The Dallas Stars kicked off their pre-season campaign on Monday evening, but you likely didn’t see it. You might have heard it, if you were able to find the St. Louis Blues radio stream. But, that was it. Before we dive into what a joke the NHL “Broadcasting” situation has become we should at least take a look at the game itself.
To absolutely no one’s surprise in the Stars camp, the Stars took a loss in overtime against the Blues, 1-2. Maybe, or rather hopefully, the Stars are getting their overtime dramatics out of the way early this season. Dallas’ overtime record in the previous season was 6-0-14. Stars fans hate it here.
As seen above, the Dallas Stars roster for Monday’s tilt was a fountain of youth. Names like Benn, Seguin, Radulov, Hintz, Klingberg, and many more veterans were all missing from the card. This isn’t an unfamiliar move, as most pre-season games rarely see many veterans filling up the stat sheet with ice time. (All in an effort to keep the precious gems healthy going into the regular season.)
Riley Tufte made his case all that more apparent for the opening night roster on Monday evening, tallying the Stars lone goal off assists by Mavrik Bourque and Tye Felhaber. Brayden Holtby and Jake Oettinger both saw action in between the pipes making 15 out of 16 saves and 12 out of 13 saves, respectively. Making the goalie situation all that more clear in Dallas. It’s the sarcasm for me.
This is the part of the article where I would post a video re-cap or clip of last nights action, but if you are like me. you didn’t see any of the game. At all.
In what can only be described as a dog water company, the Sinclair Broadcast Group has asked for the rights to your firstborn child as well as a monthly payment plan to legally watch almost any hometown hockey. Nerds like myself scoured the innerwebs, putting our precious computers and laptops on the line from virtual intruders just to catch a simple glimpse of meaningless hockey. Sadly, to no avail. Bally Sports Southwest would ironically tweet about the Stars game to pour a gallon of salt on the metaphorical wound saying, “Things we love to see.”
I have the choicest words on deck for all those making these decisions. In a “Cut the Cord” day and age, Sinclair has made it blatantly apparent that they don’t give two brown emojis about the fans of any hometown sports franchises that require us to waste our sight on Bally Sports. I wish only the deepest pains for the executives. May you stub your toe every hour on the hour, have lime juice rain upon your paper cuts, and you find the corner of all things with the most sensitive part of your elbows sending a jarring pain down your arm.
Sorry for the course language kids. We are all angry. Stars take on the Florida Panthers on Wednesday evening in Dallas at the American Airlines Center in pre-season game number two. See ya there!
Edit: It should probably be stated that I don’t actually wish ill will on anyone. I am as frustrated as all hockey fans across all markets not being able to easily watch their team but that doesn’t mean I want to see any actual stubbed toes. I will remain optimistic that we get some good news regarding the streaming services being added back to the list of places to watch the games soon and appreciate all those working towards that outcome. In the meantime, keep fighting the good fight and sails away!
The Morning Skate 
We have a free stream box that gets all NHL games. message me at marklbanister@yahoo.com. I would love to show you what it can do.
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