Now that the North Stars have gone the way of the Minneapolis Lakers, what becomes of their 26 years? A team that so many had taken for granted has now taken to the road, leaving a quarter-century of nostalgia that will never again be, to borrow an old slogan, so close we can taste it.
So, what becomes of the sight of Bill Goldsworthy scoring a goal, lifting one skate and pumping his fist in what became known as the Goldy Shuffle?
What becomes of the deafening Met Center roar of 1981, when the Stars returned home to sweep the Bruins after snapping their 15-year hex with a couple of playoff victories in Boston Garden?
What becomes of the two runs to the Stanley Cup finals, Gump Worsley playing goalie without a mask and Lou Nanne’s 1971 game-wining goal in that unimaginable playoff victory over the Montreal Canadiens?
Some think all that will vanish now, right along with Norm Green, his dogs and his hockey franchise.
Steve Payne and Keith Gershkow think otherwise.
“I wonder if the community will embrace the ex-players more than ever now?” asked Payne, 34, the North Stars’ all-time leading playoff goal scorer who now sells commercial real estate. “I think we are all even more thankful to have been apart of those 26 years now that the organization, the team and the arena that were so important to us are about to be gone.”
More Top Picks Best Disposable Gloves
“The last four years, with the Gunds and Norm Green threatening us, apathy took over and people didn’t care because it all sounded like the same old story,” said Gershkow, who works with a local lighting firm.
“Dedicated hockey fans are dedicated for life,” Gershkow said. “There will always be the memories, they can’t black those out. So many of us grew up pretending to be this North Star or that-Dave Balone, Cesare Maniago, Mike Mahon-on the rink near our house.”
Off the ice, the North Stars’ history was punctuated with ownership changes, coaching flipflops and a 1978 merger. On the ice, there were the memorable peaks of ’71, ’81 and ’91.
But while human nature tends to remember the most recent memories, the North Stars’ old guard-Nanne, Goldsworthy and radioman Al Shaver-tend to remember that first playoff run 25 years ago the best.
It was 1968 and the North Stars, like any expansion team, weren’t exactly commanding respect. To wit: Five of the seven second-round playoff games had to be played in St. Louis because the Ice Capades were in town.
In Game 7, in what is still the longest game in team playoff history, it took two overtimes, a breakaway mugging of Wayne Connelly with no penalty-shot call before Ron Shock of the Blues scored to end things 2-1 after 82 minutes and 50 seconds.
“For the first time, the North Stars got some credibility after that series,” said Nanne, who played for the Stars from ’67-’78, served as general manager from ’78-’88 and was team president from ’88-’90.
“We were just thankful to have a job and we were a bunch of guys who wanted to prove something and sell the game of hockey,” said Goldsworthy, who scored the first goal in Met Center and whose No. 8 jersey is now retired.
The North Stars made the playoffs five times in their first six seasons, missing only in their second year. By 1971, they had 12,000 season-ticket holders and their first major landmark. On April 22, 1971, Nanne scored a third-period game-winner in a 6-3 Stanley Cup semifinal victory in Montreal.
“We became the first expansion team to beat an established team in the playoffs and we even took Montreal to six games,” Nanne said. “I became a bit of trivia that night, but it was really significant.”
Said Goldsworthy, now a 48-year-old assistant coach in Kalamazoo: “At that time, for a bunch of castoffs like us to beat a dynasty like the Montreal Canadiens in a playoff game was quite a feat.”
From April 7, 1973, until April 8, 1980, the North Stars won zero playoff games and made seven coaching changes. A merger with the Cleveland Barons in 1978 was the next turning point. “It put us on the road for seven or eight good years,” Payne said.
Despite finishing with 88 points in 1980 and 87 points in ’81, though, no one gave the North Stars much of a chance when they headed to Boston in the spring of 1981. After all, they had never won a game in the Boston Garden. Coming in to start the best-of-five series, they were 0-28-7 in Boston.
Payne’s overtime goal in Game 1 turned into a 5-4 victory. The Stars followed it up with a 9-6 victory in Boston and then a series sweeping 6-3 victory in Met Center.
The Stars went on to beat Buffalo and Calgary that spring, before succumbing to the New York Islanders in the fifth game of the Stanley Cup finals.
In the second half of the ’80s, five different men-Bill Mahoney, Glen Sonmor, Lorne Henning, Herb Brooks and Pierre Page-coached the team that saw its average points a season drop to 67. By the dawning of the 1990s, Gordon and George Gund had sold the team to Calgary businessman Norm Green.
Even with Bob Gainey coaching, fans were skeptical and scarce. Only 5,730 showed up for the opener in ’90. The team won only three of its first 15 games. Thanks to a 14-6-6 run from Jan. 17-March 17, 1991, the Stars made the playoffs with a 27-39-14 record.
The rest, of course, is history, just like the North Stars rendered Chicago, St. Louis and Edmonton before losing in the Stanley Cup finals to Pittsburgh in six games.
Even Green was gushing with optimism. In last season’s media guide, he went so far as to say: “The Stars need to use the momentum to set sail, to take direction from the best hockey fans in North America. We don’t plan on disappointing them.”