The New Rivals: The Dallas Stars

The Battle of Alberta—the Oilers’ dream team versus their hated rivals, the Calgary Flames— defined rivalries in the National Hockey League (NHL) in the 1980s. Between 1983 and 1990, every single Stanley Cup final featured games played in Alberta. While the Oilers were the dominant team of the era, the Flames also enjoyed success, winning a Cup in 1989 and a becoming a finalist in 1986.

The Oilers pushed for success because the Flames were always right behind them.  However, as financial handicaps limited the success of both teams, the Oilers and Flames struggled and the rivalry waned.

It did not take long for the new, young Oilers of the late 1990s to find a new nemesis. When the Oilers ended a five-year post-season drought, squeaking into the 1997 playoffs, they expected to fall to the powerful Dallas Stars in the first round of the Western Conference playdowns. But the Oilers took the series in seven thrilling games, with three wins coming in overtime, including the series clincher on the chippy, slushy ice of Reunion Arena. When Todd Marchant beat former Oiler goalie Andy Moog in overtime of that Game 7, he initiated a heated rivalry between the two cities that has lasted well into the 21st century.

From 1997-2003, the Oilers and Stars have met in the playoffs six times. While Dallas has exacted revenge by winning the next five series after the 1997 upset, the rivalry has not been as lopsided. Since 1997, the Oilers and Stars have played 33 playoff games against each other; 22 of those games—two-thirds of the total—were decided by one goal, and nine of those games went into overtime.

No other franchise has been as intertwined with the Oilers over the last decade as the Stars. The Dallas Stars past and present, including Ken Hitchcock (who coached the club until 2002), goaltender Ed Belfour (who frustrated the Oilers from 1998-2002), forward Mike Modano and big-hitting defenceman Derian Hatcher (who left the Stars for Detroit before the 2003-04 season) are targets of Oilers fan animosity.

Since the 1997 win, the most frustrating moments in Oilers history have all come at hands of the Dallas Stars. Up to the beginning of the 2003-04 season, the Oilers have won only one regular-season game in either Dallas’ Reunion Arena or the new American Airlines Center. Oilers fans remember the sting of Benoit Hogue scoring a key overtime goal in 1998, or Joe Nieuwendyk’s tip-in that eluded Tommy Salo in 1999 to eliminate Edmonton from the playoffs. Oilers fans have also endured the pain of seeing Dallas win the 1999 Stanley Cup.

The Stars and Oilers reflect the rift between smaller Canadian clubs and the deep-pocketed American teams. While the Oilers struggle to maintain a payroll of around $30-million USD in 2002-03, the Stars had a salary over twice that of Edmonton’s. In 2002, the Stars signed free agent winger Bill Guerin, an Oiler from 1998-2001, for over triple the salary the earned in Edmonton.

Kirk Muller, a 20-year NHL veteran who has been through the wars, has played for the Stars for the last three playoff encounters between the two bitter rivals. For him, nothing in the NHL compares to the Oilers-Stars series.

"The only rivalry I have ever played in that was close to this was the old Montreal/Quebec games," said Muller, who won a Stanley Cup with the Canadiens in 1993. "No matter what province they are from, whether they are from east or west, every hockey fan looks forward to the Edmonton/Dallas series, because it is great playoff hockey."

[back] [top]