Home | Schedule | Statistics | Roster | Injury Report | Stars Links | NHL News & Links | Stars Forum | Archive | Mail

Nick feels Hitch's pain

Andrew's younger brother Nick undoubtedly felt Ken Hitchcock's pain Friday night. The Stars, despite beating Mario Lemieux and the Pittsburgh Penguins, didn't play Stars hockey. They didn't play Hitch's system. They played run and gun with the Penguins. Hitch was happy with the win but probably not the method.

Nick, like Hitch, has a system too. And when his system isn't adhered to there will be some fireworks. Case in point came Sunday as we headed off to Mass. Mommy strayed from the system and Nick was not happy.

The system calls for Nick to push the button to close the garage door once the car has made it all the way onto the driveway. Mommy forgot and hit the button herself. The garage door had to be re-opened so Nick could push the button and close it.

Nick's system also calls for him to get a donut before Mass. Well, on this day nobody had enough cash to get donuts and drinks for everyone. We were bucking the system and Nick blew a gasket. We were forced to stop and hit up the old cash machine at 7-11. Nick got his donut. The system was intact.

In other ways, Nick is a little like Brett Hull too. Hull doesn't like Hitch's system and complains about it, but he still plays within it. We have a system. Nick complains about it, but he plays within it.

In our system, Nick is required to be quiet at Mass. Nick doesn't like it. When Nick first sees the church as we are driving towards it he will announce, "I don't want to be quiet." He will repeat it several times.

But once we get in our seats he remains quiet and whispers when he needs to say something during the service.

Nick had a pretty good week. He picked up a goal, an assist and and only two penalty minutes. He got the goal for recognizing the Stars logo. He saw it on Dad's shirt and asked, "You have hockey on your shirt?"

"Yes," Dad replied.

"You have Dallas Stars hockey on your shirt?" Nick asked.

Dad gave him a goal.

He got the assist for doing a good job of putting his dirty dishes in the sink all week long.

He got a boarding minor after throwing two of toys off the wall. He is not allowed to throw his toys.

Nick's season stats

January 13 Nick Story | January 7 Nick Story | January 1 Nick Story
December 23 Nick Story | December 16 Nick Story | December 9 Nick Story | December 2 Nick Story
November 26 Nick Story | November 19 Nick Story | November 12 Nick Story | November 5 Nick Story
October 29 Nick Story | October 22 Nick Story | October 15 Nick Story | October 8 Nick Story | October 1 Nick Story