This season has been a breakout yr for the Dallas Stars.
The staff received eight consecutive video games for the primary time in franchise historical past. Eight gamers scored 20 or extra objectives for the primary time. It received 50 video games for the primary time since 2005-06 and is on tempo to win the division for the primary time since 2015-16.
The 2023-24 season shall be one that each participant on the staff remembers for quite a lot of causes – however these firsts weren't restricted to enjoying on the ice.
Because the Stars make a push for the Western Convention crown and the Presidents Trophy, most of the gamers are transferring on to a few of life's greatest occasions for the primary time, from newborns to weddings.
“That is turning into a really large household staff,” Stars head coach Pete DeBoer mentioned. “There's a whole lot of new marriages, younger couples, infants, issues like that. They’re all incredible life occasions.”
A handful of Stars gamers are within the midst of one of the tough balancing acts skilled athletes face. Coming into a very powerful two months of the yr for his or her careers, Scott Wedgewood and Miro Heiskanen have new infants at house, and Jamie Benn, Mason Marchment and Jake Oettinger are making ready for weddings simply months away.
“All through the season, it was clearly behind my head,” Wedgewood mentioned.
For months main as much as the start of her daughter, Scarlett, Wedgewood watched the schedule, hoping the timing would work.
The Stars' season has been punctuated by lengthy street journeys, and March — when his daughter was due — had two of them.
However earlier than Dallas hits the street for a four-game West Coast street journey, Wedgewood was in a position to be along with his spouse, Brittany, for the life-changing second.
“It's thrilling,” Wedgewood mentioned. “I don't know if I've ever felt so helpless. It was that reduction that I used to be right here and I might assist her via it. Now, it's nearly ensuring he takes care of her for the remainder of my life.”
Wedgewood missed the March 20 recreation towards Arizona for the start of his daughter, which has been extremely anticipated since he unveiled a brand new goalie masks in December. The Mario Kart themed masks had Child Peach on one facet to symbolize his first born.
“He's been on the helmet all yr,” Wedgewood mentioned. “Like all dad or mum, your first thought is not you or your spouse or your canine. Now she is.”
The Stars backup goaltender isn’t alone on this expertise. Heiskanen missed Dallas' recreation towards the Bruins on Feb. 19 for the start of his first baby. Had it not been for DeBoer asserting that he can be out of line, the start of Heiskanen's baby seemingly would have been saved non-public. The defender prefers to maintain his private life out of the general public eye.
Chris Tanev and Matt Duchene each perceive what Wedgewood and Heiskanen have been via this season. All three of Duchene's youngsters had been born through the season. So was Tanev's first born.
“It's positively a distinct life,” Tanev mentioned. “It's clearly one thing you always remember and look ahead to for some time.”
“You positively miss them once you go on the street and it's loopy how a lot it adjustments through the season you're gone,” Duchene added. “However on the identical time, perhaps it's a very good time as a result of you may have extra free time in the summertime, and so they're at that age the place you, as a husband, can contribute extra.”
New dads aren't the one celebs going through main life occasions. Seguin received married final summer season. Benn received engaged at Christmas 2022. Marchment and Oettinger each received engaged final summer season.
With a convention title and a playoff berth on the road, the day-to-day grind of late-season and postseason hockey could be all-consuming. However DeBoer mentioned he's excited to see his gamers undergo these levels, even at a time within the season when focus must be at its peak.
“Anytime one thing like this occurs, it's an incredible prospect on your group,” he mentioned. “You get caught within the day-to-day routine of the NHL and the significance of the video games and the standings, and it brings you again to the fact that there's life exterior of that and there's a whole lot of actually vital stuff occurring. “
Whereas Stars gamers can depend on cousins for wedding ceremony days and high quality time with their rising households, they're in no rush to get there. Even when it means a shorter summer season, a playoff run continues to be the precedence, figuring out that their wives, fiancees and even their new infants shall be there within the stands, taking in what might be one other large second this yr.
“It's clearly an enormous second in my life and my fiancee's. We now have that to look ahead to,” Oettinger mentioned. “However we’ve a whole lot of work to do earlier than then. I believe that may hopefully be the icing on the cake to a Stanley Cup run. If we win the Cup, that may make the marriage that a lot better.”
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