There's an uneasy quiet that consumes the Dallas Stars whenever things go wrong. It's not that way with the Rangers and Mavericks when times are bad (as they currently are), and we all know the sky is falling right through the stadium roof when things go south for the Cowboys.
But the Stars miss the playoffs and someone flips a light switch, and the next thing you know, Ken Hitchcock is announcing his retirement from the game. After 22 years of NHL coaching, a run that began here in late 1995 with an undistinguished Stars team that, under Hitchcock's guidance, would win a Stanley Cup less than four years later, it's over.