Veteran's Night
Dallas, Texas, November 11, 2000

Posted 11/19/00

On Saturday, November 11th, Veteran’s Day, the Montreal Canadiens came to Dallas to play the Stars. Accompanying the team on its road trip was their Director of Youth Development, Guy Carbonneau. It was important for him to be there because for the Stars, Veteran’s Day was also Veteran’s Night, an evening to salute four retired veterans who had been part of Dallas’s Stanley Cup winning team.

The ceremony started with a video tribute to the honorees, Carbonneau, Craig Ludwig, Brian Skrudland and Shawn Chambers. Then the four players came out on the ice with their families. Dallas General Manager Bob Gainey made the following remarks:

We follow our theme this season of celebrating our final year in Reunion Arena and celebrating the history of the Dallas Stars.

To have these four players here at center ice with their families is neither a good thing or a nice thing, it's a necessary thing. It's a must. With the love and friendship, strong participating support of their wives and families, these players have excelled. A little bit of comforting and occasionally a scolding has helped them excel to the athletes they are today. It is not fully just Coach Hitchcock that does the motivating.

As we see on the video, all these players experienced great individual achievements as they were members of the Dallas Stars. That isn't the whole story of what makes them special. What isn't told on the video is their day in, day out professionalism, their constant pursuit of improvement, their demanding, sacrificing commitment to their team mates and team goals. These are the players that are the cement when things are toughest, the provokers and the initiators to make the rest of the team better, to make them strive to be their best when some think good is good enough. They're the conscience of the team, never resting, never sleeping, sometimes irritating, that helped us be a good team, then a great team, and then a Stanley Cup Championship team. They leave a wonderful but mammoth void to those who remain.

On behalf of all the Dallas Stars: Mr Hicks, Mr. Lites, management, the coaches, the players, we'd like to express our appreciation, offer our congratulations and our best wishes to the Carbonneaus, the Ludwigs, the Chambers and the Skrudlands as they move on to the next stage of their life. Thank you.

Stars captain Derian Hatcher and his wife Heather presented bouquets of roses to the players’ wives. Then the four gentlemen, in unison, unveiled their gifts from the team: their 1999 home jerseys, framed.

Carbonneau and his retired teammates were saluted enthusiastically by fans and players alike, both the Stars and the Canadiens, who banged their sticks on the boards in tribute. The Dallas fans also took every opportunity to chant Guy’s name throughout the evening, as highlights from his years in Dallas were shown on the Jumbotron.

One fan, Pam Farley, created a tribute which spoke the sentiments of everyone in the house: a perfect replica of the banners in Reunion Arena displayed for those players whose numbers have been retired. It bore the words "Guy Carbonneau, 21, 1995-2000."

Five seasons that will never be forgotten by the Dallas Stars.

Many thanks to my friends who, on Veteran’s Night, were the eyes and ears in Dallas for their friend far away in Wisconsin: Pam Farley, Judy Frink, and Leni Sommer.