The Minnesota North Stars: How One Owner Betrayed The State Of Hockey

[TMC]

The North Stars were taken from the State Of Hockey

In 1993, the NHL committed its most unnecessary relocation crime. After a miracle run to the Stanley Cup Finals and sell out crowds, the Minnesota North Stars were packed up and shipped to Dallas. But the official story about an old arena and low attendance is a corporate cover-up.

In today's episode, we perform a corporate autopsy on the North Stars' move. We uncover the real villain: the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission (MSFC) and their blockade of the Mall of America walkway. We look at the ultimatum that saved a marriage but killed a legacy, and the final, quiet goal by Ulf Dahlen that ended an era.

From the miracle 68-point season to the IKEA parking lot that stands where legends once played, this is the real history of the North Stars relocation.

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Timestamps:

• 0:00 Intro
• 2:45 Miracle of 1991
• 3:57 MSFC Battle
• 5:35 Lawsuit And Ultimatum
• 7:15 Official Move And Outro

In this All Sports History video, we'll look back at what happened to the Minnesota North Stars before they moved to Dallas in 1993.

Here's what this "Minnesota North Stars History" video covers:

For 26 years, Minnesota (widely known as one of the best places for hockey) was home to an NHL team, the North Stars. So, what exactly led to the team leaving after so many seasons? In today’s video we’ll take a look back at how the team’s struggles to stay relevant, and an owner’s mismanagement and personal scandals ultimately doomed the franchise’s chances of survival in Minnesota.

With expansion to the NHL in 1967, and just after the Metropolitan Center (which would become the Minnesota North Stars Arena for their entire existence), the team began their first ever season in franchise history. After overcoming a tragedy in 1968, when star player Bill Masterton died after falling to the ice hard, the team found itself in playoff contention during its first season. Some early Minnesota North Stars highlights included beating the Los Angeles Kings and getting one game away from the Stanley Cup final before losing to the St. Louis Blues in 1968. The team would soon face stiff competition not just in the NHL, but outside the league as well.

In 1972, the World Hockey Association formed in the hopes of competing with the NHL, and one of the original teams was the Minnesota Fighting Saints. It didn't help that during this time the North Stars had begun to struggle, failing to reach the playoffs three years in a row. Even with the Fighting Saints outdrawing the North Stars on occasion, the Fighting Saints folded in 1976 due to financial problems with the team. Things continued to get worse for the North Stars, who were routinely drawing fewer and fewer crowds. The Cleveland Barons were also struggling pretty badly, and the owners George and Gordon Gund pitched a radical idea to the NHL. Why not merge the North Stars and Barons together? Well, that's exactly what they did, and in 1979 the two teams officially merged with the North Stars remaining while the Barons ceased operations.

By the early 1980s, the North Stars fortunes began to change. In 1981, the infamous Minnesota North Stars vs Boston Bruins Brawl happened, which helped spark the team onto an incredible run at the Stanley Cup. The brawl produced the Minnesota North Stars full game record of 211 penalty minutes. The team unexpectedly defeated the Bruins, Sabres, and the Flames to reach the finals for the first time in team history. Unfortunately, they ran into to the red-hot New York Islanders who had just won the cup the previous year. The Islanders proved to be too much for the North Stars, who were defeated in five games.

After realignment in 1982, the North Stars would languish season after season until in absolutely dreadful 1987 season, where they only won 19 games. The only true bright spot during this period was the drafting of Minnesota North Stars Mike Modano, who would go on to have a hall of fame career. The Gund Brothers ended up selling the team in 1990, and Norman Green took over as the new owner. During this time, the team embarked on yet another improbable run throughout the Minnesota North Stars 1991 playoffs. The Stars reached the finals once again, only to be defeated by the Penguins in 6 games. It was long after this that Norm Green decided to move the team due to a number of issues surrounding the franchise. The Minnesota North Stars last game took place on April 13, 1993.

It would be another 7 years before Minnesota regained an NHL team, when the Wild first played in 2000. The Wild have on occasion played tribute to the North Stars, like in 2020 when they wore reverse retro sweaters inspired by the Minnesota North Stars jersey 1978.

So, what did you guys think of the Minnesota North Stars move to Dallas? What do you most remember about the North Star’s time in Minnesota? Let me know in the comments below!

In 1967, the NHL’s great expansion brought a franchise to America’s hockey heartland. Over the ensuing quarter century, the Minnesota North Stars took the hockey-mad denizens of the Twin Cities on a wild ride: consistently inconsistent, occasionally brilliant, and often contending with some existential threat, the North Stars may not have been a model franchise, but they were never boring. Their charms, however, were lost on eventual owner Norm Green, whose purchase of the team in 1990 was, in effect, a death sentence for the NHL’s original franchise in Hockeytown, USA.

How can Minnesota, the State of Hockey, lose a professional hockey team? This documentary pieces together what prompted the Minnesota North Stars to relocate to Texas in 1993 through interviews with former players, team employees and fans.

Part 4 of an amateur documentary about the complete history of the Minnesota North Stars.

Minnesota is known as the State of Hockey, yet its original NHL franchise was uprooted and moved over a thousand miles away after twenty-six years of history.

In this video, we explore the Minnesota North Stars. You will understand the real story behind this legendary hockey franchise, based on factual events.

In this video you will discover:
• The team's journey from the 1967 expansion to reaching two Stanley Cup Finals.
• The somber history of Bill Masterton and the unique merger with the Cleveland Barons.
• The controversial stadium disputes and financial struggles that led Norman Green to relocate the team to Texas.

The North Stars remain a cornerstone of hockey culture, with their iconic green and gold colors still celebrated by fans long after the franchise became the Dallas Stars.