A Little Piece of Home

When I was in 9th grade the Dallas Stars won the Stanley Cup. The playoffs were a huge deal and everyone got really into the sport, including myself. My best friend pointed out a Stars player that she thought was really cute. His name was Mike Modano. And the obsession began. My friend and I watched pretty much every game and drooled over Mike's face. We were fortunate enough to go to a few games during our high school years and we often wore specially made shirts or took big signs with the hope that we'd end up on the Jumbo Tron. The sign that made us famous? "Melanie and Megan love Modano and Morrow (Morrow was our second favorite player)"

Hockey was a big part of our lives. Some of my most memorable life experiences include Dallas Stars hockey. One of them was when we stood in line for hours at a sporting good store to meet Mike and have him sign pictures. We were so in love. I'm pretty sure we said less than 5 words to him, but we did get a picture taken. It was awesome. The second big event occurred after a Stars practice. They occasionally had practices that were open to the public so we went and watched one. After the practice some of the players hung around to autograph things. I happened to have a shirt that said "I heart Morrow" and held it out for him to sign. The adorable smile on his face when he saw it was priceless. He signed the heart ;)

During some point when I was in college, the NHL players went on strike and we went a whole year without hockey. However, some of the NHL players went to play for minor league teams so they could stay in shape and continue playing. Being the lucky girl that I am, Brenden Morrow played for the minor league team in Oklahoma City, about an hour from where I went to school. My roommate (a fellow Stars fan) and I went to see him play. To prove our obsession even more, my roommate and I decorated an entire hallway in our apt when Stars memorabilia.

After college Jake and I moved to Las Vegas and I was no longer able to watch my beloved team until the post season rolled around and the games became nationally televised. They haven't been doing so well the past few years though and weren't exactly big players in the post season. I really haven't kept up with them and I honestly know of two players on the team that were around when I originally became obsessed. One of them is Brenden Morrow.

And a couple of weeks ago when Jake announced that he'd scored free tickets to the San Jose Sharks game, I flipped out. Why would I want to see the Sharks play? Because they were playing the Dallas Stars!

We made plans to go see the game, stay the night in San Jose and then do some more fun things the next day before heading home. I made a sign the day before and hoped that it would bring my team some good luck.

It did NOT bring good luck. In fact, it was probably the worst game I've ever seen the Stars play. The score was 6-0. I was sooooo disappointed that I was never able to jump up and down, wave my sign around and scream in excitement after scoring a goal. I'd waited so long for this, and they let me down. Don't worry though, I'm not about to switch my loyalty to the Sharks. They will always be one of my most hated teams.

However, I do have to give the fans some major credit. I'd heard some horror stories in the days leading up to the game that Sharks fans were crazy and they were sure to heckle the lone Stars fan in the crowd. As it turns out, I had nothing to be scared of. They were so incredibly nice. Several people smiled when they saw my sign and some even commented that the liked the sign.

Alright, enough chatting, here are the rest of the pictures.....P.S. Brenden Morrow is number 10. I went a little paparazzi on him.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention. We had AMAZING seats. Center ice, row 6.






Stay tuned for more of our fun adventures in the bay area...