What's that, you say? The team variously known as the California Seals (1967), the Oakland Seals (1967-70), the Bay Area Seals (1970), the California Golden Seals (1970-76) and the Cleveland Barons (1976-78) never won one?
That's technically true. However, A, they were merged with the Minnesota North Stars in 1978, so, unofficially, any Cups won by that franchise can be credited to them; and, B, if you don't buy that, then you have to consider them to be no longer in existence, in which case they don't count anyway.
The Philadelphia Flyers won their 1st Cup in 1974; the Pittsburgh Penguins, in 1991; the Los Angeles Kings, in 2014; and the North Stars, in 1999 -- as the Dallas Stars, which they have been since 1993.
They won it by taking Game 6 against the Buffalo Sabres in Buffalo, on a controversial goal by Brett Hull. I'm not going to debate the merit of that goal now, but suffice it to say that, had it been waved off, the game would have gone on, tied, and the Stars could still have won it. If the Sabres had won it, then the series would have gone to a Game 7 in Dallas, and the odds would have been against the Sabres.
The Stars got back to the Finals the next year, against the New Jersey Devils, winning Game 5 in triple overtime at the Meadowlands, before the Devils won Game 6 in double overtime in Dallas. The Stars have not been back since.
The Sabres and the Vancouver Canucks, both coming into the NHL in 1970, are now the longest-lasting teams to have never won the Cup. The Canucks have lost in the Finals in 1982, 1994 and 2011; the Sabres, in 1975 and 1999.
It's been 20 years -- June 19, 1999 -- since the Dallas Stars won the Stanley Cup, and the Buffalo Sabres were in the Stanley Cup Finals. How long has that been?
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The Stars had Pat Verbeek, an original 1982-83 Devil; Shawn Chambers, a member of the Devils' 1995 Cup winners; and Joe Nieuwendyk, Jamie Langenbrunner and Grant Marshall, all of whom would play on the Devils' 2003 Cup winners.
Hull and Mike Modano are in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Nieuwendyk, Guy Carbonneau, Jere Lehtinen, Darryl Sydor and Ed Belfour could be. But that thug Derian Hatcher can forget it. Only one '99 Sabre has made it, goalie Dominik Hasek.
The Tampa Bay Lightning, the Carolina Hurricanes, the Anaheim Ducks, the Los Angeles Kings, the Washington Capitals and the St. Louis Blues had never yet won the Stanley Cup. The Chicago Blackhawks had not won the Cup since 1961. The 'Canes, the Ducks, the Lightning, the Ottawa Senators, the San Jose Sharks, the Nashville Predators, and the Vegas Golden Knights had not yet reached the Finals. The Knights, the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Minnesota Wild had not yet begun play. The Atlanta Thrashers had just started, and had not yet become the new Winnipeg Jets.
All of those facts are no longer true.
The Stars, the Devils, Kings, the 'Canes, the New York Islanders, the Colorado Avalanche, the Phoenix (now Arizona) Coyotes, the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Edmonton Oilers and the Detroit Red Wings have all since built new arenas.
Maurice (the Rocket) Richard, and original 1926-27 New York Ranger Murray Murdoch were still alive.
Henrik Lundqvist, Andy Greene and Marc-Andre Fleury were in high school. Alexander Ovechkin, Jonathan Quick and Cory Schneider were 13 years old; Evgeni Malkin and T.J. Oshie were 12; Sidney Crosby, Carey Price, Claude Giroux, Jonathan Toews and Brad Marchand were 11; Sergei Bobrovsky, Patrick Kane, P.K. Subban and Ryan McDonagh were 10; Braden Holtby and Steven Stamkos were 9; John Tavares and Ryan O'Reilly were 8; Aretemi Panarin and Taylor Hall were 7; Jordan Binnington was 5; Connor McDavid was 2; Auston Matthews was a year and a half; and Nico Hischier was 5 months old.
The Stars' coach was Ken Hitchcock; the Sabres', Lindy Ruff -- yes, his birth name is Lindy Cameron Ruff. Current Stars coach Jim Montgomery was playing in the Flyers' farm system, and current Sabres coach Ralph Krueger was coaching the national team of Switzerland. Islanders coach Barry Trotz was the head coach of the Nashville Predators; Rangers coach David Quinn was an assistant coach at the University of Nebraska at Omaha; and Devils coach John Hynes was an assistant coach at Boston University.
Domenec Torrent of New York City FC was managing Palafrugell in his native Spain. Pat Shurmur of the Giants was an assistant coach with the Philadelphia Eagles. David Fizdale of the Knicks was an assistant coach at the University of San Diego. Aaron Boone of the Yankees was playing for the Cincinnati Reds. Katie Smith of the Liberty was playing for the Minnesota Lynx. Chris Armas of the Red Bulls was playing for the Chicago Fire. Mickey Callaway of the Mets was playing in the Tampa Bay Devil Rays' farm system. Kenny Atkinson of the Nets was playing in Germany's basketball league. And Adam Gase of the Jets was playing at Michigan State University.
