Morrow a winner and Stars take on personality of their captain

DALLAS — Apathy greeted Dallas Stars hockey season a year ago. And those were the Pollyanna types.

Most fans were hacked off — at this team, at coach Dave Tippett, at goalie Marty Turco — for what had become an ugly trend of dog-butted, underachieving playoff losses.

The Stars were, after all, riding a three-year first-round losing streak.

Sound like anybody else in town? Only with a much longer postseason victory drought? Unless you count bye-week victories like a certain local coach.

And Coach Wade might want to do a little Stars research; a lesson exists in this group on how to start playing to your potential and actually fulfill expectations.

Because Stars season began again Friday, only this time with a packed house celebrating last season’s West Finals berth, with a real feeling this season has Stanley Cup potential and, yes, with a 5-4 overtime loss against Columbus.

Overreaction does not apply here because this was No. 1 of 82. Panic begins after four regular-season games in the NHL. Right now, your Dallas Stars remain the posh pick to win Lord Stanley’s Cup largely because they are both loaded with talent and extremely hungry and have proven themselves capable of winning.

Three words as to why: captain Brenden Morrow.

I can pinpoint the exact moment, in my mind at least, when this transformation from perennial disappointment to team on the come started for this Stars team. It was 2007. They had just lost to Vancouver in Game 4, to go down 3-1 in that series. And Morrow stormed off the ice, stopping to shatter his stick and unleash an expletive-filled cry, shocking only because of who delivered it.

The PG version: What in the hell is going on with us?

This was not typical Morrow. He was the captain, had been all year, but in name only. A quiet type anyway, he seemed uncomfortable to impose his will on this Stars team. He definitely seemed content to lead with his play, until that moment when being a leader necessitated more.

Leadership has been a big topic of conversation for our local teams lately, with this idiocy that leadership is overrated and teams do not need a guy to be the guy.

Trust me, every team needs a Brenden Morrow to win. In big games. In the playoffs. A championship.

Quick, who is the Cowboys’ Morrow? Mavs?

And if a team can not identify its Morrow in 10 seconds or less, it probably does not have one and definitely needs to get one. Even if your coach is a taskmaster. Especially if he isn’t.

"In the end, it really has to come from people on the field," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "You have to be accountable and be able to back that up on the field of play. That is what defines a leader."

Morrow’s list of take-charge moments in the 18 months since the Vancouver loss defines leader. He started the very next game, scoring the only goal in a 1-0 overtime victory in Vancouver to stave off elimination.

The Stars eventually lost the series, in seven, thus the hacked-off faction. But the change had started. This had become Morrow’s team.

"It was a process of the leadership changed, the core of Brenden, Marty, Ribeiro and Robi finally took over," Tippett said. "Brenden became the guy."

Never was this more apparent than in the playoffs a year ago. He almost single-handedly willed his team to victory and pulled along any straggling teammates.

He led it to wins in Anaheim in Games 1 and 2 where his team really started to believe. He did single-handedly defeat San Jose in a series-clinching Game 6 when he had 19 hits, including one big enough to concuss Milan Michalek and scored the game-winning goal.

"Brenden Morrow won us that game," Tip said. "He earns that respect he commands."

And there he was again Friday, with the Stars sleepwalking through a season opener. He scored the first goal, which like most of his goals, had a really good personality.

And then later, with this Stars team inexplicably trying to bounce back from a 4-2 deficit, who is standing in front of the net providing the bumping and jostling screen for Trevor Daley’s game-tying goal?

Do I even need to type his name.

Of course, it was Morrow. And afterward, he was the one in the locker room eschewing excuses and talking about how disappointed they are. It is one game, I noted, feeling very confused in my role as the glass-half-full chick. He wanted none of it.

"I don’t think anyone is questioning what we can be. We definitely feel different," Morrow said. "We’d just like to get the results."

OK, Mr. Media, he is not. He only rarely will call a teammate out outside the friendly confines of "the room." But he is no longer willing to sugarcoat the truth with whines and excuses.

He says we played poorly when they do or, like Friday, "if we want to be a great hockey team, we have to be better," even when they are not bad.

Because they know what is possible and the captain refuses to accept any less. And this is why a few other teams in town would be wise to find their Morrow.