Five for Fighting

Da Bears!

OK, not those Bears. The University of California Bears are at the AAC tonight for the game. They'll play Air Force in the BellSouth Helicopter Bowl (OK, I can't remember the name exactly) on Monday at Amon Carter Stadium.

Sorry, folks, I'm too much in hockey mode to remember the bowl names anymore!

Blues end scoring skid

David Perron gives the Blues their first goal in three games. Things got tight along the boards and the puck landed in the middle of the ice. Keith Tkachuk threw it back to Perron, who just sizzled it through Smith at 13:15.

Stars still up 2-1.

Two quick ones

First, let's look at Niklas Hagman's. Stars controlled the possession after the power play, and Jokinen, from behind the net, set up Hagman beautifully. That's 14 for him, only 3 away from his career-high of 17.

Then it was Barnes' turn. His shot went off Keith Tkachuk's leg and in. You could tell Blues goaltender Hannu Toivonen was expecting that pass to just go through in front of him.

Two goals within 46 seconds. Not a bad start.

Lines

No changes from the other night. Morrow-Ribeiro-Miettinen start it.

Ott-Modano-Halpern
Hagman-Jokinen-Eriksson
Lundqvist-Barnes-Barch

Scratches and number change

Mattias Norstrom, Brad Winchester and Chris Conner are scratches for tonight. Norstrom is getting better, and depending on how well he does in his first full practice tomorrow, he could be back in the lineup soon.

Chris Conner has changed his jersey number from 65 to 25. Don't know if there's a particular reason for it, but there you have it.

Game on... soon.

How Smitty stole Christmas

Mike Smith will get the start tonight, and he'll be wearing his Christmas-themed mask. The mask features a few Christmasy touches, including the Grinch on one side. I saw it up close the other day and it's a pretty cool mask.
OK, all of those masks are pretty cool. Still, this one is going to be auctioned at some point soon.

Smith has one previous start against St. Louis, a loss last season. The Blues have struggled to find goals lately, as they have two consecutive shutouts coming into tonight (5-0 vs. Detroit on Wednesday, 1-0 vs. San jose last night).

8 p.m. start tomorrow!

Sorry, I felt the need to post this, too, just as a friendly reminder.

The Mavericks host the Atlanta Hawks at noon, so it's a little extra time for the crews to go from basketball to hockey.

And it's a little extra time to get downtown!

More on Tip

Tippett handled the extension talk in stride today.. obviously his status is not his No. 1 concern. The team is. And you can't really complain about what this team is doing right now. Since Nov. 13, the day the GM changeover, the Stars are 15-5-1. Not too shabby of a record.

As far as Dahlen, we'll wait and see. The guy's obviously good coaching material, just look at what he's done with the power play over the past two seasons. But he could have some other options at the end of the season, whether it's in the states or over in Europe. So I can see his side of wanting to wait.

Anyway, the deal is done and the Stars will get back to business tomorrow against the St. Louis Blues.

Tippett gets extension

Coach Dave Tippett, as well as Rick Wilson and Mark Lamb received a one-year contract extension this morning, which will put them through the end of next season. Ulf Dahlen was offered the same, but he apparently wants to wait until the summer to assess next season.

The Stars are certainly pointed in the right direction right now, and Tip has been a strong influence on this team.

I know, the Stars still need to do something in the postseason. I agree. And this year is critical. But I still like this move.

More to come.

Norstrom improving

Mattias Norstrom had a good skate on Thursday, according to coach Dave Tippett. He's not sure if he'll be ready for Saturday night's game against St. Louis, but it sounds like he's pretty close to returning nonetheless.