The Stars dethroned the Detroit Red Wings as Stanley Cup winners. The other defending World Champions were the Yankees (coming off their 125-50 season), the Denver Broncos, and the Chicago Bulls, about to be replaced by the San Antonio Spurs. The Heavyweight Championship of the World was divided between Evander Holyfield (WBA & IBF) and Lennox Lewis (WBC).
The Olympic Games have since been held in Australia, America, Greece, Italy, China, Canada and Great Britain, Russia, Brazil and Korea. The World Cup has since been held in Japan, Korea, Germany, South Africa, Brazil and Russia.
The President of the United States was Bill Clinton. Former Presidents George H.W. Bush, Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford, their wives, and the widow of Lyndon Johnson, were still alive. (The Carters still are.) George W. Bush had just been re-elected Governor of Texas, and was preparing his 1st run for the Presidency. Barack Obama was in the State Senate in Illinois. Donald Trump was with his 2nd wife.
The Governor of New York was George Pataki, of New Jersey Christine Todd Whitman, and of Texas, as I said, George W. Bush. Rudy Giuliani was Mayor of New York, Ron Kirk of Dallas, and Anthony Masiello of Buffalo.
Current Governor Andrew Cuomo was U.S. Secretary of Housing & Urban Development, with Bill de Blasio as one of his assistants. Phil Murphy had just been promoted to the Management Committee (effectively, the board of directors) at Goldman Sachs. Current Texas Governor Greg Abbott was a Judge on the State Supreme Court. Current Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson was an investment banker, fresh out of Harvard University. Current Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown was on that city's Common Council.
Three Justices then on the U.S. Supreme Court are still on it now: Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer. The idea that same-sex marriage would soon be legal in 1 State, let alone many or even all 50, was a bit ridiculous, as even "civil unions" were having trouble passing. But then, the idea that corporations were "people," and thus entitled to the rights thereof, was considered insane.
There were still surviving veterans of World War I, the Mexican Revolution, the Pancho Villa Expedition, the Buffalo Soldiers, the Bolshevik Revolution, the Easter Rising and the March On Rome. There were still living survivors of the 1900 Galveston Hurricane, the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, the 1914 Ludlow Massacre, the builders of the Panama Canal, and the disasters that befell the General Slocum in 1904, the Titanic in 1912, the Lusitania and the Eastland in 1915, and the Britannic in 1916.
Northern Ireland peacemakers John Hume and David Trimble were the holders of the Nobel Peace Prize. The Pope was John Paul II. The current Pope, Francis, then Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was Archbishop of Buenos Aires -- not yet a Cardinal.
The Prime Minister of Canada was Jean Chretien. The monarch of Great Britain was Queen Elizabeth II (that hasn't changed), but the Prime Minister was Tony Blair. There have since been 4 Presidents of the United States, 4 Prime Ministers of Britain (soon to be 5), and 3 Popes.
Manchester United had just won the Premier League, the FA Cup, and the UEFA Champions League, the only time an English club has done the "European Treble." To win the Champions League Final, they had to come from behind in stoppage time to beat German giants Bayern Munich, a highly symbolic victory considering the 1958 Munich Air Disaster that killed 8 Man United players and injured 2 others so badly that they never played again.
Major novels of 1999 included Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier, Timeline by Michael Crichton, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding, The Testament by John Grisham, Chocolat by Joanne Harris, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Boston Red Sox fan Stephen King, Harry Potter and the Prison of Azkaban (the 3rd book in the series) by J.K. Rowling, and Hannibal (chronologically, the most recent book in the series) by Thomas Harris. George R.R. Martin was working on A Storm of Swords (the 3rd book in his A Song of Ice and Fire series).
June 1999 was not a good month for new movies. It featured Disney's cartoon version of Tarzan, complete with a love theme sung by Phil Collins. Me Tarzan, you nauseous. It featured the spy spoof sequel Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. It featured the Adam Sandler gross-out film Big Daddy. It featured the South Park film, Bigger, Longer & Uncut, in which series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone were able to show all the stuff that was too disgusting for TV, even by their standards.
And it featured the awful film version of the 1960s TV Western Wild Wild West, including the giant spider (in this case, mechanical/steampunk) that producer Jon Peters so badly wanted to have Superman fight in a movie, a big reason why there were no Superman movies from 1987 to 2006. This movie was so bad (How bad was it?), even Salma Hayek couldn't save it.
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and the James Bond film The World Is Not Enough with Pierce Brosnan had premiered the month before, while Star Trek: Insurrection had premiered 6 months earlier. None of these would do its franchise much critical good.
The attempts to bring Superman and Batman back to the big screen were failing, and so the last men to play them remained Dean Cain (a Superman on TV) and George "This is why Superman works alone" Clooney, respectively. Paul McGann, in a one-shot deal, was the most recent man to play The Doctor.
