'We Had Good Memories'

DALLAS - Connor Zary’s always had a connection to the Dallas Stars.

His first NHL game, and first NHL goal, both happened against Dallas.

Stars owner Tom Gaglardi is even the owner of Zary’s old WHL team, the Kamloops Blazers.

But tonight’s contest, that pits the 13-9-5 Flames against the 16-10-0 Stars, will have a bit of a different feel.

That’s because Zary and his old Kamloops buddy, Logan Stankoven, will line up across from one another for the first time on NHL ice.

The two were teammates for parts of three WHL seasons, on pretty stacked Blazers teams; part of a run of four consecutive division titles in Canada’s Tournament Capital.

Friends? Yes.

Both former Kamloops captains? For sure.

But this evening, they’ll be enemies on the ice for the first time.

“I’ve never really played against him, I guess,” Zary said with a chuckle following morning skate at American Airlines Center. “To see him again, and be out on the same ice, it’ll be pretty cool.”

The two were point producers in the B.C. Interior. Zary put up 86 points during the 2019-20 campaign before being selected by the Flames in the first round of the 2020 NHL Draft.

Stankoven, two years Zary’s junior, had 104- and 97-point campaigns in his hometown as Blazers captain, earning WHL Player of the Year honours in 2022.

The pair have combined for 29 points at the NHL level this season, but Zary’s mind circles back to when he first got wind of Stankoven’s talent, in the cozy confines of Kamloops’ Sandman Centre.

“I can just picture him grinding, always working at his craft, trying to be the best player,” he said. “That’s exciting, you see how much success he’s had, the work doesn’t really go unnoticed.”

And it’s almost fitting that tonight’s encounter comes as WHL teams across Western Canada are celebrating Teddy Bear Toss season - like the Hitmen did a week ago at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

Because Zary is a former Teddy Bear goal-scorer, sniping a puck from a sharp angle before gliding down the ice, trying to pick off bears, imagining his hockey stick as a hunting rifle.

Regretfully, the duo never shared a WHL title together.

But tonight, they’ll share NHL ice, and that might be just as cool.

“We had good memories, we kinda got cut short of some possible championship teams there with COVID,” said Zary.

“But he’s such a good player and such a good guy, that I’m excited to see him out there.”