Minnesota North Stars
The Minnesota North Stars were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League for 26 seasons, from 1967 to 1993. The North Stars played their home games at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota, and the team's colors for most of its history were green, yellow, gold and white. The North Stars played 2,062 regular season games and made the NHL playoffs 17 times, including two Stanley Cup Final appearances, but were unable to win the Stanley Cup, losing to the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins in 1981 and 1991, respectively. After the 1992–93 season, the franchise moved to Dallas, and the team was renamed the Dallas Stars.
History
Beginnings
On March 11, 1965, NHL President Clarence Campbell announced that the league would expand to 12 teams from six by creating a new six-team division for the 1967–68 season. In response to the announcement, a partnership of nine men, led by Walter Bush, Jr., Robert Ridder, and John Driscoll, was formed to seek a franchise for the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. Their efforts were successful, as the NHL awarded one of its six expansion franchises to Minnesota on February 9, 1966. The five other franchises were awarded to Oakland, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis. The expansion fee for each new team was $2 million. The "North Stars" name was announced on May 25, 1966, after a public contest. The name derives from the state motto, "L'Étoile du Nord", a French phrase meaning "The Star of the North". Months after the naming of the team, ground was broken on October 3, 1966, for a new hockey arena in Bloomington. The home of the North Stars, the Metropolitan Sports Center, was built in 12 months at a cost of $7 million. The arena was ready for play for the start of the 1967–68 NHL season, but parts of its construction were incomplete. Spectator seats were still being installed as fans arrived for the opening home game on October 21, 1967.Early years
On October 11, 1967, the North Stars played the first game in franchise history on the road against the St. Louis Blues, another expansion team. The game was a 2–2 tie, with former US National Team forward Bill Masterton scoring the first goal in franchise history. On October 21, 1967, the North Stars played their first home game, against the California Seals. The North Stars won 3–1. The team achieved success early, reaching first place in the West Division halfway through the 1967–68 season. Tragedy struck the team on January 13, 1968, when Masterton suffered a fatal hit during a game against the Seals at Met Center. Skating towards the Seals goal across the blue line, he fell backward, hitting the back of his head on the ice, rendering him unconscious. He never regained consciousness and died on January 15, 1968, two days after the accident. He was 29. Doctors described the cause of death as a "massive brain injury". To date, this remains the only death of a player as a result of an injury during a game in NHL history. The North Stars retired his jersey, and later that year, hockey writers established the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, which would be given annually to a player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey. Following the news of Masterton's death, the North Stars lost the next six games.The North Stars achieved success in their first year of existence by finishing fourth in the West Division with a record of 27–32–15 and advancing to the playoffs. During the 1968 playoffs, the North Stars defeated the Los Angeles Kings in seven games after losing the first two in the series. In the next round, the West finals, the North Stars faced the St. Louis Blues in a series that also went seven games. Minnesota was one game away from advancing to the Stanley Cup Final but lost the deciding game in double overtime.
The team was led in the early years by the goaltending duo Lorne "Gump" Worsley and Cesare Maniago. Defenseman Ted Harris was the North Stars' captain. The first Stars team also included high-scoring winger Bill Goldsworthy and other quality players such as Barry Gibbs, Jude Drouin, J. P. Parise, Danny Grant, Lou Nanne, Tom Reid and Dennis Hextall.
The World Hockey Association began play in 1972 with a franchise based in St. Paul, the Minnesota Fighting Saints. While a number of exhibition games were played between teams in the two leagues, the North Stars never played their cross-town rivals. But the competition for the hockey dollar between these two clubs was fierce. Despite making a good account of themselves on the ice, insurmountable financial difficulties forced the Fighting Saints to fold midway through their fourth season. A second incarnation of the Fighting Saints lasted only half of the next season before also folding.
By 1978 the North Stars had missed the playoffs in five of the previous six seasons, and had only tallied two winning seasons since joining the league. Attendance had tailed off so rapidly that the league feared that the franchise was on the verge of folding. At this point, Gordon and George Gund III, owners of the equally strapped Cleveland Barons, stepped in with an unprecedented solution—merging the North Stars with the Barons. The merged team retained the North Stars name, colors, and history, and remained in Minnesota. But the wealthier Gunds became majority owners of the merged team, and the North Stars moved from the then five-team Smythe Division to the Barons' place in the Adams Division for the 1978–79 season. The recently retired Nanne was named general manager, and some of the Barons players – notably goaltender Gilles Meloche and forwards Al MacAdam and Mike Fidler – bolstered Minnesota's lineup. Furthermore, Minnesota had drafted Bobby Smith, who went on to win the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL's top rookie that year, and Steve Payne, who recorded 42 goals in his second campaign in 1979–80.
On January 15, 1979, the North Stars defeated the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden, 8–1. Tim Young became the second player in NHL history to score five goals on five shots. His five-goal game remains the best offensive output by a player in the Minnesota/Dallas franchise.
