1310 The Ticket's Matt McClearin Hates the Colorado Avalanche. And You Should Too.

It has happened! As you may recall, I wrote last month here in thethat we are experiencing something very rare in the DFW sports scene. Both the Dallas Mavericks of the NBA and the NHL’s Dallas Stars have advanced past the first round of the playoffs in the same season for the first time since 2003. Needless to say, we’re looking at another couple of weeks of intense playoff drama.That much is certainly true, especially as it pertains to the on-ice tenant of the American Airlines Center. There is precious little that will heighten local passions and angst like a series against a bitter rival will. And, once again, we are given just that as the Stars kicked-off a seven game series against the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night. TheColorado Avalanche, to be precise.After dispatching the defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights in the first round of the playoffs, the local club is now focused on a longtime rival and, let’s not forget, the 2022 Stanley Cup champs.Let me be abundantly clear: I hate the Avs. Of the 32 teams in the NHL, it is the Avalanche that lay claim to the title of being the team I hate the absolute most.But here’s the thing: rivalries make sports even more fun. They bring out a unique intensity. You love beating them and, perhaps more important, you can't stand losing to them. And for those of us who have been Dallas Stars fans for many years, the Avs bring out the best in us.I’ve mentioned in this space before about how hockey wasn’t really on my radar growing up until the Stars moved to Dallas in the fall of 1993. I was a teenager, curious about this sport played, you know, on ice, in a state that experiences the sort of summers that only Hansel and Gretel could relate to after being shoved into an oven.Back then, I knew the Galleria had an ice rink, but you only went there at Christmas to look at that giant tree or stare into stores no kid had money to shop in. It wasn’t the sort of place I could casually hop into for a bit of skill honing on a regular basis. The old Prestonwood Town Center mall had an ice rink, but that place was torn down not long after the Stars arrived in town. My point is that ice for hockey pretty much did not exist around here when the Stars were newcomers to Dallas. Instead of gliding and crashing on ice, most of us new hockey enthusiasts simply took to the streets and rollerbladed around pretending to be Mike Modano.Of course, such fervor was stoked by the fact the pro team on the ice was really damn good back then. Led by Modano and fellow all-stars Derian Hatcher, Guy Carbonneau, Brett Hull, Sergei Zubov, Joe Nieuwendyk and goalie Ed Belfour, the Stars of the late '90s were a powerhouse filled with A-List names.Now, that doesn't mean that the team experienced only success in the postseasons of that era. Heart-ripping playoff losses to the Edmonton Oilers in 1997 and the Detroit Red Wings in 1998 stung especially deep, given how loaded those Stars teams were and the fact that in '98, the team entered the playoffs as the No. 1 seed after a dominant regular season that saw the Stars claim the President’s Trophy for the most points in the league.But I didn’t hate the Oilers. The Red Wings were easy to hate, sure, because they were seemingly always good, but that was our first go 'round with them in the playoffs.All of that was mere table setting, because after those playoff exits came that magical, championship summer of 1999.The Stars were again the best team in hockey that year, and it wasn’t terribly close. They put up 114 points, beating the New Jersey Devils by nine. In the Western Conference, the gap was even bigger, with Colorado finishing with 98 points. That also meant the Avs were the second seed in the playoffs. An epic battle was set up perfectly.The Stars made their way through the first two rounds with relative ease, setting up the showdown against Colorado in the Western Conference Finals series.Even back then, before the rivalry grew all that heated, I hated that Avs team. I hated them all. Keep in mind I was barely out of high school at that point, but I took to calling them the “Craporado Suckalanche.”They had their own group of all-stars, including Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Adam Foote, Claude Lemieux, Adam Deadmarsh, Chris Drury and, perhaps the most hated of them all, goaltender Patrick Roy. Plus, their fans were insufferable. I distinctly recall them acting as though they truly “knew hockey” only because they were in the Rocky Mountains, and we were in the Texas Oven. And don’t forget, even Colorado didn’t welcome the Avs until the ’95-’96 season, well after the Stars arrived in Dallas.But the Avalanche had indeed won the Cup in 1996 in their very first season removed from their Quebec Nordique days, and along with the Stars, they had unquestionably been one of the consistently best teams in the West in the mid- to late-'90s. For the Stars to get to their own Cup, we fans knew Dallas would have to take Colorado out. The Avalanche were skilled, had depth, could score in bunches and were also physical and, as much as I hated him, had an all-time great