Major TV shows that debuted in the 1998-99 season included Sports Night, Will & Grace, The King of Queens, Felicity, Becker, MTV's Total Request Live, and some shows that weren't set in New York City, like The Sopranos (okay, it was in North Jersey, and some of it happened in New York), Farscape (which didn't even take place on this planet), V.I.P. (which frequently seemed like it was on another planet), The Hughleys, Charmed, the disastrous The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer, and cartoons like Batman Beyond, The Powerpuff Girls, Jay Jay the Jet Plane, The Wild Thornberrys, Rolie Polie Olie, Ed, Edd n Eddy, Family Guy, Futurama, SpongeBob SquarePants, and the U.S. premiere of Pokémon.
No one had yet heard of Robert Langdon, Master Chief, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Rick Grimes, Lisbeth Salander, Bella Swan, Don Draper, Katniss Everdeen, Walter White or Richard Castle.
Kourtney Kardashian was 20 years old, Kim 18, Khloe was about to turn 15, Rob was 12, Kendall 3 and Kylie almost 2. Of the Modern Family kids, Sarah Hyland was 8, Ariel Winter was a year and a half, and Rico Rodriguez and Nolan Gould were less than a year old. From Game of Thrones: Richard Madden had just turned 13; Emilia Clarke, Kit Harington and Rose Leslie were 12, Nathalie Emmanuel was 10, Jack Gleeson was 7, Sophie Turner was 3, Maisie Williams was 2, and Isaac Hempstead Wright was 2 months old.
Jennifer Lopez and Ricky Martin had just released their debut albums, the White Stripes were about to, and the debuts of Britney Spears and Eminem were new. For most of us, "Selena" still meant Quintanilla-Perez; "Demi" meant Moore; and "Kylie" meant Minogue.
Christina Aguilera had debuted thanks to her song in the Disney cartoon Mulan, but the English-speaking world had not yet heard of Shakira, and Pink, Destiny's Child and Alicia Keys had yet to debut. Katy Perry was in high school. Lady Gaga was 13 years old, Drake 12, Rihanna 11, Taylor Swift 9, Ed Sheeran 8, Louis Tomlinson 7; Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, Nick Jonas, Cardi B, Miley Cyrus, Nicki Minaj and Zayn Malik were all 6; Ariana Grande was about to turn 6; Liam Payne, Niall Horan Harry Styles and Justin Bieber were 5 (Justin wasn't yet a "Boyfriend," he was barely past being a "Baby"); Halsey was 3, and Camila Cabello was 2.
Inflation was such that what $1.00 bought then, $1.54 would buy now. A U.S. postage stamp cost 33 cents, and a New York Subway ride $1.50. The average price of a gallon of gas was $1.22, a cup of coffee $1.90, a McDonald's meal (Big Mac, fries, shake) $5.69, a movie ticket $5.09, a new car $20,686, and a new house $189,100. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the preceding Friday at 9,358.82.
At that point, the leading home video game system was the original Sony PlayStation. We did have the Internet, but not yet Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest. Nor the iPod, iPhone or iPad.
Mobile phones were now quite common, but they were still the flip-open kind, bringing to mind the communicators on the original Star Trek series -- except that show took place 300 years in the future, and the new "mobiles" were smaller. This was around the time that cellular phones began to be called "cell phones" more often, and were already becoming, in some cases, so annoying that New York Daily News writer Pete Hamill described them in his column as "yell phones."
A movie released the next year, Frequency, had a storyline where a 1999 New York police detective found his father's old ham radio set (sort of like the Internet for the middle of the 20th Century), and, through a sci-fi phenomenon, is able to talk to his father, a New York fireman in 1969, and warn him of his impending death in a fire. The Mets' '69 World Series win becomes a major plot point in the film.
Remembering his best friend complaining about not buying stock in Yahoo! when it was cheap, he uses the ham set to tell the 7-year-old version of that best friend to remember the word "Yahoo!" When (spoiler alert) the movie's happy ending happens, the cop is shown hitting a baseball that breaks the headlight of the best friend's car -- a Mercedes with a New York license plate reading YAHOO1.
In June 1999, America's economy was booming like never before -- and, sadly, like never since. The single European currency had gone into effect. NATO and Serbia signed a peace treaty, ending the Kosovo War, and allowing the independence of Kosovo. The post-Nelson Mandela era began in South Africa, as Thabo Mbeki was elected the country's 2nd President. The Fourth Nigerian Republic was proclaimed, ending military rule in Africa's most populous nation. Napster debuted. A week into July, Moroccan runner Hicham El Guerrouj set a new record for the mile run: 3 minutes, 43.13 seconds. It remains the record.
Mel Torme, and DeForest Kelley, and Marion Motley died. Kately Nacon, and Natalie Alyn Lynd, and Eddie Nketiah were born.
June 19, 1999. The Dallas Stars won the Stanley Cup, beating the Buffalo Sabres. The Stars haven't won the Cup since, nor have the Sabres been back to the Finals since. The Stars lost the next season's finals to the New Jersey Devils, and haven't been back since.
When will they get back? Well, this season, the Stars had the 7th seed in the Western Conference Playoffs, and beat the Nashville Predators in the 1st Round, before losing to the eventual Cup winners, the St. Louis Blues. The Sabres, on the other hand, finished 23 points behind the last Eastern Conference Playoff berth. It may be a while before either gets back.
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