FRISCO, Texas — Autographs are a common thing at the Dallas Stars practice facility.
After each practice there are often legions of loyal fans waiting as players head to the parking garage next to the Dr. Pepper StarsCenter in Frisco. It’s a chance for the fans to interact with the players, it’s a somewhat daily interaction you won’t find in any of the other big four sports in DFW.
And on Sunday, Stars defenseman Greg Pateryn was the one receiving an autograph after practice.
Noah Fellone, an 11-year-old, had a puck he signed from his 10th birthday party, inscribed it with the words “Thank you, Mr. Pateryn,” and asked Tom Holy, the head of the Stars public relations staff, to pass the puck onto the defenseman.
They took it one step further. Noah was escorted into the locker room himself and made the presentation to Pateryn.
“He makes signs for me every game, and he’s my biggest fan,” Pateryn said. “So it’s cool, he’s a good kid, and I like to help him out a bit.”
Pateryn met Noah and his sister, Felicity, during a Stars hospital visit back in November at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children. Felicity, 8, was in the hospital and Pateryn spent the majority of the time with the siblings.
“There were about eight players there, but they spent the most time with him,” Noah’s mother, Anthea Fellone, said. “His sister goes to Scottish Rite, but Noah is more of the hockey fan and it meant a lot to both of them, it was really support for the whole family.”
Noah also has a custom Greg Pateryn hat with two crossing hockey sticks and the word “Pateryn” on the front. Pateryn’s No. 29 is embroidered on the side of the hat.
It’s a rare find. There are two such hats in the world, one that Noah wears to Stars games and practices, and one that he gave to Pateryn.
“His mom told me that she bought the hat for him, and then he saved up money by doing chores around the house and bought one for me,” Pateryn said. “That was pretty cool.”
Noah makes a sign for Pateryn at each game he goes to and is often amongst the fans along the glass for warmups. When he sees Noah, Pateryn makes sure to flip a puck over the glass to the 11-year-old.
As Pateryn’s biggest fan, Noah — and the rest of the Stars fans — have had a chance to see the 27-year-old establish himself as a full-time NHL defenseman for the first time in his career.
After parts of four seasons with the Montreal Canadiens, Pateryn was traded to the Stars in exchange for Jordie Benn and a fourth-round draft pick (which was later flipped for Ben Bishop’s rights) last season. He played in a dozen games with Dallas at the end of the 2016-17 season, but entered this season as the eighth defender and was a healthy scratch the first nine games of the season.
He made his season debut on Oct. 26 against the Edmonton Oilers and hasn’t let go of his spot in the lineup. In 35 games Pateryn has helped form a shutdown pair with Dan Hamhuis, and he’s averaging 19 minutes, 35 seconds of ice time per game.
“I think it’s the first time I’ve been able to stick to a role and find success and be consistent with it,” Pateryn said. “Because when you have something like that, you can actually develop consistency, and consistency is key in this league. You might not be the best player, but if the coach knows what you’re going to do every single night, he doesn’t have to worry about you hurting the team.”
Heatherington ready for opportunity
Dillon Heatherington had his first practice with the NHL team on Sunday after getting recalled from the AHL’s Texas Stars on Saturday and serving as a healthy scratch against the Colorado Avalanche.
He hadn’t arrived in time for morning skate on Saturday, but was given a chance to take warmups and unofficially skate before an NHL game for the first time in his career.
“I’ve never dressed for an NHL game, so it was a fun opportunity,” Heatherington said. “It was exciting and it was pretty cool.”
Heatherington (who you can read more about here) said he likes to model his game after Stars veteran defenseman Marc Methot, who is currently out with a knee injury.
“He’s reliable, so I try to model my game after him,” Heatherington said. “It’s been going good, and I’ve been building confidence (in the AHL).”
The rookie could make his NHL debut this week. Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said he’d like to see a couple more practices out of the defenseman first, but is planning on playing him on the upcoming road trip, potentially on Thursday against the Columbus Blue Jackets — the team that traded him to Dallas for Lauri Korpikoski at the NHL trade deadline last season.
Lehtonen gets the nod
The Boston Bruins have been one of the best teams in the NHL lately and have points in 12 straight games. Kari Lehtonen will be tasked with helping the Stars end that streak on Monday in a matinee game.
Hitchcock said Lehtonen would start against the Bruins, while the plan is for Ben Bishop to get back in net against the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday.
Lehtonen has a 5-5-1 record with a 2.59 goals against average and .907 save percentage this season. His last start came on Dec. 15 against the New Jersey Devils.
Practice lineup
This is probably a good reflection of Monday’s lineup in Boston. Gemel Smith and Heatherington are expected to be the scratches:
Jamie Benn — Tyler Seguin — Alexander Radulov
Antoine Roussel — Radek Faksa — Tyler Pitlick
Mattias Janmark — Martin Hanzal — Devin Shore
Remi Elie — Jason Spezza — Brett Ritchie/Gemel Smith
Esa Lindell — John Klingberg
Dan Hamhuis — Greg Pateryn
Julius Honka — Stephen Johns
Dillon Heatherington (rotating in)
Kari Lehtonen
Ben Bishop
rexbinary says
Who will Heatherington pair with you think?
Sean Shapiro says
Don’t see them messing with top two pairings, so it would likely be on the third pairing with either Johns or Honka. Most likely Johns, with Honka scratched that game.