Minnesota North Stars
The
Minnesota North Stars were a team in the
National Hockey League between 1967 and 1993. In the fall of 1993, the franchise moved to
Dallas, Texas, where it is now known as the
Dallas Stars. The team's colors (for most of their history) were green, gold and white.:
Founded: 1967:
Arena: Metropolitan Sports Center:
Uniform colors: Green, gold, white:
Logo design::
Stanley Cup Finals Appearances: 2 (
1981 and
1991):
Stanley Cups won: none:
Added in the 1967 NHL Expansion, along with the
St. Louis Blues,
Los Angeles Kings,
Philadelphia Flyers,
Pittsburgh Penguins, and
Oakland Seals.:
Rivals: Chicago Blackhawks,
Detroit Red Wings,
St. Louis Blues |
The original North Stars logo, used until 1975 |
In the
1967-1968 season the NHL expanded from its long-time base of six teams (that is commonly referred to as the
Original 6 era) to twelve teams.
Minnesota was a well-known hockey hotbed and was a natural site for a franchise. The Minnesota North Stars played their home games in the new
Metropolitan Sports Center in
Bloomington, Minnesota. Behind a skilled management team, the North Stars had respectable success in the early years, prospering behind 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 and
Dennis Hextall.
Early in their first season the North Stars suffered a terrible tragedy. On January 13, 1968, forward
Bill Masterton suffered a fatal injury during a game against the Oakland Seals. After getting hit by Seals forward
Ron Harris, Masterton (who was not wearing a helmet) fell backwards, hitting the back of his head on the ice. He never regained consciousness and died on January 15, 1968, at the age of 30, two days after the accident. To date, this remains the first and only death in NHL history resulting from an on-ice injury. 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 perseverence, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.
By the mid-Seventies, with Worsley and Harris retired, the North Stars had fallen on hard times, perennially attaining poor records and usually finishing out of the playoffs. However, in 1978 the struggling team was bought by the owners of the NHL
Cleveland Barons, who were permitted to merge the two teams in an unprecedented arrangement. A few skilled players bolstered the Minnesota lineup. Furthermore, Minnesota had drafted
Bobby Smith who would go on to win the
Calder Trophy that year. With the additions of fine new players such as Minnesota native and ex-1980 Olympian
Neal Broten and sniper
Dino Ciccarelli, the North Stars had five straight winning seasons starting in
1979-1980 and reached the Stanley Cup finals in
1980-81.
 |
The North Stars logo used for the 1991-92 & 1992-93 seasons, before the move to Dallas |
Thereafter, success would elude the North Stars. After 1984 the franchise would only have one more winning season in Minnesota before the move to Dallas. While the Nineties saw the franchise draft what would turn out to be their greatest player chronic attendance problems spurred the owners to threaten to move the club to the San Francisco area which went against the league's wishes.A compromise was implemented for the
1990-1991 season whereby the Barons-North Stars merger would be dissolved, and the then-current owners would receive players via a
dispersal draft for the expansion
San Jose Sharks). A new ownership team took over in Minnesota led by a man who would become notorious in the annals of Minnesota hockey, Canadian
shopping mall developer
Norman Green.
In that 1991 season, despite a losing record in the regular season, the North Stars made it to the
Stanley Cup finals. They knocked off the arch-rival
Chicago Blackhawks in six games, the
St. Louis Blues in five games and the defending Stanley Cup Champion
Edmonton Oilers in five games. 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 6 of the best-of-seven series. It was the most one-sided defeat in a deciding game of the Stanley Cup Finals since the
Ottawa Silver Seven defeated the
Dawson City Nuggets 23-2 in 1905.
The shocking loss seemed to let the air out of the franchise for good. Owner Green's mercurial personality and mounting financial and legal problems also began to grate on the area's fan base. Local support for the franchise rapidly dwindled. Finally, with his northern mall empire threatening to fall into receivership and a sexual harassment lawsuit against him working its way through the Minnesota court system, Green demanded concessions for his team that the area and state were unwilling to give, so he moved the team to Dallas, Texas, in the fall of 1993.
When the
Dallas Stars won the 1999 Stanley Cup, their official video "Nothing Else Matters" not only included their past seasons' disappointments, but also paid tribute to the North Stars' 1991 run to the final, of which
Mike Modano,
Derian Hatcher,
Richard Matvichuk, and
Bob Gainey had been part. In the next wave of
NHL expansion the
Twin Cities were granted a new franchise, the
Minnesota Wild, which began play in the
2000-01 season.
As of the 2005-06 season, Modano, Hatcher and Matvichuk are the last active North Stars. Mike Modano is the only remaining player that has been with the team since the team was in Minnesota.
*
Harry Howell*
John Mariucci*
Gump WorsleyTeam captains
Note: This list does not include Dallas Stars, California Golden Seals and Cleveland Barons captains*
Bob Woytowich 1967-68
*
Elmer Vasko 1968-69
*
Claude Larose 1969-70
*
Ted Harris 1970-74
*
Bill Goldsworthy 1974-76
*
Bill Hogaboam 1976-77
*
Nick Beverley 1977-78
*
J.P. Parise 1978-79
*
Paul Shmyr 1979-81
*
Tim Young 1981-82
*
Craig Hartsburg 1982-89
*
Brian Bellows 1983-84 (served as captain, while Hartsburg was injured)
*
Curt Giles 1989-91
*
Mark Tinordi 1991-93
Retired Numbers (in Minnesota)
*8
Bill Goldsworthy, RW, 1967-77
*19
Bill Masterton, C, 1967-68
After the move, the Dallas Stars retired the number 7 of
Minnesota native,
University of Minnesota graduate and 1980 Olympic hero
Neal Broten, C, 1981-93.
First round draft picks
*
1967:
Wayne Cheeseman (4th overall)
*
1968:
Jim Benzelock (5th overall)
*
1969:
Dick Redmond (5th overall)
*
1970: none
*
1971: none
*
1972:
Jerry Byers (12th overall)
*
1973: none
*
1974:
Doug Hicks (6th overall)
*
1975:
Bryan Maxwell (4th overall)
*
1976:
Glen Sharpley (3rd overall)
*
1977:
Brad Maxwell (7th overall)
*
1978:
Bobby Smith (1st overall)
*
1979:
Craig Hartsburg (6th overall) and
Tom McCarthy (10th overall)
*
1980:
Brad Palmer (16th overall)
*
1981:
Ron Meighan (13th overall)
*
1982:
Brian Bellows (2nd overall)
*
1983:
Brian Lawton (1st overall)
*
1984:
David Quinn (13th overall)
*
1985: none
*
1986:
Warren Babe (12th overall)
*
1987:
Dave Archibald (6th overall)
*
1988:
Mike Modano (1st overall)
*
1989:
Doug Zmolek (7th overall)
*
1990:
Derian Hatcher (8th overall)
*
1991:
Richard Matvichuk (8th overall)
*
1992: none
*
List of Minnesota North Stars players*
Head Coaches of the Minnesota North Stars*
Dallas Stars*
Minnesota Wild*
California Golden Seals*
Cleveland Barons*
List of defunct NHL teams*
1967 NHL Expansion
