North Stars Are Working on Their Own Miracle on Ice

It isn’t too difficult for loyal Hartford Whalers fans to recall the mess in Minnesota.

The first time the Whalers played this season at the Met Center on Oct. 24, 4,646 fans showed up. It was the smallest crowd of the 1990-91 NHL season. For every warm body, there were at least two cold seats.

The second time the Whalers showed up in Bloomington on Nov. 10, there were 8,624 fans. But the Whalers witnessed the inauguration of a regrettable freak show call “Starstakes.” A guy named Lucky Star ran around with a goalie mask and a question mark on the back of his North Star jersey, handing out cash. Running through the aisles, he looked like Phil Donahue, “The Riddler” from “Batman” and Jon Casey rolled into one.

“What a circus,” said Whaler Randy Cunneyworth that night. “The only thing missing is the elephants.”

“Starstakes” died and so, many believed, would the North Stars. The team was playing awful hockey. Precious few souls would dare call themselves North Stars fans. As part of the complicated May 2, 1990, sale between the Gunds and Howard Baldwin-Morris Belzberg, many players would be heading for the new club in San Jose, Calif. Break out the “Jaws” theme, the Sharks were circling to claim bodies.

It was a franchise funeral waiting only for the bells to toll.

And then it happened. The precise moment is being debated. But everybody agrees it did happen. Some are calling it remarkable. Some are calling it a miracle. If the North Stars somehow win the Stanley Cup, the Vatican should immediately look into the works of Neal Broten.

He played for the 1980 Olympic gold medalists in the Miracle at Lake Placid.

Now he’s playing for the 1991 Miracle In The Land of 10,000 Lakes.

After staggering to a 68-point season, the North Stars knocked off the NHL regular season champion Chicago Blackhawks, who amassed 106 points, in six games. They followed with a five-game victory over the St. Louis Blues, who finished second with 105. They grabbed a 1-0 lead in the Campbell Conference finals against the Stanley Cup champion Edmonton Oilers, too, before the Oilers rebounded with a 7-2 victory Saturday night.

Cynical Canadian hockey fans, fully believing the sport is theirs, may laugh. But maybe the hockey gods really have stepped in to save the North Stars. Nowhere in the United States is grass-roots hockey deeper than in Minnesota. Kids from the Iron Range to St. Paul adore the game. The state high school tournament is legendary.

But Minnesota felt betrayed by their professional team. Too many false promises by former general manger Lou Nanne. Too much absentee ownership by the Gund Brothers. In games, this year the fans would chant, “Lindros! Lindros!” They wanted the No. 1 draft pick.

“The NHL leadership of John Ziegler and Bill Wirtz and many governors had the guts to take the heat and keep hockey in Minnesota,” said Baldwin, who left when Norm Green bought majority interest and exerted his power. “Minnesota is a great hockey market. It’s a remarkable story. And those who took shots at the North Stars -- they know who they are -- must be shocked.”

These words heard in Green’s office in late October keep ringing in one’s ears: “It took more of a genius to ruin this thing than it will to rebuild it.”

Maybe Stormin’ Norman was right.

“You’d never believe it now,” said former Whaler Stewart Gavin, who did a powerful job containing St. Louis’ Brett Hull. “It has been awesome. The building is full. By the time they start the national anthem, the place is buzzing so much it feels like there’s electricity in the air.

“Earlier in the season, there was as much noise at some practices as at games. I know there are a lot of bandwagon jumpers. But we’ve got a really big bandwagon. There’s enough room for everybody. We’ll ride it out together. We’re playing for those 5,000 loyal fans who have come no matter what. At the same time, we’re trying to sell the team for the future.”

With only 3,330 season-ticket holders, the North Stars already are up to 6,000 for next season. Green wants at least 8,000.

The North Stars, who finished 27-39-14, were 11-23-7 on Jan. 1. Ask the North Stars when they knew they might have something really special brewing and you get different answers. Even Gavin wasn’t sure.

First, he says after the All-Star break.

Then, he says Game 1 against Chicago, choreographed by Brian Propp’s overtime goal. It stole the Blackhawks’ home-ice advantage and proved to the players that Coach Bob Gainey’s game plan would work.

Then he says Game 5 against Chicago, a 6-0 rout, was a key. It broke open a tied series and may have broken Chicago’s spirit.

Brian Bellows says the 79th game of the season when they beat the Hawks, who were vying for the best record in hockey, was huge.

Maybe Gavin and Bellows are right on all counts. The Miracle at Lake Placid was a stunning tournament upset. This North Stars miracle is an evolving journey.

“We started off the season with no confidence,” Gavin said. “There were a lot of changes, coaching, management, ownership. I know a lot of people will say it shouldn’t matter, but it did.

“After the All-Star break, the system the coaches implemented, stressing team concepts, started to come together.”

Pierre Page had left as coach to become general manager in Quebec and GM Jack Ferreria went with the Gunds to San Jose.

Baldwin and Belzberg hired general manager Bobby Clarke, who led the Flyers to two Staley Cups as a diehard center in 1974 and 1975. Clarke had been ousted as Flyers GM last spring.

Coach Bob Gainey, the stoic one who played on five Stanley Cup champs in Montreal, became Minnesota’s fifth coach since 1987. The Selke Trophy, given to the game’s best defensive forward, was an award designed basically for him. Gainey, who coached two years in France, preached the values of defense. They are the values that led the Soviets to once proclaim him technically the best player in the world.

“Even today, there are guys who are carbon copies of Bob Gainey on Montreal,” Edmonton’s Kevin Lowe said. “Guy Carbonneau, Mike McPhee, Brian Skrudland and even Shayne Corson to an extent. There weren’t many guys with his speed, strength and skill who would ever be willing to be a great checker.”

In Minnesota, Gainey’s demeanor -- in total contrast to the fiery Page -- is being compared with former Viking coach Bud Grant’s. Around hockey, he is being asked if he patterns himself after his former Montreal mentor, Scotty Bowman. Gainey maintains the only thing he has in common with Bowman is that they have four children.

His youngest daughter, Colleen, 6, found Gainey’s wife, Cathy, unconscious on the bathroom floor on Nov. 30. An intensely private man, Gainey told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune he got a call in Winnipeg from Colleen saying, “Momma’s asleep in the bathroom on the floor. I can’t wake her up.” Gainey called his neighbor, but soon Cathy came to and thought she only had the flu and had fainted.

It turned out to be a brain tumor, from which her father and brother had died. Chemotherapy followed surgery and Cathy’s condition has improved enough to attend playoff games.

What Cathy and North Stars fans have witnessed is one of the most heartwarming sports stories of the year.

Bellows, Dave Gagner and Mike Modano provide offensive talent. A move from center to right wing on a line with Gagner has helped Modano. Bobby Smith, the prodigal North Star, and Propp provide veteran talent.

Mark Tinordi is one of the most improved defensemen in the NHL.

And goalie Casey is no longer one of the NHL’s great secrets.

Bellows, in turn, praised Gavin: “You always hear about Esa Tikkanen, but Stewy took Hull right out of it. We knew Hull wasn’t going to beat us by himself.”

Asked to name someone who epitomized this magical spring, Gavin answered Broten -- the miracle man from Roseau, Minn.

“He’s been here more than 10 years and people around the NHL know he’s a good player,” Gavin said. “But he plays the special teams and does a lot of things people don’t realize. He means a lot to us.”

Neal Broten has seen The Miracle. He knows.