The Trophy
Carbonneau and the Dallas PK:
Natural-Born Killers
So reads the plaque on this beautiful trophy, an expression of the deep pride felt by Dallas Stars fans for their team’s penalty killers. Although the PK is not traditionally a big focus for hockey fans, during the 1999-00 season, followers of the Stars learned to love being shorthanded so they could watch the astonishing defensive play of our PK unit.
And seeing as Guy Carbonneau was the unofficial leader of the penalty kill, we felt his tribute site ought to celebrate this wonderful record as well.
The Trophy
The trophy was the brainchild of Marcia Harvey and Cheri Riddle, who were discussing on the Stars bulletin board one day that "the guys deserved more than a name in a dusty old record book." The two decided to take it upon themselves to organize a fan-purchased trophy project. They researched on the web and ultimately chose Awards Depot in Garland, Texas to custom build the trophy to their specifications.
On April 14th, Cheri posted to the Stars board about the project. The response was overwhelming, with 25 e-mails received the first night. The cost of the trophy was covered in the first 30 minutes, so Marcia and Cheri decided to collect additional funds for a donation to the Stars Foundation. As of this writing, the donations have totaled $120 for the trophy and $250 extra for the Foundation, with 31 fans contributing and more still expressing interest. Marcia will continue to collect donations throughout the summer, and if you are interested in contributing, you can e-mail her at marcia12@msn.com.
Marcia’s next cause was to arrange a proper presentation of the trophy to the team. Her letter writing campaign struck gold when she received a personal phone call from Stars’ President Jim Lites, who told her the gesture was the nicest thing he had ever heard of in professional hockey. Although it is against NHL rules to conduct such a ceremony during the playoffs, Mr. Lites told Marcia to contact him in August to arrange a special presentation of the trophy in the fall. In the meantime, photos of the trophy have been passed around the Stars’ practice facility.
Kudos to Marcia and Cheri for a fantastic job, and thanks to all who contributed!
Guy and the 1999-00 Dallas Stars PK
For most of the 99-00 season, the Stars’ penalty kill was over 90%, and peaked in mid-February. Bill Nichols of The Dallas Morning News reported on February 18: "The Stars have allowed only 17 goals in 207 power-play attempts against them, an incredible killing percentage of 92.3. No team in NHL history has finished the season with a 90-percent rating. The two closest were the Boston Bruins in 1998-99 and the Washington Capitals in 1997-98. Both finished at 89.2 percent."
Said Richard Matvichuk: "We know that special teams win hockey games, and we take pride in it. If you asked anybody on this team, they would be ticked off if we weren’t leading the league."
Unfortunately, on March 5 Guy Carbonneau went out with a broken wrist, and it was no coincidence that the penalty kill began to decline. Wrote Nichols on March 13: "While the Stars still have the league’s best penalty kill, it’s clear they are missing the contributions of injured center Guy Carbonneau, who was their leading faceoff man in penalty-kill situations." Said Coach Hitchcock of Carbo’s absence, "It shows in the competitive details."
Wrote Jennifer Floyd in The Fort Worth Star-Telegram: "The injury couldn’t have been worse for the Stars if it had been to Modano himself. Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said players such as Carbonneau, who play ‘16-17 minutes a night and it’s all five on five and killing penalties...those players, I find as a coach, are more difficult to replace than sometimes your skill players.’"
The record was in jeopardy, but fortunately Guy returned to play on March 24. The penalty kill hung on and returned to good form, finishing up at 89.3%, enough to break the record. The Stars’ PK allowed only 33 goals in 82 games.
These statistics are impressive enough, but the reason the Stars’ successful penalty killers are so important is because they win games, especially tightly-contested ones in the playoffs. Said Guy during the first round this year versus Edmonton, "Everybody knows how tight these games are and one goal can make a difference in whether you win or lose. Our penalty killing puts pressure on the other team to change their style on a power play. Any time you force an individual or a team to change the way they play, it’s an advantage."
Mac Engel of the Star-Telegram summed up the success of the Dallas PK versus the Oilers like this:
Indeed, the penalty kill was tremendous in this series. In Game 1 it allowed only one shot all game. In Game 2 the Oilers could not get off even one shot with a two-man advantage. In Game 4 the team’s general defensive play was so good that Edmonton only had two shots in the third, which allowed Carbo’s goal at 14:59 remaining to stand up as the game-winner.
"They are the number one penalty killers in the league and it’s not by luck," Oilers center Doug Weight said.
As of this writing the Stars are beginning what promises to be a very physical series against the San Jose Sharks. With some rough stuff in the offing, it helps to be able to rely upon a superb penalty killing unit.
A PK of Beauty is a Joy Forever
"You’ll do anything to clear the puck," Guy said recently of penalty killing. "You are going to do the extra things, take the hit or try to block the shot."
It is that sense of desperation and willingness to sacrifice that makes penalty killing so exciting to watch. Carbo and his PK cohorts have given us an exhilarating year, and for all those nail-biting two- and four-minute thrills, we are most grateful. The record and the trophy are well deserved by all the guys who gave of themselves shorthanded, and will continue to do so as long as the Stars fight to defend their Stanley Cup.
Dallas Stars penalty killers,
we salute you!