Stars Move Leads to Bright Prospects, Bright Future for Dallas Hockey

In this five-part series, Adam Gretz looks at the growth of USA Hockey and the number of "non-traditional" cities and regions that are now producing players in the wake of NHL expansion. This week, we'll run a new installment every day.

Just two years removed from playing in the Stanley Cup Final, the Minnesota North Stars left one of the United States' top hockey hotbeds for the relatively uncharted territory (in hockey terms) of Dallas, Texas. It was the same season the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning joined the NHL as expansion teams, and it was all part of the league's experiment that put professional hockey in the South.

The Stars have easily been the most successful franchise of the three, having been a consistent contender in the Western Conference since arriving in Dallas, playing in two Stanley Cup Finals and winning one (1999). Because of the success, they've been able to build a healthy fanbase, while also creating an entirely new market for potential players.

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The arrival of the Stars has had a positive impact on many levels throughout the area, and the state is currently home to three American Hockey League teams -- Houston Aeros, Texas Stars and San Antonio Rampage -- as well as a number of lower level leagues and junior teams. Included in that group is a Junior A Tier II team in the NAHL known as the Texas Tornado, which is based in Frisco, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, and play their home games in the same building that houses the Stars' main offices and practice rink.

The Tornado have been in existence since 1999, and have won four league championships, including three in a row from 2004-2006. The league currently consists of 26 teams in 11 different states (including Texas, California, New Mexico and Kansas, as well as more "traditional" places like Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin), as well as Canada.

The team has produced a number of players that have gone on to the AHL and NHL levels, including goaltenders Al Montoya and Ben Bishop, as well as defensemen Andy Wozniewski and Trevor Ludwig, son of former NHL player Craig Ludwig. Sharing a facility with an NHL team has proven to be quite a benefit for the program, as three former players have been either drafted or signed by the Stars: Matt Nickerson, a third-round pick in 2003, Ludwig, a sixth-round pick in 2004, and his brother, Tyler, signed as an undrafted free agent.

Ben Ellis covers the Stars, as well as minor league hockey in Texas, for the website Big D Hockey, and points out that the Tornado, along with the Stars, have been a sizable influence for the game.

"The high school hockey programs around the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex have really flourished since the Stars, and then the Tornado, came to town," said Ellis. "Before the Stars came to Dallas you would have been hard-pressed to find a hockey team in the area. Now, there are about a dozen. These kids started watching hockey when it came to Dallas, or their parents did and wanted to get their kids involved, and it went from there. The parents got the kids involved in learning to skate, and then learning to play hockey. The Dallas Junior Hockey Association started in the early 1970s, but really flourished by having a successful NHL team in the area. DJHA has gone on to become Texas' largest junior hockey program, and develops players for an "Elite" program, also supported by the Stars, the Dallas Stars Elite. They have three levels of play before the kids are ready to play in a program like the Tornado, or a similar league like the USHL."

Ellis also pointed out how all of the teams and programs in the area have benefited from the success of the Stars, including the Allen Americans, a Central Hockey League team based about 15 miles north of Dallas.

"The team made it to the league's championship and pushed it to a Game 6 before losing to the Rapid City Rush," said Ellis. "But for a first-year team, they generated a lot of excitement and put a fantastic product on the ice. Without the Dallas Stars paving the way, I don't think they would have been as successful as they were. People in the Dallas area have come to love good, quality hockey, and they know an inferior product when they see it now. Fans aren't content with an owner just going through the motions to put a hockey team on the ice. They want competitive hockey, and the ownership group that started the Allen Americans, including former NHL player Steve Duchesne, knew that."

It speaks volumes about the progress that's been made in just 17 years that hockey fans in Texas have not only developed a thirst for the sport, but also a demand to see the game played at a high level. But what can we expect from the area in terms of home-grown players? The most famous Texas-born NHL player is easily Hall of Fame defenseman Brian Leetch, who was born in Corpus Christi, even though his family moved to Connecticut soon after he was born. There are, however a couple of prospects that are worth keeping an eye on in the coming years.

"He's a big, talented defenseman. He's one of the first players to develop completely through the Dallas hockey system, and could give the local programs a very good name one day."
-- Ben Ellis on Seth Jones Austin Smith, a fifth-round pick of the Stars in 2007, was born in Dallas and grew up in the area before playing for the Penticton Vees of the British Columbia Hockey League. He's currently a junior at Colgate University, and has scored 33 goals to go with 39 assists over the past two seasons. He led the Raiders in scoring during the 2009-10 campaign with 41 points. The most recent prospect rankings at Hockey's Future have him as the No. 10 prospect in the Dallas farm system.

Another player that could be well on his way is 16-year-old Seth Jones (pictured), the son of former NBA player Popeye Jones. After playing for the Dallas Stars Midget Major Team, Jones recently agreed to play for the U.S. National Development Program in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

"He's a big, talented defenseman," said Ellis. "He's one of the first players to develop completely through the Dallas hockey system, and could give the local programs a very good name one day."

The U.S. Development Program was started in 1996, and in the years since has been churning out NHL draft picks and prospects. In 2010, for example, three players were selected in the first round, including Jarred Tinordi (Montreal), Jack Campbell (Dallas) and Derek Forbort (Los Angeles). The list of alumni from the program is an impressive one, and includes names such as Patrick Kane, Erik Johnson, Jack Johnson, Jimmy Howard, Ryan Kesler, Mike Komisarek, Phil Kessel, R.J. Umberger and Ryan Suter. In recent years, the program has done a great job of finding players in the "non-traditional" parts of the country, including Jason Zucker, a native of Las Vegas who played on the Under-18 team during the 2009-10 season, as well as Luke Moffatt, a forward from Paradise Valley, Arizona.

Clearly, there's been a lot of progress made for hockey in the Lone Star State, and as Brandon Worley from Dallas Stars blog Defending Big D pointed out, it could just be the beginning.

"You're likely to see more and more prospects emerge," said Worley. "We're just now seeing a generation of hockey players hitting the ages of 17 and 19 years old that were born with hockey already being played in the area. Hockey has become a big youth sport in Dallas and soon it won't be unheard of that a good number of Dallas-area natives are taken in the draft each year."