1980s
In the middle of this transition, a historic night awaited the North Stars. On January 7, 1980, Minnesota was scheduled to play the Philadelphia Flyers, who came to Bloomington with the NHL's and major league sports’ longest undefeated streak, a 35-game run of 25 wins and 10 ties. An all-time record Met Center crowd of 15,962 squeezed into the arena, which remained the highest total in all 26 seasons of the North Stars franchise. Minnesota ended the Flyers' streak with a 7–1 win. Seven different North Stars scored seven unanswered goals. In the quarterfinals of the 1980 playoffs, the North Stars upset the four-time defending champion Montreal Canadiens in seven games before bowing out to Philadelphia in the next round.With the addition of new players such as Minnesota native and 1980 Olympian Neal Broten and sniper Dino Ciccarelli, the North Stars had five straight winning seasons starting in 1979–80, which included back-to-back trips to the Stanley Cup semifinals, against the Flyers in 1980 and against the Calgary Flames in 1981. By defeating the Flames in 1981, the North Stars reached their first Stanley Cup Final. They lost in five games to the heavily favored New York Islanders.
On November 11, 1981, the Winnipeg Jets visited Met Center. Fueled by an eight-goal second period, and a four-goal, seven-point night by Bobby Smith, the North Stars scored the most goals in an NHL game since 1944 in a 15–2 win.
Following the 1981 NHL realignment to a more geographically grouped configuration, the North Stars were in the Norris Division. Ciccarelli scored a franchise record 55 goals in just his second season in 1981–82, leading Minnesota to its first division title. The team bowed out of the playoffs in the first round against the Chicago Black Hawks.
In the summer of 1982, general manager Lou Nanne drafted Brian Bellows, who scored 35 goals in his rookie season of 1982–83, when the team finished with 40 wins and 96 regular season points – both the most ever recorded in the 26 years the franchise was based in Minnesota. The North Stars lost in the playoffs to the Chicago Black Hawks in the second round.
In 1983–84 Bill Mahoney, a defensive-minded coach, took over. Early in the season, Bobby Smith was traded to the Montreal Canadiens for a pair of defense-minded forwards, Keith Acton and Mark Napier. The team posted the second-highest victory total in its history with 39 and won its second Norris Division crown in three years. Luckily for them, the Norris Division was very weak that year; they were the only team in the division to have a winning record.
In the playoffs, the North Stars defeated the Blackhawks. Minnesota won the series 3–2, then eliminated the St. Louis Blues in seven games. They then lost to the Edmonton Oilers in four games.
After 1984, the franchise only had one more winning season in Minnesota, in 1985–86. In 1987–88, it won 19 games, the second-fewest wins in franchise history. A loss to the Calgary Flames coupled with the Leafs' win over the Red Wings not only kept the North Stars out of the playoffs, but also with the worst record in the league. Chronic attendance problems led the owners to threaten to move the club to the San Francisco Bay Area, against the league's wishes.
1990s
The NHL instituted a compromise for the 1990–91 season whereby the Gund brothers were awarded an expansion team in the Bay Area, the San Jose Sharks, that would receive players from Minnesota via a dispersal draft with the North Stars. Both the Sharks and North Stars would then be able to select players from the other 20 NHL teams in an expansion draft. A group previously petitioning for an NHL team in the Bay Area, led by Howard Baldwin and Morris Belzberg, bought the North Stars as part of the deal. Baldwin and Belzberg purchased the team from the Gunds for approximately $38.1 million. Norman Green, a former part-owner of the Calgary Flames and a last-minute newcomer to Baldwin and Belzberg's group, purchased 51% controlling interest in the North Stars from them, with Baldwin and Belzberg sharing the remaining 49% stake. Green agreed to purchase Baldwin's 24.5% share, giving him more than 75% control of the team shortly after a dispute with Baldwin arose. Belzberg maintained his share of the rest of the team's stock until October 1990, when Green became the team's sole owner by buying Belzberg's shares.In the 1990–91 season, despite a losing record in the regular season, the North Stars embarked on a Cinderella run to the Stanley Cup Final. They knocked off the Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues in six games each and the defending Stanley Cup champion Edmonton Oilers in five games, making it to the finals for the second time in franchise history. The team fought hard against the eventual champion Pittsburgh Penguins, led by Mario Lemieux. They won two out of the first three contests before being obliterated 8–0 in game six of the best-of-seven series. It was the most lopsided defeat in a deciding game of the Stanley Cup Final since the original Ottawa Senators defeated the Dawson City Nuggets 23–2 in 1905.
Following the 1991 Finals run, the North Stars adopted a new logo – the word "STARS" in italicized gold capitals over a green star with a gold outline; the gold now a more metallic shade than the previous yellowish shade. The team also adopted black as its primary color for its road uniforms, and eliminated gold from the uniform, except for the logo. Even before the logo change, it had been speculated that the North Stars would adopt a new logo following the 1990–91 season, as the future primary logo was first painted on the Met Center ice before the aforementioned season, albeit in a reverse color scheme from its upcoming incarnation.
To celebrate the team's 25th anniversary, the team wore a commemorative patch on the left shoulder of its uniforms. The patch depicted Bill Goldsworthy, wearing a green uniform, facing off against Mike Modano, wearing the new black uniform.
Per the 1991 expansion agreement, the North Stars were allowed to protect fourteen players from selection by the Sharks. This meant the core of their 1991 conference championship roster essentially remained intact, with the team losing only four players from its NHL roster to San Jose. As a result, while the Sharks endured the typical struggles of an expansion team and finished last overall, the North Stars modestly improved from the 1990–91 regular season though still finishing with a losing record. They made the 1992 playoffs and took a 3–2 series lead into game six at the Met Center against the Norris Division champion Detroit Red Wings. The Red Wings won, 1–0, in overtime after a video referee review confirmed that Sergei Fedorov had scored a goal. This was the first use of video replay in the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Wings won the seventh game at home, 5–2.