Minnesota North Stars Documentary

Anybody catch this? Pretty cool.

I’m not a hockey guy, but an acquaintance of mine, Bob Showers, wrote a few books on the Stars. Is he mention in the video you linked?

Thx!

Norm Green still sucks.

As it turned out the only negative about him going to Texas was he was allowed to take the North Star name with him.

He will just be a minor footnote in history.

1/2 the guys here have never heard of him.

I was the biggest hockey rube back then. Never missed a game and went to many of the home games. I was so pissed when they left that I swore I would never watch hockey again. I have never seen more than 10 minutes of the Wild. Still irritates the living F@#$ out me that the NHL let them leave. Won’t watch the Doc because I just don’t care !!

I had tried to record it when it aired the first time but YouTube TV makes it difficult to schedule a recording in the future, so thanks for posting that video, I’ll be watching soon.

AWESOME! I got to go to one North Stars game at the Met Center when I was in 4th or 5th grade. Talk about a different experience than the Excel Center! Much more Blue Collar, rowdy, old-school hockey arena feel, Smoke hung in the air from the concourse and I got a lot of beer spilled on me. It was so fun.

And I sat in those seats in the Sleepy Eye arena – what a cool unexpected surprise to walk into a youth hockey tourney game at cold pole barn-style rink in the middle of nowhere to find those old seats. Truly exemplifies “The State of Hockey.”

James Almquist wrote:

I was the biggest hockey rube back then. Never missed a game and went to many of the home games. I was so pissed when they left that I swore I would never watch hockey again. I have never seen more than 10 minutes of the Wild. Still irritates the living F@#$ out me that the NHL let them leave. Won’t watch the Doc because I just don’t care !!

You should watch it. It’s good therapy. Lots of like minded fans, employees, writers, reporters interviewed with the same attitude about the owner that will go nameless. A memory that was brought back to me was the grassy incline around the Met. I completely forgot about it. I caught a few rays there waiting for summer concerts to start.

We would sit in my buddy’s basement playing ping pong and listen to the games on the radio. My buddy’s aunt got season tickets but could not make every game so she would give them to us. We lived in New Hope but the bus line at the time only ran to Robinsdale. We would get a ride to Robinsdale and take the bus to downtown. Move over 1 block and catch the bus to the sports center. Reverse the process to get home but needed to call someone to pick us up. We had a way to get outside the locker room inside the building to get autographs. I had all of the top North Stars. JP Parise, Bill Goldsworthy, Gump Worsley, Ceaser Maniago, Disk Hextall. When they moved it pissed me off for weeks and we knew we were close to winning the Stanly cup and they did it in Dallas. F#$@ the NHL.

Like many I was pissed off and shocked that they were allowed to leave. Most memories I have of the Stars are sitting in the living room with the old man and listening to the games with Al Shaver doing the play by play. The only game we went to was when I was, I believe, a Squirt and our team got to play between periods of a Stars vs Blackhawks game in about ’83-’84. I managed to score the only goal in that tilt and still remember the crowd going wild. The other thing that stuck out during that was how chewed up the ice was from the pros. I meant to watch the documentary but fell asleep.

I went to a lot pf games, not many regular season, mostly play-offs. We would hit the last home game or two and between periods go buy seats for the play-off games. Only bought 1 game at a time.

There is NOTHING including the NFL like play-off hockey.

Listening to Al Shaver call the game on the radio.
Getting hot and making the Stanley Cup finals.
The night Bill Masterson died.
Gump.
10 tons of explosives and they couldn’t blow up the Met.

Memories!

SR

I met a girl in Eddie Websters peanut bar back in the early eighties. She invited me to her apartment that night for an after bar party. She lived on Killibrew drive right off Cedar Avenue. Right across the street was the Met Center where the North Stars played and the Met Stadium where the Twins played. I never left. She has been my wife for 46 years now. We walked across Cedar Ave for many North Star and Twins games. I never wanted to leave that apartment but she insisted she wanted a house after we got married.

I still have PTSD from the Stars leaving.

Eddie Websters…thats a name from the past.

Have not seen the show and am not a hockey guy.
When I am king when a community has a franchise they own the name. Forever.
‘But its a private business’ that of course is crap, communities are always on the hook for million and millions. Kills me that everyone pays for these teams and you still need a cable subscription to watch a game (basebal) Do you know are basketball team could now be called: The Lakers
We should charge rent on that name. How does Norm just show up with some cash and run away with the name that had been here for decades?

#8
The Goldie Shuffle.

tim hurley wrote:

Have not seen the show and am not a hockey guy.
When I am king when a community has a franchise they own the name. Forever.
‘But its a private business’ that of course is crap, communities are always on the hook for million and millions. Kills me that everyone pays for these teams and you still need a cable subscription to watch a game (basebal) Do you know are basketball team could now be called: The Lakers
We should charge rent on that name. How does Norm just show up with some cash and run away with the name that had been here for decades?

That’s honestly a smart idea-tying in public financing into making your games available to your locals on TV. Sounds outlandish but even with sports as popular as ever Americans are cooling on their attitudes toward taxpayer money being used for sports teams. The ultra- dynasty KC Chiefs recently had something not pass that would’ve put taxpayer money toward upgrades or something. If some leverage ever gets back into the public’s hands again it would be a great idea to tie public financing into TV availability.

Haven’t watched the documentary. I have the Bob Showers book on the history of the franchise. I enjoy hockey more than the other three core sports and I was just getting into my teenage years when the team left for Dallas. It felt like a little bit of innocence with pro sports was gone and it made me realize it’s a business and there was more to it than just idolizing players. I get why Norm moved the team. While I’m disappointed the team left, I don’t hold it against him like some other rubes do. Attendance was lackluster and Met Center was becoming an older building and it needed the updates to stay relevant. Sometimes we need to bend the finger around as who’s to blame and take some responsibility for it. Not going the Target Center route was a good thing in the end. I’ve seen college hockey there, it’s a poor venue for hockey. I can see why the NCHC college conference moved its post-season tournament to the Xcel Center from Target Center.

Poor attendance was just an excuse. The whole deal was he wanted a building…..well that and the sexual harrassment thing he had to run from. His biggest problem was he wasn’t rich enough, he needed a new building and it would have taken a while to get one.
The “Secord sucks” chant is one of the greatest things I ever witnessed as a sports fan. Him and Dino lit that building up and when the pay-offs rolled around it was electric in there.

Those Blackhawk/North Star games were epic! Especially the playoffs. I wish I could get as passionate about the Wild as I was with the North Stars. I just can’t muster that kind of emotion for sports anymore. Secord Sucks! I can still hear it. Don’t forget the Denis Savard spin-o-rama!
Willy Plett with that helmet less head of blonde flow! Curt Giles hip checks! I haven’t seen a decent hip check in hockey since!