A bond of brotherhood: How Joe Nieuwendyk, Ralph Strangis helped build hockey culture in Dallas

It is serendipity wrapped in kismet and covered in a nice coating of karma.

When the Stars on Sunday honor the 2025 Dallas Stars Hall of Fame class, they will be reuniting a very special group – the Sunday Afternoon Football Club. Officially, the team is honoring Joe Nieuwendyk in the Players category and Ralph Strangis in the Builders category. Nieuwendyk will be presented by former teammate Jamie Langenbrunner and Strangis will be presented by longtime Stars executive Dan Stuchal. Those four spent many Sundays gathering together to watch football - most notably Strangis and Langenbrunner’s Vikings and Stuchal’s Packers - and from that sprung a fantastic friendship.

“It does seem perfect, doesn’t it?” Langenbrunner said. “I was thinking about that when it got announced.”

Langenbrunner was the “kid” of the bunch, and probably benefitted the most from the gatherings. But, in truth, all four were changed from the fact the hockey gods put them in the same place at the same time.

“It definitely was a great thing,” said Nieuwendyk. “We all got along so well, and we all came together at a great time for the organization. Those are fantastic memories.”

The fact that four guys from the north would land together in Texas and help sell the game of hockey to a whole new fanbase is significant. The fact that all four were so good in so many different ways made it extra special.

Nieuwendyk was already an NHL All-Star and Stanley Cup champion (with Calgary) when he was traded to the Stars in 1995. Strangis and Stuchal followed the team down from Minnesota when it moved in the summer of 1993. Langenbrunner was drafted by the Stars in 1993 and became a full-time member of the NHL roster in 1996.

Random celestial interactions among the Stars, right? The fact the personalities all were so different but all fit together also seemed fate.

Strangis was a loud, energetic bundle of ideas who willed himself onto the Minnesota North Stars broadcast in the early 1990s. After working in pro wrestling and volleyball, Strangis was able to get one of his dream jobs working beside broadcast legend Al Shaver. And as is his way, he befriended Stuchal when he was an intern with the North Stars.

“I met Ralph on my first day as an intern with the North Stars and it was clear he wanted to help me,” Stuchal said. “I think that’s one of the things that you see over and over again with Ralph throughout his time in Dallas. He was always trying to help the new guys. If you showed potential and drive, Ralph sensed it and he tried to help you.”

While his job was broadcasting, Strangis inevitably had thoughts that could help push every aspect of the business. He was an idea man, a ticket salesman, a voice in the promotions room…a catalyst.

“I always found it tough to stay in my lane,” he said with a shrug.

And yet that was the perfect fit for a new sport in a new place. Strangis grew up in Minnesota and was a huge hockey fan, but he didn’t play. In the end, that might have been why he connected with the Lone Star State.

“I wasn’t the ‘hockey’ guy,” he said. “I was an outsider, and I think sometimes you need that. It worked out in Texas.”

Nieuwendyk was the ultimate hockey guy, and that had its own challenges.

A second-round pick of the Flames in 1985, the Cornell product played nine seasons in Calgary, winning the Stanley Cup in 1989. He won the Calder Trophy and the King Clancy Memorial Trophy, and scored at least 45 goals in four different seasons. He was a legitimate superstar, the kind that GM Bob Gainey was seeking to help push Dallas into the conversation in a very tough Western Conference.

And yet, it was a challenging process for a man that had just turned 29.

“We weren’t good at the time, and I think it was eye-opening for him,” said Stuchal, who picked Nieuwendyk up at the airport after the trade. “But he brought a level of competition into the locker room and he helped us go from wannabe to a true contender. He knew we had a long way to go, and I think that says a lot about Joe. I credit him with a lot of helping to build this.”

Nieuwendyk said he enjoyed being a part of the construction.

“I was maybe the first domino, but then things happened kind of rapidly after that,” he said of Gainey adding the likes of Sergei Zubov, Daryl Sydor, Pat Verbeek, Dave Reid, Mike Keane, and eventually, Ed Belfour and Brett Hull. “It ended up being a really special group of people.”

That is, of course, the biggest part of the story. We wouldn’t be here Sunday if not for the banners. But as great as they were on the ice, they were just as memorable off of it.

Langenbrunner assimilated quickly into the group. He grew up in Minnesota, so he and Strangis had a natural connection. Same with Stuchal, really, because of his ties to the North Stars. Management thought it might be good to pair the rookie with a veteran as road roommates, and Nieuwendyk got the job.

They ended up playing on the same line, and became lifelong friends.

“For me as a young kid coming into an organization, that was so important,” Langenbrunner said. “Joe and Ralph both took me under their wing and helped me. I was really lucky.”

Nieuwendyk would show his leadership in 100 different ways, including his recovery from a knee injury that occurred in the 1998 Stanley Cup Playoffs. To get himself ready for the 1998-99 season, the veteran worked diligently dragging tires through the parking lot at the training facility in the hot months of the summer.

That would pay off in his winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 1999.

Nieuwendyk said it is what athletes do.

“It was not fun, but what’s the alternative?” he said. “You just do it and hope for the best.”

Still, the dedication resonated with his teammates, and really everyone in the organization.

“I was there, I watched him,” said Stuchal. “What he did to come back was inspirational.”

Langenbrunner said the entire roster helped him grow, but clearly Nieuwendyk delivered special lessons even to the most veteran of players. As a former captain, he could assist young Stars captain Derian Hatcher. As a superstar, he could help young superstar Mike Modano.

“Joe was so good to watch,” Langenbrunner said. “Helping Hatch, helping Mo, showing them what it took to be a champion. I really look back and think about the things he did and I see them even more clearly now.”

That helped him go on to be a captain for the New Jersey Devils.

“Someone was looking after me when they put me on the Dallas Stars with Joe Nieuwendyk,” Langenbrunner said. “To have his leadership and his lessons, I just was so lucky to have that.”

Stuchal said the same thing of Strangis. Stuchal went to Calgary to be a part of the management team with new Flames GM Craig Button, but that job was short-lived. When he found himself looking for a job, Strangis was a good friend.

“He told me to get back to Dallas and things would work out, and they did,” Stuchal said of a stint with Big Brothers, Big Sisters that eventually led him back to the Stars. “That’s who he is, that’s what he does.”

In a lot of ways, that’s what the Sunday Afternoon Football Club was all about. Yes, the championships and trophies are the big memories, but 25-plus years later, it was more than just hockey.

Fittingly, those stories will be told on Sunday.

“You think about coming to a southern market like Dallas and you’ve got to sell the game,” Nieuwendyk said. “There was nobody better than Ralph at that position. He engaged with the fans, and he was really good at what he did. He brought excitement to his job.

“Beyond that, he cared deeply about the team,” Nieuwendyk added. “He wanted us to win, and he wanted the players to be successful and he was very positive that way. There were many times when we were on the road and he would say let’s go grab a coffee, and it wasn’t just me, and he would really pump your tires and get you going. It was important.”

You’ll hear a lot of conversations between the quartet start with the word “brother.” Looking back, it seems like the bond was predestined.

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on X @MikeHeika.