front of me wouldn’t have learned forward through the whole game and blocked my view of center ice. It sucks being short at those times. Some of the fans sitting near me weren’t too bright, but I won’t judge the rest of the fans because of them. ;) The arena was pretty full. There were some lazy boy chairs on the lower level that looked super comfy. Not sure what you have to do or pay to sit there. America Airlines Center opened up in 2001 and seats 18,000 hockey fans. Prior to AAC the Stars played at Reunion Arena. I don’t believe they have a mascot. Prior to 1993 the Dallas Stars were the Minnesota Northstars. Retired numbers are 7 – Neal Broten, 8 – Bill Goldsworthy, 19 – Bill Masterton….all which played for Minnesota. #99 – Gretzky is also retired.

Game Notes: Marek Svatos and the Colorado Avalanche took full advantage of Dallas forward Jason Arnott's late meltdown.
Svatos scored on a power-play rebound with 1:57 left to give the Avalanche a 3-2 victory over the Stars on Saturday night.
Svatos scored off a scramble in front of the net with 2:09 remaining on a 7-minute power play resulting from Arnott's reaction to a hit by Colorado's Dan Hinote.
Arnott was bleeding heavily from a cut to the head after he was checked by Hinote with 6:48 remaining. Arnott's head struck the divider on the plexiglass, causing a gash over his left eye that required multiple stitches.
Arnott, who thought he'd been hit by a high stick, and teammate Bill Guerin retaliated, resulting in a brawl. Minor penalties were assessed to Arnott and Guerin, and Arnott also received a game misconduct for instigation to give the Avalanche the 7-minute power play.
Colorado's Ian Laperriere got a game misconduct for being the third man in the fight as well as a roughing minor.
"The hit felt up high and that's why I lost my cool," Arnott said. "I didn't think I'd get all those penalties, but I feel pretty bad about it."
Stars coach Dave Tippett said postgame replays showed Hinote's check was clean.
"It was a shoulder-to-shoulder hit and Jason's head caught the partition," Tippett said. "Our job is winning and taking every opportunity to put ourselves in a position to win. (Arnott's reaction) wouldn't be classified as giving us an opportunity to win."
Said Hinote: "I made the hit, turned around and it was chaos. I still don't know what happened."
Peter Budaj stopped 16 shots in his NHL debut. Joe Sakic added a goal and an assist for Colorado, and Pierre Turgeon had a power-play goal and an assist.
"Obviously this is something I was dreaming about as a kid," Budaj said.
Jere Lehtinen had a short-handed goal and Brenden Morrow added a third-period goal for Dallas.
Sakic's goal at 19:33 of the second period broke a 1-all tie. Sakic has 543 career goals, one short of tying Maurice Richard for 21st place.
Morrow tied it at 2 at 11:43 of the third period, converting from in front of the net after a feed from Guerin.
With a scoreless first period, Dallas was off to a far better defensive start than in Wednesday night's opener when the Stars trailed the Los Angeles Kings after one period, 4-0. The Stars rallied for a 5-4 victory in that game.
Colorado had a man advantage when Lehtinen scored on a bouncing shot taken from just inside the blue line at 52 seconds of the second period to give Dallas a 1-0 edge.
"The guys battled back for me after the short-handed goal," Budaj said. "I could have had that one."
The Avalanche tied it at 1 on the power play when Turgeon, a former Star, converted a goal-mouth pass from John-Michael Liles at 12:24 of the second period. Sakic also assisted on the goal. More Notes: RW Milan Hejduk is out for Colorado with a right knee injury. Hejduk underwent surgery on Sept. 20 and there is no timetable for his return. ... D Jon Klemm missed the game for the Stars due to back spasms. Klemm hasn't played or practiced since Wednesday. ... Lehtinen has seven career short-handed goals.
(*Game notes taken from espn.com*)