All-day rain forced a change in plans to unveil the Mike Modano statue.
It had been scheduled for daylight hours Saturday, where hundreds of fans might’ve witnessed the event. Instead the ceremony moved past 7:30pm inside the packed American Airlines Center during the first intermission between the Dallas Stars and Los Angeles Kings.
Nearly 20,000 attended.
Before the black curtain concealing the statue was lifted by a crane, Stars president Brad Alberts told Modano and the crowd that the sculpture “will ensure your championship legacy will be remembered forever."
"The statue will encapsulate your entire legacy and ensure that no one will ever forget your true impact on hockey in Texas,” he said.
Twenty of Mike Modano’s twenty-one National Hockey League seasons were with the Stars.
The team moved from Minnesota to Dallas in 1993, helping grow hockey in the hot, southern, American South and Southwest.
Before the move, hockey had only ever been a cold-weather sport where winters almost always meant ice, frozen ponds and outdoor hockey.
Over his career, Modano became Dallas’ and the league’s all-time American-born scoring leader. In 1999, he helped the Stars win their only Stanley Cup championship. A year later, they reached the finals again, against New Jersey, falling two wins short of another Cup.
As Modano was introduced at intermission, the crowd cheered for a full minute before he spoke.
Wiping away tears, he said “My daughter Kate said you’re probably going to cry right? I’m like, yeah, you’re probably right. I’ve got some mad emotions going,” Modano said. “Thank you so much for that PNC Plaza, for having me out there. It’s hard to get into words what this has meant. I’m thankful to Dirk for saving me a spot out there in the plaza.”
Modano’s statue stands across from that of Dirk Novitzki’s, the Mavericks hall of fame superstar who helped Dallas’ NBA team win its only championship.
The sculpting team of Omri Amrany and Sean Michael Bell made the Modano piece of the speedster mid-stride on the ice, hockey stick in hand, about to shoot, as his jersey flaps behind.
Classic Modano.
The same artistic team worked on the Nowitzki statue of the basketball giant lofting a long-distance shot as he falls back on one leg. Classic Nowitzki.
Saturday’s arena was filled with fans like Angel Pritchett sporting Mike Modano jerseys with his last name and the number 9. The number is now retired by the team. Pritchett and her family routinely make the hour-plus drive to Dallas games from Burleson.
“We’ve come to quite a few games already this year,” said Pritchett, “and we just love hockey.”
She said she’s had her Modano jersey for decades, since the Stars played in Reunion arena in the 1990s. “Modano’s my favorite player of all time,” Pritchett said. “So we couldn’t miss Mo.”
Nearly 20,000 fans got to see him celebrate the event Saturday. The game was a sell-out. Before Mike Modano and Stars’ arrival in Dallas, that would never have happened. The league can thank Modano and the Stars in part for hockey’s growth over the team’s 31 years in Dallas.
That’s Modano’s takeaway, after all the talk about his legacy and the statue.
“I think what we accomplished off the ice, with kids playing the game and the growth of hockey in Texas was a lot more important and lot more satisfying than what we did on the ice,” said Modano to reporters after the intermission celebration.
And the game they all came to see against Los Angeles? The Stars won, beating the Kings, 4-1.
Got a tip? Email Bill Zeeble at bzeeble@kera.org.
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