at goalie.To be sure, that series was wild. After losing the opener at home, the Stars picked up wins in the second and third games to take a 2–1 series lead. Colorado snatched the fourth and fifth games of the series, only to see Dallas tie things up with an authoritative Game 6 victory.I’ll never forget Game 7. I was there, sitting with one of my lifelong best friends, and Dallas dominated the deciding game more than they had the previous game, sending the Avs home with a 4-1 win.As the final few minutes ticked down, the crowd began chanting “Eddie’s Better” over and over as a nod to Belfour taking down Roy. Both goalies are in the Hall of Fame now, and make no mistake, the '99 series is a major chapter in both of their stories. I remember how pissed-off Roy seemed to be, skating in his crease looking up into the stands as his club’s failed bid to advance played out.But, as epic as that series was, for it to become a true rivalry, the teams would need to meet again when the stakes were high. No one had to wait long for that to happen.The very next year in 2000, the Stars and Avs once again clashed in the Western Conference Finals for a trip to the Stanley Cup Final. It felt like most of America was pulling for the Avs because they had acquired future Hall of Famer defenseman Ray Bourque in a trade. Bourque played for 21 seasons in Boston and was as beloved as any player of that era. On top of all that, Bourque had never won a Cup. Aside from that notable addition, the teams were virtually the same as the previous year, plus the Stars were now the defending champs. As the '99 series had been, the '00 edition was insanely intense, and again, it went all the way to a Game 7 inside the old walls of Reunion Arena.After four games, the series was tied at two, with the teams alternating wins. Dallas took Game 5, Colorado nabbed Game 6. And, once again, I was able to be there for Game 7.But unlike the previous year’s deciding game, this Game 7 was one of the most epic, intense games I’ve ever seen live. The Stars were up 3-0 heading into the third period before the Avs chiseled away. Forsberg and Hejduk each scored for Colorado, and the final 11 minutes would agonizingly crawl by with the Stars leading by just one.With around 12 seconds left, Bourque took a shot from the point that hit the post. At that moment, it was as if the 18,000-plus of us there held our collective breath as the puck seemed to move in slow motion. Once we heard the “DINK!” of the post, we went ballistic, knowing the Stars had eliminated the Avs once again. Epic.Now that is how a great, intense rivalry begins.The two teams met again in 2004 and again in 2006. Both occasions were first round series in which the Avs had no trouble discarding Dallas. The fifth playoff meeting of the teams happened in 2020.Like everything else during that pandemic-altered year, that series differed greatly from the previous ones. An attempt to keep playing games while hopefully keeping players safe meant that fans weren’t allowed in the arenas; the playoffs took place in only two cities, Edmonton and Toronto, so there was no home-ice advantage for anyone.Unlike the Stars teams of 1999 and 2000, the 2020 Stars, led by Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin, weren’t the popular picks to go very far. That began to change by the time the Stars and Avalanche met in the Western Conference semifinals. As wild and unpredictable as that year had been for everyone in every walk of life, so too were the NHL playoffs. With a whopping 57 goals between the two teams in just seven games, it seemed neither team needed hometown fans to ratchet up their game.After taking a 3-1 series lead, Dallas lost Games 5 and 6. And in Game 7, the Avs had Dallas on the brink of elimination, leading 4-3 with just 3:30 to play before little-known Joel Kiviranta tied it and later completed a hat trick, netting the game winner in overtime. The Stars would go on to have an easier time against the Vegas Golden Knights before eventually losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Stanley Cup Final.A few of the top Colorado players from that 2020 series are taking the ice against the Stars in the latest edition of this thrilling rivalry: Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Mikko Rantanen and that traitor, former Dallas Star draft pick Val Nichushkin. As for the home team, many of its young core are facing the Avalanche in the playoffs for the first time, including goal scorer Wyatt Johnston and all-star goalie Jake Oettinger.If you’ve been following along, the Stars are 3-2 all-time in their series against the Avs. The years they won? 1999, 2000, 2020. You may recognize those years as the three times the Stars have made their way to the Stanley Cup Final.So now, the Stars and Avs have embarked on their sixth playoff series against each other. Some names are familiar and some are new to this rivalry, but that swirling snowy-looking swoosh across the capital ‘A’ on the Avs’ jerseys is the same as it was in 1999, and that’s enough for me to be excited.And one last thing: the goalies may have changed since 1999, but you can still chant “Otter’s better” to the same cadence we did with “Eddie’s better.”The Invasion