The Dallas Stars just advanced to the Western Conference final. Their secret to success? Greasy wheel.
After four grueling periods of smash mouth, grind it out playoff hockey Sunday night, the Dallas Stars retreated to the dressing room for a fourth intermission of what would end up being the eighth longest game in NHL history. Each of their finely tuned temples in desperate need of electrolytes and re-hydration. So why waste time with bananas, oranges and Gatorade, when there's a Boston Pizza just around the corner? The Stars proceed to ram ham and pineapple until they could ram no more, then took the ice and won the hockey game. Tough to argue with success, I know, but I'll try.
Pizza? Are you serious?
A berth in the third round of the Stanley Cup playoffs is on the line, and the emergency fuel of choice is pizza? I would have loved to hear the telephone conversation with the pizza joint:
Stars dude: "I need 15 large pies, and make it quick."
Pizza delivery dude: "The name on the credit card?"
Stars dude: "Brett Hull."
Pizza delivery dude: "Are they all for Brett Hull?"
Stars dude: "Not this time."
But honestly. Consuming copious amounts of pizza between periods is nothing new in the NHL, and it boggles the mind more with each passing victory. As professional athletes, these players are subject to the strictest of dietary regimens for seven months a year. Then, with everything to gain and even more to lose, they are allowed - no, encouraged, to fall off the wagon like Kirstie Alley at a Willy Wonka fundraiser?
I remember playing outdoor soccer as a seven-year-old when the only thing on the line was a Slurpee after the game, but if I was hoping to ram anything more than a sliced navel orange at halftime, I was barking up the wrong pitch. We feed seven-year-old kids high octane vitamin C at halftime, and 27-year-old thoroughbreds a ham and pineapple pizza at the fourth intermission of an elimination game? Perhaps soccer is more demanding than I thought.