The Texas Stars are the 2014 Calder Cup Champions for the American Hockey League (AHL), where they play at the Cedar Park Center just west of Austin, Texas.  They are the primary development affiliate of the NHL Dallas Stars.

We are starting our 6th year as season ticket holders, and share the tickets with my son and daughter-in-law.  Our seats are in the 2nd row right behind the glass just to the side of our goal.  There are about 40 games every year, and we go to half while babysitting our grandkids for the rest when they go.  We really enjoy it a lot.

In their first year, they went through all rounds of the playoffs to lose in game 7 of the Calder Cup Final series.  However, last year we went all the way and won the Calder Cup (similar to the NHL Stanley Cup).  After winning their division and the AHL season points leader, during the early rounds of the conference playoffs, first they had to defeat the following teams:

• Oklahoma City Barons (Edmonton Oilers affiliate)
• Grand Rapids Griffins (Detroit Red Wings affiliate)
• Toronto Marlies (Toronto Maple Leafs affiliate)

Game 5 Highlights (Jun 17)

Finally, in the AHL Calder Cup Finals between the Western and Eastern Conference Champions, they won 3 games in a row in overtime on the road in the fifth game of the best-of-7 series against the St. Johns IceCaps (Winnipeg Jets affiliate) at St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada.  Here are the highlights of that game:

 

Winning Goal, Award Summary & Handshakes

This picks up with the winning goal from the previous video (with a little overlap at the beginning), reviews the team and individual awards for the season, and shows the traditional team handshakes.

 

Game 5 Watch Party, Hockey Music & Post-Game Celebrations

Since it was away, we had to attend a watch party at the arena, and I have included this video which shows that watch party, which includes a  slideshow of the post-game celebrations.  It also includes some hockey music:

• “We are the Champions” by Queen
• “We Own the Night” by The Wanted
• “Timber” by Pitbull feat. Kei$ha

 

Opener Highlights & Banner Raising (Oct 11)

Now the new season has started with the opening game on October 11th again the Iowa Wild, which had a sellout attendance (6,863).  During the pre-game ceremony at last Saturday’s game (Oct 11), they introduced each player individually and they skated out to form a line across the ice.  First, they lowered smaller banners from the ceiling as West Division Champions, AHL Season Points Leader, and Western Conference Champions.  Then they unveiled a gigantic Calder Cup banner from a table at center ice near the team benches and raised it directly overhead to the rafters where it hangs.

 

Photos

I’ve also included some of my photos taken during these games.  The first few photos were taken from our jumbotron at the arena during the watch party showing the post-game celebration raising the cup and handshakes between the teams.  When the team returned home, there was a celebration at the arena for the team, management, and fans (some of whom are shown below).   Finally the opening game started and I included a face-off photo as well as the jumbotron display after they won this first game.

Go Stars!